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 percent in the coming year, from 6.1 to 3.2 The economy is expected to slow again by 2023. The rate of inflation is expected to remain at a high level.

There are a variety of things you can do to prepare your go-to-market teams for changes in your prospects' and customers' buying behaviors and priorities.

I talked to's previous VP of Revenue Operations about this, and you can view our entire conversation at end of this article. I've also expanded on certain strategies we discussed.

1. Consider rethinking segmentation in order to find new Growth Opportunities

You're likely already looking at the data from outside to determine whether your total addressable markets (TAM) is shrinking. In the case of your particular market you may see open reports, market surveys or public announcements on expected changes in budgets and technology spending, for example.

In volatile markets they could be outdated in the moment they are published.

Another way to find fresher takes are interviews with thought leaders from the industry and blogs. What are industry CEOs and advisors saying on LinkedIn regarding their market?

As for internal data, on a high scale, you must constantly monitor your net retention rate or bookings as well as your average size of deals. The thing that many businesses do wrong is staying at too the top of their game when looking at their marketplace.

Not all segments of your TAM are going to be impacted by external forces exactly the same way. For instance, we know certain industries are more recession-proof than others. If you've not yet found these areas within your ICP, that's a good first step.

There may also be specific countries or regions that you do business in which are not as affected by the economic slowdown.

Account-based sales firms are used to delineating sales regions. If you're a non-local business, then you're likely to spend less effort on marketing and sales efforts depending on where your clients or potential customers are from. But in a tighter market, identifying healthy regions is a major advantage.

Naturally, in highly volatile markets, the health of specific regions or industries could change quickly. This is why it's so important to be able to test the ROI of every investment you make as quickly as possible.

2. Speed Up Your ROI Measurements

There's no way to adjust for unexpected developments that occur in your marketplace, but the most important thing is speeding the speed at which you are able to assess the effects of your investments today.

• If you're used to measuring the ROI of new product investments after six months, increase that number by six weeks. What indicators do you have to use to measure quicker?
• If you test beta-testing the new product for six months before releasing them to the entire customer base, see if there's a way to get an MVP into production within three.

Consider how you can test the financial and time-based investment you're making -- so you can fail or succeed 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 as quickly as possible. If your customers are tightening their spending, you need to show that you are able to remain a valuable source of value.

3. Training Your Sales Team to manage new Prospect Priorities

The value propositions that work particularly well during growth times may not be as effective in periods of slow or even no growth. Does your sales staff know how to pivot?

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 employees' time as well as other assets.

As a whole, we'll be seeing increasing discussions on cost, and what an organization will pay if they go with one solution over another. It could be that they are looking for an ROI that is quantifiable as opposed to potential expansion opportunities.

What we are notencouraging your company to do is lower the price of your product, which causes the customers to devaluing your product.

In addition, sales must be more precise than ever before in their ROI calculation, and educate customers on how to justify the cost of your product, and on practical, tested ways in which they will profit from it.

4. Discover new ways to add or enhance value

The rate of inflation is rising all over across the globe, with no indication of slowing down. So along with decreased growth trajectories, you're likely facing increasing internal costs.

You might be in a position that you have to increase your prices or find innovative ways to increase the amount of money you earn from existing customers.

Whatever method you choose to use, the key is to tie it back to value.

Provide More Education Around the value you've added to the Product

If you decide to increase prices, make sure you connect those figures to how far your product has come.

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

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

If increasing prices aren't the best option, search for other ways to increase profits from existing customers.

Based on the data we collect internally Based on our data, upsells, or add-ons, usually represent between 30% and half of customers' company. These are avenues where you'll have the ability to prove your pricing and keep the average deal size that you're hoping to achieve but withoutraising your overall prices.

• Are you able to identify customers that might profit from the next plan or even a different plan?
• If you're preparing for an appointment to renew How do you present them armed with proof that they aren't taking full advantage of the offerings of your company?

The bottom line: Concentrate on Value and Prepare to Be Flexible

It's a good thing 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 invested in their product as well as in the relationships with their customers. and they're in a position to show their worth.