Businesses have a tendency to act as if the good times will never end — until the hard times hit. But the worst position a buisness leader can find himself during a crisis is having no plan in place to deal with it.
Here in 2022, the world is still recovering from the pandemic, and there are new threats of recession or downturn on the horizon.
By doing your homework, you can get through the recession and even use it as an opportunity to grow your business.
The key is knowing where to focus your efforts.
Your business website is the most important salesperson your company has. It should be at the top of your list of priorities when you're facing a sales slump, so optimise it now to ensure that it's ready when you need it.
Below, I'll cover:
Free Assessment: Website Performance Assessment
To state the obvious, the pandemic had changed many of our habits, especially in how and how often we rely on the Internet to collect information and do things we were used to do off-line.
Potential customers pay more attention to your website than ever. They count on an updated website and updated Google My Business profile to know if you are even open for business.
Potential customers make judgments about the quality, health, and professionalism of your business by checking out your website and it's no surprise.
It's common knowledge that a great website is essential to educate your audience and attract qualified leads. What is less known is the way the right website can help recession-proof your business when a downturn may be coming.
Here’s how to prepare your website for the storm ahead.
During a recession, buyers are more anxious and sensitive about wasting time and money. This means that:
Your website's main purpose is to provide visitors with the information they need to become customers. To do this, you should strive to make your website the most trusted educational resource in your industry.
This should be the case in both good and bad times.
A trusted educational resource builds meaningful connections with prospects. When they research their problems and find that you provide answers and solutions, they are more likely to buy from you, either now or in the future.
In order to build trust, you need to provide answers to customers’ most common questions. No matter what you're selling, your buyers want to know:
We call these topics The Big 5.
Your website should provide content that addresses all of these topics so your customers feel well-informed.
A business that honestly answers questions is a business to be trusted. In a recession, the trusted business is the one that will survive.
Just as you should focus on educating your prospects by way of your website, you should also focus on your own team’s learning. An impending downturn should remind you of the importance of staying sharp in all ways.
Those professionals who were partying at industry events should have been bettering their own knowledge and skill-sets.
In a period of uncertainty, the competence of each team member needs to be high. Your salespeople need to know how to best use digital assets in the sales process. Your marketers need to be up to date on SEO best practices. Your videographer needs to stay on top of cutting-edge programs and techniques.
You don’t want to wait for the economy to go sour to start talking about creative, effective ways to market and sell your products and services.
When your team is at its best, your website will be at its best.
In an economic downturn, your business may need to pivot and shift focus.
This isn't time to completely try something new, but it could be a good time to explore your range — and you should make sure your website reflects that.
Let me give you an example.
River Pools is a swimming pool company based in Virginia, their main focus is installing fiberglass pools, however, they also offer a fiberglass resurfacing service to their clients.
It certainly isn’t a primary business focus, but it is something they do.
As an economic downturn approaches, they could build on this skill by producing blog articles, landing pages, ebooks and videos about it. That way, when pool owners research pool resurfacing, their website would come up. This positions them to move into a new revenue stream if the market demands it.
Again, I don’t think a recession is a time to suddenly open up new facets of your business. After all, growth takes cash, and you are likely to have less of it.
Rather, I recommend positioning yourself to be ready to move into related, low-cost expansions if the market opens up.
As an added benefit, these new pieces of content can drive more traffic to your site. Perhaps a pool owner who might not normally look for a pool installer finds your business and realises that you have services or products well-suited to their needs.
The pandemic was a time when many businesses pivoted and expanded. Lean into that experience and use it to see the opportunities around you.
During a recession, people are watching every dollar. As I said before, customers always want to know the same five things, no matter what they’re buying: cost, comparisons, reviews, potential drawbacks, and lists of their best options.
While these are all vital to the buyer’s journey, nothing is more important than cost in a recession. That’s why we list it first.
In order to recession-proof your website, you need to intensify your focus on cost.
If people are able to find a better deal elsewhere, why should they buy from you? Is there an added value or service you offer? Is there something that differentiates your company from others?
Additionally, make sure to focus intently on the factors that drive cost. Are there options the buyer can select that will raise or lower price? What are they?
If a buyer is choosing between you and a competitor, price will likely be a deciding factor. You want to be able to explain why you charge what you do. Buyers respect transparency, and Trust cannot exist without it.
At the same time, start to think about potential sales or promotions that could entice business when people are more cost-conscious.
In olden times, farmers would plan all year to make it through the winter. All of their spring planting, summer labor, and fall harvesting would assure survival during the cold winter months.
Without that foresight and preparation, the winter would be devastating and deadly.
The prosperous times for your business are not times to get lazy and complacent. Rather, they are times to prepare for the winter that is always coming.
Your website is the most public aspect of your business, and with the right forethought, you can recession-proof your business — no matter what lies ahead.
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