How to Increase Sales in a Down Economy

It has now been confirmed that the U.S. is in a recession. Many businesspeople fear a recession, reasoning that if the economy is bad, clients will cut back on their spending. This may be true, but only to a degree. An economic slowdown can be a problem for your business. Or from a positive perspective, it can be an opportunity to gain new clients and boost your sales. Here are some ideas how to grow your business when times are tough.

Start by reactivating your dormant accounts that are not actively being serviced. This is an opportunity to call these clients so you can re-establish your business relationship. The easiest way to do this is to call your old client and see what's going on with their business. Do not make this a hard sell as to put your client on the spot to give you business. Ask them what's new, how they're doing, and what's going on with their business. You do not need to ask for work directly. Just let them know that you are available if there is anything they need. This lets them know you are interested in working with them again, without putting pressure on them to give you an order right then.

Usually, clients come to you when they want you to handle something for them. In tough times, you can be more aggressive and call on them with your ideas. For example, you may call your client to share a new marketing idea that they will ultimately ask you to implement since it was your idea. You do not want to give away your advice for free, but if business is slow there is no reason not to throw around a few ideas. Your approach is that here is an idea that will help your client and you would be happy to implement this for them.

In a recession, you want to do everything you can to hold on to your existing customers. The best way to do this is to give your customers more than their money's worth. Now is the time to go the extra mile, give that little bit of extra effort that will dazzle your client. This will increase your service levels and ensure that your exiting clients continue to give you a steady stream of income.

One way to generate some extra profitable business is to encourage customers to add on or expand their existing assignments or purchases. You can package the original purchase with the add-on to increase your total revenues. Using this technique can increase the average dollar amount of each project by 10 to 30 percent or more with no extra sales effort.

A business downturn is not the appropriate time to increase your fees or prices, even if you feel you deserve it. During such times, you should postpone any fee increases and keep your fees at their current levels. Don't announce this to your customers as they may not be going through soft times. So leave your fee schedule as is and continue with business as usual.

If you have a guideline for the type of client you want to work with, you may want to be a little loose with this policy during hard times. For example, if you usually only work with large corporations, you may want to take on some mid-size companies during this period. This doesn't mean you throw your standards out the window and work for anyone that calls. You are simply adjusting your acceptable client criteria during the temporary lull in business.

When you are busy, there is a whole group of prospects you probably turn away without a second thought. These are the companies that are too small to be able to afford your services. But when things are slow, it pays to look for ways to generate revenue from this overlooked market. This is best done by repackaging your service to accommodate smaller clients with reduced budgets. This can be done as an hourly rate, telephone consultation, special reports, and so on.