A Rough Quarter Ahead for Salespeople (How To Actually Set More Meetings) | Selling Made Simple

Now, experts agree that there’s a recession looming not too far off on the horizon. How big it will be or how long it will last is anyone’s guess.

But what we do know is how it will affect buyers as a whole.

What a Recession Means

First and foremost…

1. Less Spending

Your clients and potential buyers are spending less money. When money becomes tight (and it will), your buyers are going to be way less likely to shell out for a product they aren’t desperate for.

And that means you need to get better at driving urgency, selling value, and showing buyers why you’re a solid investment.

2. Scared For Their Job

Number two, buyers are scared about the future of their job. Zooming in from a company level, your buyers are going to have their own fears. How secure is their job? Is their department first on the chopping block? And how will making a buying mistake affect their chances of sticking around?

3. Prioritizing the Status Quo

Buyers are also shifting their priorities. In a growth market, companies are looking for opportunities. Chances to get bigger, to get better. They want to expand.

But in the face of a recession, a lot of businesses are looking for ways to secure the status quo. How will they simply keep afloat so they can wait out the storm?

4. Scared of Change

And number four, they’re scared of change. Change carries risk. And as a result, buyers are going to be waaaaay less likely to spend their already tight budget on big-shift products.

Change is already scary enough. But in a recession, it’s a nightmare.

Alright, so with all that in mind, the question becomes…

How to Book More Meetings (3 Steps)

What can you do to capitalize on these shifts to book more meetings?

There are three things in particular you as a sales professional can do to keep your pipeline packed.

1. Up Your Qualification Game

Up your qualification game. When the market is booming, you may have the time and resources to focus on anyone who shows even an ounce of interest. But when times are tight, every second counts. And that means you need to spend your day working with only the best leads.

Now you’re going to be running into three types of leads here.

1. People with money to spend now.
2. People who will have money once things lighten up and get better.
3. And people who don’t have money now and aren’t sure how they’ll be later either.

Your goal is to prioritize people with the money to spend now. Put 80% to 90% of your efforts into them. Because they’re the only ones who you’ll have even a chance with.

The buyers who are waiting for the economy to shift should be priority number two. Don’t leave them out entirely. Because once things do turn around, the relationship you’ve built right now can lead to some seriously massive quarters in the future.

And finally, the “can’t do now, not sure about later” leads. Light touches here. Keep them in your loop for now. But don’t spend too much time with them. Instead, just follow up after everything changes. And invest the bulk of your time in the first two lead types instead.

The better you are at qualifying, the better you’ll fare right now.

2. Adjusting Your Value Proposition

Technique number two is adjusting your value proposition.

In regular times, you’re probably used to hitting some core points when talking about your solution’s benefits.

“It can increase revenue, help your company expand, grow your market” – that type of stuff. Go-tos, right? Well, things have changed. And in a recession, belts are tightening and growing takes a back seat to maintaining.

So what does that mean for you?

To maximize your booking rate, you need to shift your value proposition to how you can help get more from less. Instead of focusing on ROI and investing in growth, talk about how you can boost efficiency. How your product lets them cut costs, reduce time spend, and make the budget they have now go further.

And as a cherry on the top, show your buyers how your solution doesn’t just streamline the business as a whole. It also means it’ll make their job more secure.

3. Demonstrate the “Costs”

Status quo reigns supreme during a recession, that much is clear. But your buyers shouldn’t just be focused on not growing. They should also be looking for ways to prevent problems.

Not acting in and of itself is a problem, particularly during a recession. Companies will go under. And the ones that survive SHOULD actively be looking for ways to increase their competitiveness.

So when you’re working on a new buyer, be sure to hit the costs of not changing especially hard. The more they see that inaction is costly, the more likely they’ll be to consider your solution.

right now and continue making selling simple…”