Growth isn’t always revenue and headcount.
6 Transformative Business Focuses When Times are Slow.
As a business owner, I’m sure I’m not the only one who has commonly measured monetary metrics as my primary benchmark for success.
For some of you, it goes like this:
When sales are slow or declining, you’re failing. When sales are up, company issues seem to fix themselves.
At least that’s how we perceive it.
And in tough economic climates like what we’re currently walking through, where there seems to a be a fresh set of fortune 500 layoffs every other week, the focus for many turns to cost-cutting and revenue grabbing at all costs. Reactionary tactics like these drive us even deeper into the myopic view of growth I’m describing.
But here’s what I’m realizing.
Sometimes it takes a slow period to afford your company the coveted resource of time to invest in critically important areas that typically take the back-burner. It’s like a forced sabbath for your entire organization. A time to rest, refocus, and redefine what actually matters.
At Brave, we’ve outlined 6 healthy growth focuses that will better position us (and you) for partnership with the right customers at the right time.
1.) Brand Voice:
Starting with the one we’ve neglected most frequently on this list, a consistent brand voice can differentiate a company from its competitors like nothing else. And though it’s a tactic we take more seriously for our clients than ourselves, audiences connect with brands that have a unique voice and values that align with their own.
Our advice in the mirror: take a fresh inventory record, refine your brand voice, revisit your verbal and visual identity to ensure your public positioning is aligned with your internal reality and aspiration, leverage customer interviews to assess how your brand is perceived in the market and adjust accordingly.
2.) Customer Sentiment:
Understanding customer sentiment is a secret sauce for long-term growth, and a lull in business is the perfect opportunity to gather necessary feedback, strengthen relationships, and deliver over-and-above service.
These efforts have a ripple effect in the long run in two critical ways.
1.) Customers will remember their positive experience and continue to be an advocate of your product or service even after the market bounces back.
2.) You increase the chances of a customer recommending you to a colleague down the road, yielding an even greater ROI than just repeat business.
3.) Employee Development:
One of the greatest spends of time, energy, and resources you will ever reap from as a business owner is in training and development opportunities for your employees. This investment can lead to a more skilled and engaged workforce, better equipped to handle the unique and unexpected challenges of the future.
Better employees lead to more satisfied customers and you can guess what that leads to.
Simply put, when your team feels valued, they produce value. As an added bonus, fulfilled employees lead to higher retention rates and ultimately equals savings on the costs associated with turnover.
4.) Customer Appreciation:
The value of keeping loyal customers happy should not be overlooked. But what might customer appreciation look like for you?
- If you have a few major clients that bring in big business for you, take the time to send over a custom gift, tailored specifically to their known interests and story.
- If you have a larger volume of customers and a multitude of custom gifts isn’t realistic, then perhaps opt for sending virtual gift cards for a small treat like coffee ‘on you’. The thought really does count in this case.
- If your business is comprised of a large amount of customers, and monetary spending isn’t in the budget, even something as simple as sending a thank you letter or email can still be a sincere personalized touch that shows you’re thinking of them.
Additionally, if your company has a social media presence, consider showing some customer love on your social channels as an added way to show a client or customer that you value them.
5.) Innovation:
They say necessity is the mother of invention. During scarce times, the truth in that statement rings especially loud. Focus on researching and developing new products or services that will resonate with customers, or, use this time to improve on your existing products and services by codifying your processes, zooming out to measure the real value you provide and the actual problems you solve.
By focusing on innovation over efficiency in controlled spurts, real creative firepower can emerge when you least expect it.
6.) Content Creation:
If cash is king, content is emperor. Building brand awareness, establishing thought leadership, and engage with your target audiences is the new currency of the modern digital age.
Starting a blog or podcast may seem daunting, but it can be a relatively low-cost way to establish your company’s voice and attract a loyal following that eventually translates into revenue.
The key to successful content creation is to provide value to the audience. Create content that addresses your customers’ pain points, answers their questions, and provides insights into their industry. When you’re seen as a trusted resource, your voice carries weight. That’s a powerful edge to have in any market climate.
Final Thoughts:
By taking a holistic approach to growth in times of recession, we give our companies a fighting chance to emerge stronger and more prepared on the other side. Instead of panic and haste, I encourage you to look at these strange circumstances as an opportunity for reinvestment rather than reactionary hustle.
Trust the process if the process builds trust.
About Brave People
We help our client partners look ahead to what doesn’t yet exist by bringing their digital products to life and driving shared value for everyone involved. Through our tailored engagement models, growing organizations have the power to scale their design and technology support up or down based on short and long-term business needs.
