Navigating a Risk-Averse Market: Strategies for Sales Leaders

In times of economic downturn, even the most skilled sales professionals find it challenging to secure deals. Companies tend to cut back on non-essential spending as they strive to deliver swift returns on investment, and even the most loyal customers may start exploring more affordable alternatives. Despite these challenges, certain businesses can still close deals — or, at the very least, position themselves for future sales once the market inevitably rebounds. How do they do it? We’re here to show you how.

Know the worth of your product — and charge accordingly

Devaluing your product to meet the needs of a risk-averse market can be a tempting strategy to attract price-sensitive customers. However, this approach can be detrimental to your business in the long term. By lowering your prices, you risk diluting your brand's value proposition and creating a perception that your product is of lower quality — which can make it challenging to raise prices back to their pre-recession levels once the economy improves. 

Instead of slashing prices, focus on enhancing the value of your product and communicating its unique benefits to customers, or even offering additional services — such as extended guarantees or a white-glove onboarding experience. This approach can help you maintain your brand's reputation and keep your customers loyal even during tough economic times.

Focus on quality over quantity

In a risk-averse market, it can be tempting to rush and meet quotas, rather than personalizing each engagement and making individual customers feel seen and supported. At Crystal, we know that quality trumps quantity — and that holds true especially during a down-market. 

During turbulent economic times, it’s imperative that you double down on your customer retention efforts. Keeping a customer is always less expensive than acquiring a new one, so before you rush to sell to new customers, a good defensive strategy is ensuring your customer base is happy and well-serviced. 

With Crystal, you get access to personality-based guidance for every email, call, and meeting — for both existing and new customers. This way, you can spend time communicating with your long-term customers in a way that feels personal and authentic to them.

Consider automation to maximize efficiency 

Automation can significantly enhance productivity for sales reps in a risk-averse market. By automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks such as data entry, lead qualification, and follow-up emails, sales reps can focus on higher-value activities such as building relationships with prospects and closing deals. 

Additionally, automation can help sales teams identify new opportunities, forecast sales trends, and track performance metrics more efficiently. This can provide sales leaders with real-time visibility into their team's activities, enabling them to make data-driven decisions and optimize their sales strategies. 

Automating data entry and lead management can help reps spend 15% to 20% more time selling, leading to more closed deals — a win for your company any time, but especially during an economic recession.

Make sure your team is taken care of

Unfortunately, rep burnout is common during uncertain times, which is why it is important for sales leaders to focus on supporting and uplifting employees during periods of economic downturn. According to an Indeed survey of US workers who had switched jobs at least twice since the start of the pandemic, 92% said the pandemic made them feel life is too short to stay in a job they weren’t passionate about. 

Sales leaders should take steps to ensure their team not only feels secure, but celebrated. Encourage work-life balance by offering flexible work arrangements or providing mental health resources, provide training and support to help your team manage burnout, and recognize and reward excellent performance. 

Furthermore, it’s important to take the time to get to know your team on a person-to-person level. Crystal offers personality insights for not only external communication but also internal communication, so sales leaders are able to learn and harness the strengths of their team, improve their one-on-one meetings, and become better, more empathetic leaders.

By taking these steps, companies can help to ensure their sales reps are taken care of during times of burnout, leading to a more engaged and motivated sales team — no matter the season. 

Knowing your audience is critical in risk-averse market 

Navigating a risk-averse market requires a strategic approach that prioritizes customer value, quality communication, automation, and employee well-being. With the right mindset and tools, sales leaders can position their teams for success and even capitalize on opportunities for growth. Crystal’s personality-based guidance helps companies scale — so quality communication, empathy, and 1:1 connections are never lost.

Learn how Crystal can help your team thrive in a risk-averse market by creating your free account at www.crystalknows.com/app/register.