4 Tips Revenue and Sales leaders can do to prepare for a Recession -

According to the International Monetary Fund, the global economy is expected to shrink by 3 percentage points this year , from 6.1 to 3.2 The economy is expected to slow again by 2023. The rate of inflation is expected to remain very high.

There are a variety of actions you can take to make sure your teams are prepared to adapt to changes in your prospective customers as well as customers' purchasing behavior and needs.

I had a conversation with the company's former Vice President for Revenue Operations about this, and you can watch our entire conversation at the bottom of this piece. I've also elaborated on some of the strategies that we discussed.

1. Reconsider Segmentation to Find New Growth Opportunities

You're likely already looking at external data for signs of the extent to which your total addressable market (TAM) is declining. Based on the market you're in you may see studies or reports that are public about expected changes to budgets and technology spending, for example.

In volatile markets, these may be outdated when they're published.

Another source for fresher takes are industry thought leader interviews and posts. What do industry CEOs and advisors saying on LinkedIn about their businesses?

As for internal data On a broad level, you should be consistently monitoring your retention rates or bookings as well as your average size of your deals. The thing that many businesses do wrong is staying at too the top of their game in their analysis of markets.

The different segments in your TAM are going to be impacted by external factors in the same way. For instance, we know certain sectors are more resilient to recession than others. In case you haven't identified these industries in your ICP then that's an excellent starting point.

There may also be specific areas or countries are where you operate that are less impacted by the economic slowdown.

Companies that sell through accounts are used to delineating sales regions. If you're a location-independent business, then you're likely to invest less time and energy in sales and marketing efforts in relation to where your customers or prospects are coming from. But in a tighter market, identifying healthy regions can be a huge gain.

Of course, in particularly unstable markets, the condition of specific regions or industries may change dramatically. That's why it's crucial assess the potential return on any investment you're making in the quickest time possible.

2. Increase the effectiveness of your ROI measurement

It's not always possible to prepare for sudden events that occur in your marketplace, but it's important to speed up how quickly you can measure the impact of the investments you're making today.

• If you're used to calculating the return on investment of a new product purchase after 6 months, change that into six-weeks. What leading indicators can you utilize to determine quicker?
• If you beta test the new product for six months prior to releasing them to your full customers, consider whether you can get an MVP ready for production within 3.

Consider how you can test the financial and time-based purchase you're planning to make -- so you can fail or succeed more quickly and pivot as needed in a faster manner.

Another benefit is that you can provide value to your customers as quickly as possible. If your customers are tightening their budgets, you want to demonstrate that you can keep adding value to them.

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

The value propositions that work very well during periods of growth are not as effective in periods of slow or no growth. Do your sales teams know what to do to adapt?

For instance, buyers who historically have cared most about how a product helps companies increase their revenue could become more interested in the ways it can help reduce staff time and other company resource.

As a whole, we'll be seeing increasingly more discussions centered about cost and the amount a company will spend on a solution over another. The company might be seeking an ROI that is quantifiable in comparison to expansion possibilities.

What we are notencouraging the company to reduce your price, which encourages the customers to devaluing your product.

Sales must be more thorough than ever before in their ROI calculations. They must also educate buyers on the best ways to justify the price of your product as well as realistic, proven ways that can benefit the company.

4. Discover new ways to add or increase value

Inflation rates are surging around all over the world with no sign of slowing. With a decrease in growth trajectories, you're likely to be facing rising costs within your organization.

There is a chance that you are facing a situation where you need to raise the cost of goods or services or come up with innovative ways to increase profits from customers you already have.

No matter what strategy you're using The key point is to tie it back to value.

Give more information about the Value You've Added to the Product

If you do decide to raise prices, make sure to tie the numbers back to the extent to which the product you offer has progressed.

• Whenever possible, personalize added value messaging for specific users.
• Develop content about platform updates or new features. which customers may have missed.

Conduct training and case studies Concerning Add-Ons or Features that have not been used.

If raising prices is not an ideal option, then look at other options to boost profits from existing customers.

Based on internal data Based on our data, upsells, or add-ons, are often 30% to 50% of our clients' 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 the overall cost of your products.

• Have you identified customers who might profit from the next plan or another plan?
• If you're planning an appointment to renew, how can you come equipped with evidence that your customers aren't taking full advantage of the services offered by your business?

Bottom Line: Focus on Value and Prepare for the possibility of being flexible

The good news is that the periods of sustained expansion tend to occur following recessions. All you have to prepare yourself for them.

The companies that are the most prepared for market upswings are those with the best value positioning. They've put money into their products and in their customer relationships. And they're able to prove their worth.