Thu Jan 19

How To Bullet Proof Your Business and Survive The Economic Downturn

Rising travel costs will force companies to return to Zoom in 2023 to run their business, predicts a sales and negotiation expert.

Julia Ewert says the next 12 months will see an unprecedented number of emerging trends making their way into how companies do business.

“Business is tight, budgets have been cut so there’s less money around and companies will need to be smarter about the opportunities they create if they want to survive and grow their revenue,” she says.

A big game changer will be virtual selling and virtual engagement says Ewert.

“Just as Zoom was the pandemic’s success story, Zoom will again be the ‘go-to’ solution for business in 2023 as many companies cut travel costs to deal with the economic downturn.”

“If you can’t sell remotely using Zoom or Teams then you better learn fast.”

Another change coming is how to overcome labour shortages to get ahead and Ms Ewert says there will be more pressure on HR to focus on upskilling its existing workforce.

She also says playing the long game will become more important for business in 2023.

“Companies will need to play the long game and avoid the allure of quick short-term results.”

“If you can’t play the long game, there is every chance your competitors can and they will win.”

With high fuel prices, inflation and labour shortages, Ewert says companies will be more cautious about how they spend their money and will look for new ways to adapt to the challenging economic business climate to achieve the desired financial results.

“Companies are cancelling their search for candidates and instead, they’re upskilling their existing team with the required skills to help them bring in new clients”.

But having a good sales team is not enough to be competitive and Ewert anticipates that personalisation will be the competitive differentiator.

“Most sales people think in hard times you need to undercut competitors but cutting prices will do more reputational damage to the product, salesperson and your company than if you were to make your customer feel valued and add value to their business.”

“Investing in the customer experience will be a key strategy for withstanding any downturn forecast for 2023.”

Ms Ewert’s 6 business tips to full proof your business in 2023:

Virtual selling will become the norm - It would be easier for organisations to revert to the old ways of doing business by jumping on a plane but tightening budgets will force many companies to return to Zoom or Teams. Employees and in particular sales staff must learn the skill to build relationships online. Selling over email is a deadly sin.

Labour shortage means companies will need to look in-house for skills - Hiring new talent instead of upskilling your current workforce requires a hefty investment of finances, time, and energy, and ultimately leaves you waiting longer to see a return on your investment. New hires can also be risky. Your current staff are trusted, technically strong with product knowledge and enjoy existing relationships – and they’re a good cultural fit.

Shift to focus on finding the ‘right’ clients rather than just ‘any’ client - Right clients have benefits; wrong clients waste your money and bog you down in problems. Working with the wrong kinds of clients can eat up your margin with ‘scope creep’, they can be high maintenance and demanding which can bring out the worst in your staff which negatively impacts your market reputation. Working with the right types of clients ensures that your staff are engaged in rewarding work.

Creativity wins - Customers want better products, better service and better care. They put the highest value on salespeople who make them think, who bring new ideas, and who find creative and innovative ways to help them. Connection wins. Investing in the customer experience will be a key strategy for withstanding any downturn

Nurture loyalty for client longevity - Your existing customers are your best customers because they’re likely to spend more on your products, they maintain your retention rate and their lifetime value keeps increasing with every year they stay loyal - they also refer new clients to you. This is not to say that you shouldn’t prospect for new clients but take into consideration how much it costs acquiring new customers versus taking care of existing clients

A fresh focus on building trust in relationships - If your existing process is designed to tell your prospects about how good you are, then this is a losing strategy. Your prospects don’t care. They don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care. They want to know that they’re heard, they’re being listened to, they’ve had a chance to share what is important to them and they can outline what they expect from your relationship.

Companies that are smart about how they build relationships and connect to their customers will still manage to grow their business, convert sales and close deals.”

“You don’t need to meet someone in person to do business with them but you do need to connect and engage with them and build trust.”

Julia Ewert is a Sales Strategist and Professional Negotiator. Julia teaches effective and practical business skills to companies, to help them accelerate their sales and negotiations. Known as ‘The Negotiator’, Julia applies the same skills used by the FBI in negotiations, to almost every business situation.