Sales in a tough environment

We’ve been talking about recession all year - are we, aren’t we?  How deep?  How long?  New Zealand versus other countries….

I recently shared research from the RAIN Group showing that sales cycles appear to be slowing down - highlights here.  It’s not an increase in LOST deals, but an increase in NO DECISION.

A few conversations I’ve had, compounded with news reporting, indicate this slowing down of the economy is being felt in New Zealand, as well as offshore.  Not necessarily falling off a cliff, but just crawling a bit slower, leaving people hanging in the unknown and certainly causing a few jitters….which often become a negative cycle themselves. 

I thought it might be helpful to pull together some thoughts for how you can take control and try to minimise the impact for your organisation.  I’m no Fairy Godmother waving a magic wand, but there are some smarts you can do to review, plan and take action.  Some of these may seem really obvious to you, but I know sometimes even smart people running good businesses sometimes still need a reminder of the basics.

As always….I’d love to hear if you have found anything working for you (or not), so get in touch.

By analysing and really understanding what is causing the slowdown you can make decisions and formulate a plan based on fact and evidence, rather than gut-feel.

1. What’s Going On?

You might think the slowdown has been caused by a recession, but has it really?

What else is really going on?

If you’re working in the broader government supply-chain, there you might be impacted by decision-making essentially freezing for several months before, during and after an election.

Internal client budget cycles can speed up or slow down the buying processes, as can changes in leadership, strategy and direction.  

What is going on in the wider market and macro economy?  Is everyone waiting for a big policy document or technology upgrade?  

What are the market fundamentals indicating?  Are you in a market that looks like it's growing, or not?  

Keep an eye on what is going on in your clients’ worlds.

What are others in the same sector seeing?  Is it just your business, or is it cross-sector.  This is possibly a bit hard to really get an honest answer from your competitors, but you can get a bit of a gauge through chatting with those in the sector and reading industry publications or forums.

Some of these things are within your control and some definitely are not.

2. Know Where Your Gold Is  

Do some analysis and really understand where your profit comes from and what eats your costs.

Which segments, products or markets are higher value.

Understand if all are equally as impacted by the slowdown, or if there are some differences that can help you identify where the opportunities are.

3. Talk with Your Customers

This isn’t a recession-only hack… I’d say 90% of businesses should be doing this more anyway.  Even talking with 5-10 clients can give some really valuable insights.

If you have hundreds or thousands of clients, pick a small sample and talk on the phone, run a survey, or throw some well thought out questions into your online community chat and start a conversation.  

This will give you insights into what the market is doing, what is going on in their own business, including how decisions and influence are changing and give you feedback about where they see your value (or not) - in their words.  

This is not a case of “this is taking so long and I want to get a sale”, more a case of “I’d like to understand more….”.  

Take your sales hat off for this one.

4. Adjust Your Messaging 

When you understand what’s going on in the wider environment and what is happening with your clients, have a fresh look at how your sales and marketing messages are pitched.  

Is there a strong message about the value you add that is appropriate for today’s market and will resonate with your clients?

Is there a way you can really help your customer succeed in their objectives?  If they are struggling to succeed, sell, grow, save money etc etc, how does your offer help them?  Helpful if you can focus on something that is genuinely top of mind for them - “what’s keeping you awake at night?”

Is there any opportunity to create some level of ‘urgency’ or importance in your messaging?  What would make people sign up today, versus get to it ‘one day’? 

5. Stay in Touch - With Value

Even if sales are slowing down, stay in touch with your clients and prospects, in person, or digitally.  Don’t forget to reconnect with past clients too. 

Have a purpose each time that adds value and is useful from your customer perspective.  How are they measured, what are they stressing about, what have you seen in the market that might be useful to them?    

Are there any automations you can set up in your database to help support this?

6. Rethink your Offer

Do you need to focus on one aspect of the offer right now?  Can you break it into smaller chunks?  

Is there a pilot or trial offer you can package?

If you are on the edge of a market segment that is less impacted by any recessionary wobbles and can you reframe and lean-in to that with your offer or message?   

I know it can be unsettling when a slowdown hits your business, but think about what YOU have control over. 

These suggestions aim to give you some actions you can implement to stay on the front foot.  Mostly, this is good business practice anyway, so now is a good time to refine our ways of working.  You're not alone in this; share ideas, get in touch and you might look back and be pleased with how your business is performing after all of this.

As always, I'd love to hear what's working (or not) for you, so don't hesitate to get in touch.

If you are also wondering about whether to cut back, or double down your marketing spend - check out my post: Squirrel or Spend: The Recessionary Marketing Dilemma