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• As a CEO, how will you respond if the economy slows up?
• As a sales account manager, what will you do if we go into a recession?
• As a marketing manager, how will you change your prospect messaging?

So, here we are on the verge of a potential recession. Are you proactive and do you have an action plan ready to go? Or are you reactive and just waiting to see what develops?

It's up to you.

Here are 11 options you can implement to maximize your business growth if the economy turns down.

1. To increase your sales and marketing success, repackage your current offerings with new names and a lower price. Offer an automatic product or service upgrade (in feature or units) with the new name or tie the new offering to a timed date.
2. Offer extended payment terms. Increase your price by 20% and offer extended payment terms to make it easier for your buyers to buy.
3. Hunt for new business from new prospects. Are you waiting for prospects to find you? Do you or your sales team cold call? If it's a slow economy, you need to find business -- don't wait!
4. Expand your partnerships to reduce your marketing costs per sale. In a bad economy, partner with more companies to increase your networking lead generation and lower your lead capture costs.
5. Enlarge your selling geography or selling zone. If your market is saturated, expand your selling zones to find more opportunities. Geo map your mostly likely areas.
6. Spend more on marketing. Yes, spend more on marketing during a recession. This is not a department that you want to cut back on. If times are tough, spend more. During a recession, the cost of marketing lead generation usually goes down because advertisers become desperate for business -- so use this to your advantage.
7. Focus on reducing your offering's cost. What options do you have to drop its production, labor or direct costs? Hey, if it's a recession . . . negotiate!
8. Create 3 pricing options for your offerings with the middle price being the targeted price you want to sell at. Studies show that buyers statically buy the middle price when offered three options, so let's point them to it.
9. To reduce your travel and expenses, offer your prospects $1,000 off their first invoice if they travel to you and buy -- instead of you and/or your team going to them. This approach helps you qualify prospects by making them take an action step by coming to you while simultaneously reducing your expenses.
10. Raise your value and raise your pricing. Price must equal value. Your value is always too high if I as a buyer don't believe your value is worth the investment. To generate more money during a recession, increase your offering's value and accordingly raise its price.
11. Change your prospect value proposition to focus on cost savings. To drive your targeted prospects to take action steps during a recessionary time, you need to focus your product or service messaging on how your offering reduces their business costs, directly or indirectly.

Successful management teams are proactive not reactive. Manage the recession . . . or it will manage you.


by Paul DiModica, Senior Thought Leader at the Value Forward Network

Recommendations provided are to be used at your discretion and are provided solely as an independent opinion.