Recession Business Strategy: Growing Amidst Economic Turmoil

When a recession appears on the horizon, most business owners go into a frenzy. It makes sense why: they don’t have a recession business strategy to hold them up once the slowdown takes hold.

As a result, the recession hits, and their business falls apart from the inside.

Had they prepared, this would have been avoidable.

More than that, they could have seized the immense opportunity economic recessions present to grow their business!

To help you maximize the growth opportunities recessions present, I’m sharing a full-proof recession business strategy.

With this strategy, you will:

• Find security amidst turmoil
• Put panic aside
• Grow your business more than ever

Every business can be a recession-proof business if they have a plan!

Businesses that died during that last recession did so from a lack of preparation. Are you prepared for what could happen next?

What Businesses Do Well In a Recession?

Surviving a recession is not all about cost-cutting or jumping into a new industry like healthcare.

Yes, cost-cutting helps in the short term, but it does not ensure survival.

Instead, it is about focusing 95% of your energy on sales and 5% on everything else.

Moreover, businesses that thrive during a recession are those that kill the sales game!

Sales increase your cash flow, and cash ensures your business' survival!

Ultimately, a business that doesn't make sales does not have cash.

Without cash, a company ceases to exist.

Whether it’s the great recession or the 2020 pandemic, history shows that sales-centric businesses thrive during recessions.

Businesses That Focus on SALES Dominate Recessions

Focusing on sales during a recession is essential for success.

Whether you are generating new customers, developing new products, or expanding your product line into new markets, it is all about making more sales!

With more sales, the more your bottom line goes up. A higher bottom line is like having recession insurance!

That said, not only is focusing on sales essential for success but selling during a recession is EASIER than most CEOs make it out to be.

Selling is easier during a recession because the customers’ needs are higher than ever.

Unlike when economic conditions are stable and customers are laid back, customers freak out when economic turmoil feels inevitable.

Because of this, they are looking for methods to calm the chaos and ensure their survival. AKA, they are looking for people like YOU to help stabilize their businesses!

That said, if you show customers that you will help them weather the storm, you are golden.

However, while snatching up more new customers, do not neglect existing customers!

Even though they are already customers, you do not want to give them a reason to think they don’t need you anymore.

Moreover, you do not want to make their customer experience so bad that they question whether or not they need you to get through the recession.

The more your focus on sales, the better off your business will be! That is what this recession strategy is all about.

What NOT to Do During a Recession (What Most Business Owners Do)

Most business owners get into a terrible cycle of madness before a recession.

The cycle goes something like this:

1. First, they panic
2. Panicking causes them to change their business plans for the worst
3. Because they’re panicking, they don’t have enough time for their customers
4. As customers begin to drop like flies, they develop a more modest business vision
5. They watch too much news, which makes them panic more
6. Repeat!

DO NOT get yourself into this cycle.

That is unless you want to completely collapse under the weight of a (potential) recession!

Panic

When a recession first appears on the horizon, the thing most business leaders do first is panic.

A recession only needs to be speculative for them to break into a total frenzy!

Usually, this results from them listening too much to the news.

News stations start naming off economic terms, including interest rates, stock market numbers, business cycle metrics, and layoffs, which causes CEOs to panic.

Once the CEO panics, chaos breaks loose.

Because they are not in a clear state of mind, their business begins to rupture from the inside out.

Do you think a business ever does well when it implodes from the inside?

Develop Complex Business Plans

Once a CEO panics over the fear of a recession, they begin to act out of fear.

Has acting out of fear ever helped you in any situation?

For example, if you are afraid of public speaking, does acting sick to get out of the public speech help you in the situation?

Yes, it might give you momentary peace, but avoiding the situation only creates more long-term problems. 

As you pretend to be sick, your anxiety increases because you know you’ll eventually have to return and give the speech.

When a CEO acts out of fear over a recession, it usually translates into developing overly complex business plans.

In their mind, if they ramp up their business plans, they will somehow be protected from the recession.

However, developing complex business plans only adds more fuel to the fire!

The more complex the business plan is, the more likely it is to fail, particularly during a recession.

Alienate Your Customer Base

When a recession appears on the horizon, most people go into survival mode. That includes your current and potential customers.

While in survival mode, they look to anyone or anything that could potentially help them overcome the madness of economic uncertainty.

For example, in early 2020, people fought for items like toilet paper out of fear of pandemic doom! They knew darn well toilet paper wouldn’t save them, but still, they hoarded it out of fear.

Unfortunately, most CEOs cut their customer base off from help during times of uncertainty.

Instead of being there for them, CEOs are panicking themselves. Thus, they cut their potential customer base off from assistance.

Then they wonder why their customers drop them out of nowhere and use the economic conditions to justify it!

Moreover, the more you panic over a potential recession, the less energy you have to devote to your customer base who need help now more than ever.

Change Your Vision (Extremely Important)

Once a CEO panics, changes their business plans, and alienates their customer base, they lose hope in their business vision.

While they were enthusiastic about their vision, it now feels impossible to manifest.

For example, a CEO might have a vision of completely disrupting the technology industry, but the economic conditions make them feel it will be impossible.

As a result, they develop a more modest vision.

Instead of completely disrupting the technology world, now they just want to make a mild splash.

That said, DO NOT EVER change your business vision, regardless of how impossible it seems to manifest!

It is one thing to alter your course, but to change the destination you want to reach just because of poor conditions is crazy!

Did Michael Jordan stop envisioning himself playing the NBA just because he initially did not make the high school basketball team?

Obviously not!

Instead of changing his vision, he changed his methods to manifest that vision.  

Because he did not get on the high school team, he changed his route.

Similarly, if an economic storm is coming, why not just change your pathway instead of the destination?

Watch the News Every Night

Finally, staying informed on economic conditions is crucial to business success.

However, staying informed often transforms into being consumed with the never-ending bad news cycle.

If a recession appears imminent, focus on gathering facts instead of being consumed by media hype.

The more consumed you get, the more panicked you get.

The more panicked you are, the worse it is for your business and you personally.

You already know much of the news is just clickbait hype, so why let it get to you?

Meet Your New Recession Business Strategy

Does a recession seem imminent?

Stay cool!

Here is your new strategy to successfully navigate the recession.

Not only will this strategy help you get through the recession, but following it will help you GROW your business in a recession.

Contrary to popular belief, recessions do not equal inevitable doom.

Instead, they are an opportunity to grow more than ever IF you use this strategy as a blueprint for success.

Get Extremely Strict With Your Time

To begin, get extremely strict with your schedule!

Instead of panicking and allowing emotions to pull you in several directions at one time, be very intentional with your time.

To do so, start time blocking your days.

Time blocking is a scheduling method in which you block off specific hours to work on different activities.

For example, 8:00 am to 8:59 am is strictly for answering emails. Then 9:00 am to 9:59 am is for making sales calls. Then from 10:00 to 10:59, you connect with your current customers to manage their problems.

The idea is to set a strict schedule to prevent overwhelming yourself with emotions.  Being highly intentional with your time leaves no room for mental chaos to overcome you.

Put Everything That’s Not Sales-Related on the Back Burner

Next, put all your non-sales-related activities on the back burner.

Remember, thriving in a recession comes down to focusing 95% on sales and 5% on everything else.

Delegate anything that doesn’t have to do with sales, such as the marketing strategy, to other team members.

Maximize your sales time while delegating every other task.

The more you can delegate, the better!

Take Advantage of a Prospect’s High Sense of Urgency

Contrary to popular belief, generating leads amidst a recession is advantageous because prospects have a high sense of urgency.

Due to economic conditions, they are on the edge of their seats, wondering if their business will survive.

If somebody would come along and present them an opportunity to stabilize or even grow during a recession, they would happily listen.

More specifically, if somebody can present an opportunity to increase their cash flow, they will happily listen!

That said, when re-focusing on sales, the first thing to do is restructure your hook.

The hook is the line you drop on a cold call that immediately grabs the prospect’s attention.

It grabs their attention because it presents a potential opportunity for them to make more money.

In this case, resetting your hook should show the prospect you have the goods to help them make more money in the near future.

Prospects always want to run away from problems. In the case of a recession, potentially not having enough cash on hand is the problem.

Therefore, use your hook line to take advantage of the prospect’s urgency to have more money!  Doing so will help you generate more leads than ever.

Make Sales Pitches Like an Absolute Boss

Once you have successfully siphoned a prospect into the sales pipeline with your hook, pitch to them like the expert you are!

Sales pitches are your best opportunity to show prospects that they NEED your product/service to save their business during the recession!

By saving their business, I mean showing them that your product or service will 100% help them make more money in less time. With more money, they will have the means to protect themselves from potential economic turmoil.

Closing deals will not be a walk in the park unless you can pitch like an absolute boss.

Therefore, if pitching isn’t your strong suit, immediately shift your focus to making better pitches.

You can do everything else correctly, but poor pitching makes everything else worthless!

Show prospects they NEED you to succeed, and you’ll dominate the recession.

Moreover, you’ll be thankful for the recession.

Remind Yourself Why You’re Doing This

Simply put, recessions do bring a certain level of stress with them.

While it’s crucial to not stress like crazy, it’s unrealistic to think stress will not affect you whatsoever.

That said, whenever you start to feel stressed, remind yourself why you’re doing this.

Specifically, think of your business vision and why it’s important to you!

Business visions are the equivalent of gasoline in a car: they keep you going even when the terrain is challenging.

When times are uncertain, you’re not very motivated, and focusing solely on sales gets tough, KEEP GOING!

To keep going, remind yourself of what you’re working for and why it’s important to you.

Final Thoughts on Recession Business Growth Strategy

Don’t let the economic climate dictate your outcomes!

Instead, when the next recession hits (which it will hit), be prepared with a strategy.

And not just a strategy to get through the economic downturn, but to grow through it.

Whether or not you dominate the recession OR be dominated by it is 100% up to YOU.