Four Things Sales and Revenue Leaders Can Do to Prepare for Recession

As per the International Monetary Fund, the global economy is expected to slow by nearly 3 percentage points this year from 6.1 to 3.2 The economy is expected to slow again in 2023. The rate of inflation is expected to stay high.

There are many ways you can make sure your teams are prepared to adapt to changes in your prospective customers' and customers' buying behaviors and priorities.

I talked to's previous Vice President of Revenue Operations about this, and you can watch our entire conversation at the bottom of this piece. I've also outlined some of the strategies that we talked about.

1. Reconsider Segmentation to Find New Growth Opportunities

You're likely already looking at other data sources to see whether your total addressable markets (TAM) is declining. In the case of your particular market, there may be public reports or market surveys about expected changes to budgets and technology spending, for example.

However, in markets that are volatile, these may be out of date as soon as they are made public.

Another source for fresher takes are interviews with thought leaders from the industry and blogs. What do industry CEOs and advisors posting on LinkedIn about their businesses?

In terms of internal information, on a high level, you should be consistently monitoring your retention rates, bookings, and average deal size. But where many companies go wrong is not staying on a high a level with regard to their marketplace.

There aren't all areas of your TAM are going to be impacted by external factors exactly the same way. We know for instance certain industries are more recession-proof than others. In case you haven't discovered these sectors within your ICP then that's an excellent first step.

There may also be specific areas or countries are where you operate where you are less affected by the effects of inflation or economic slowdown.

Account-based sales firms are used to defining sales regions. If you're a non-local business, then you're likely to put less energy into the marketing and sales processes depending on where your clients or potential customers are from. However, in a more competitive market, identifying healthy regions is a major benefit.

Of course, in particularly volatile markets, the health of certain industries or regions can change rapidly. This is why it's so important to be able assess the potential return on every investment you make at the speed you can.

2. Increase the effectiveness of your ROI measurement

You don't always have time to prepare for sudden events that occur in your marketplace, but it's important to speed the speed at which you are able to measure the impact of the investments you're making today.

• If you're accustomed to measuring the ROI of new product purchase after 6 months, switch that into six-weeks. Which indicators are the most effective to utilize to determine more quickly?
• If you beta test new products for six to eight months prior to making them available to your entire customer base, see if there's a way to make an MVP into production within three.

Consider how you can test every financial or time decision you're considering to ensure that you fail or succeed more quickly and change direction as you need to with a speed that is much quicker.

Another benefit is that it will provide new value for your clients in the shortest time possible. If you're seeing your clients tighten their budgets, it is important to show that you are able to continue to add new value.

3. Training Your Sales Team to manage new Prospect Priorities

The value propositions that are successful very well during periods of growth may not be as effective when there is slow or zero growth. Do your sales teams know the best way to change their strategies?

In this case, customers who historically have cared most about the way a product helped companies increase their revenue could now be more focused on the ways it can help reduce staff time and other company resource.

In general, we'll see increasingly more discussions centered about cost and the amount companies will shell out on a solution over another. They might be looking for measurable ROI instead of potential development opportunities.

What we're notencouraging you to lower your price, which encourages your clients to become accustomed to the idea of devaluing your products.

Sales must be more thorough as they have ever been in ROI calculations, educating buyers on the best ways to justify the expense of your product, and on practical, tested ways in which they will profit from it.

4. Discover new ways to add or Promote Value

Inflation rates are surging around the globe with no signs of slowing. Along with slower growth trajectories, you're likely experiencing an increase in internal expenses.

There is a chance that you are in a position where you need to raise the cost of goods or services or come up with innovative ways to increase the amount of money you earn from existing customers.

No matter what strategy you're using, the key is linking it back to the value.

Give more information about the Value you've brought to the Product

If you choose to increase prices, make sure you make sure to tie the numbers back to the length to which your product has come.

• If possible, tailor messages with added value for particular individuals.
• Create content around platform upgrades, new features, etc. that users might have missed.

Offer Training and Case Studies Concerning Add-Ons or Features that have not been used.

If raising prices is not an ideal option, then look at other options to boost profits from existing customers.

Based on internal data according to our internal data, offer upsells and add-ons usually represent between 30% and 50% of our customer's sales. These are avenues where you can really justify your costs and still maintain the typical size of deal you're trying to capture while notraising the overall cost of your products.

• Have you identified customers who could profit from the next plan or even a different plan?
• If you're planning a renewal conversation What can you do to come equipped with evidence that your customers don't fully benefit from the services offered by your business?

Bottom Line: Focus on Value and Prepare for the possibility of being flexible

The good news is that times of constant growth are often followed by recessions. The only thing you need to prepare for is to be prepared for them.

The firms that are most prepared for market upswings have the highest price positioning. They've put money into their products and in the relationships with their customers. They're also able to demonstrate the value.