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

According to the International Monetary Fund, the world economy is predicted to shrink by three percentage points this year from 6.1 to 3.2 then decrease by 2023. The rate of inflation is expected to remain at a high level.

There are several ways you can prepare your go-to-market teams to adapt to changes in your prospective customers' and customers' buying habits and preferences.

I spoke with 's former VP for Revenue Operations about this, and you can stream our entire conversation at the bottom of this piece. I've also expanded on some of the strategies we discussed.

1. Reconsider Segmentation to Find New Opportunities for Growth

There's a good chance you're looking at external data for signs of the extent to which your total addressable market (TAM) is decreasing. In the case of your particular market it is possible to find open reports, market surveys or public announcements about expected changes to budgets and technology spending, for example.

However, in markets that are volatile they could be outdated as soon as they are published.

Another way to find more current information is to read industry thought-leader interviews as well as posts. What do industry CEOs and advisors posting on LinkedIn about their markets?w

For internal information at a higher level, you should constantly monitor the rate of retention you have on your net as well as bookings and deal size. The thing that many businesses do wrong is not staying on a high a level in their analysis of marketplace.

The different segments in your TAM will be impacted by external pressures in the same way. For instance, we know certain sectors are more resilient to recession than others. And if you haven't already found these areas within your ICP then that's an excellent first step.

Additionally, there may be certain countries or regions that are where you operate that are less impacted by an economic slowdown.

Account-based sales firms are used to having sales regions defined. If you're a location-independent company, you likely put less energy into sales and marketing efforts in relation to where your customers or potential customers are from. But in a tighter market, identifying healthy regions is a major gain.

Of course, in particularly unstable markets, the condition of certain industries or regions could change quickly. That's why it's important to be able to test the ROI of any investment you're making as quickly as possible.

2. Speed Up Your ROI Measurements

It's not always possible to prepare for sudden events within your industry, however the most important thing is speeding up how quickly you can measure the impact of the investments you're making right now.

• If you're used to measuring the value of your new product's purchase after 6 months, change that into six-weeks. What indicators do you have to employ to assess quicker?
• If you test beta-testing new products for six to eight months prior to making them available to your full client base, check if there's a way to make an MVP ready for production within 3.

Consider how you can test every financial or time investment you're making -- so you can make mistakes or be successful more quickly and change direction as you need to in a faster manner.

The other benefit of this is getting new value to your customers in the shortest time possible. If they are tightening their budgets, you want to show that you are able to keep adding value.

3. Training Your Sales Team to handle the new Prospect Priorities

The value propositions that work very well during periods of growth are not as effective during periods of low or no growth. Do your sales teams know how to pivot?

In this case, customers who historically have cared most about how the product can help increase revenue for the business could now be more focused on how it will help save staff time and other company resources.

We'll generally see more and more conversations centered about cost and the amount an organization will pay when they choose one option over the other. It could be that they are looking for measurable ROI in comparison to development possibilities.

What we are notencouraging your company to do is lower the price of your product, which causes your customers to get used to losing value for your product.

Sales must be more precise than ever before in their ROI calculation, and educate customers about how they can justify the price of your product and real-world, proven methods to prove they will profit from it.

4. Discover new ways to add or enhance value

Inflation rates are soaring around all over the world with no sign of slowing. So along with decreased rates of growth, you'll be facing increasing internal costs.

You might be in a position where you're required to increase the cost of goods or services or come up with new ways of increasing the amount of money you earn from existing customers.

Whatever method you choose to use The key point is to connect it to the value.

Provide More Education Around the Value You've Added to the Product

If you choose to raise prices, make sure to tie the numbers back to the extent to which your product has advanced.

• If possible, tailor the added value messages for certain individuals.
• Create content around platform upgrades and new features. that users might have missed.

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

If pricing increases aren't the best option, search 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 half of customer's sales. They are a way you'll be able to justify your costs and still maintain the average deal size that you're trying to get but withoutraising your prices overall.

• Do you know of customers who would profit from the next plan or a different plan?
• If you're preparing for a renewal conversation, how can you come prepared with the proof they aren't making the most of the services offered by your business?

Bottom Line: Focus on the Value of your business and prepare to Be Flexible

It's a good thing that the periods of sustained growth are often followed by recessions. What you must do is be ready to deal with them.

The businesses that are most ready for market shifts are those with the best position in value. They've put money into their products as well as in their customer relationships. And they're able to prove that value.