Rampant inflation. Market Volatility. Recession looming? Even the thought of a recession will cause company CEOs, even those in high growth companies, to start reducing expenses. Cost cutting invariably means purchasing fewer product and services.
But that doesn’t stop your need for new customers or leads. In fact it increases the urgency because more sales are needed to counter the slowdown. So how do you keep your new leads and customers flowing when the economy starts to slow?
Here are three ways to recession-proof your lead generation.
- Know and communicate your “must have” value. Customers buy your products and services on a sliding scale of values and needs. Some customers cannot live or run their businesses without your product, others value it enough to choose it ahead of something else, others may enjoy it but find it easy to cut when budgets get tight. The least attached are those who are simply trying it out but aren’t yet loyal customers. Make sure your marketing team is 100% knowledgeable about the values, motivations and needs of the customers who can’t live without you and focus your marketing efforts on attracting more of those customers during a slowdown.
- Dump the benefits laundry list. Your products and services have multiple benefits and different benefits appeal to different customer needs. It’s tempting to list them all so that we show we have something for everyone. As one of my marketing colleagues put it, “Yes, it’s a window cleaner and a dessert topping.”
The problem is the longer the list of benefits people hear the less they listen. Too many choices create confusion and when people are confused they say “no.” Replace the benefits laundry list with the one to three most important reasons to purchase your product now. This deepens the “must have” connection with your customer.
- Know when people buy more of what you have. What drives your most loyal customers to purchase when they do? And to purchase more often? Is it seasonal? Cyclical? Driven by a certain demand curve? Know this and you’ll know when in the month or year to expand your marketing efforts and get a better ROI in a tight budget economy.
Want to get a review and recommendations on how to recession-proof your lead generation program? Book a call today.