When the economy hits a rough patch, chances are your sales will as well. To navigate these uncertain times, your team needs to reconsider the way they’re selling and pivot their strategy to meet buyers’ expectations.
To master selling in an uncertain economy, you need to create a strategy that considers and navigates the anxieties your buyers may experience. A well-crafted strategy can help your team stabilize their sales numbers, stand out from the competition, and better address buyer concerns that would otherwise lead to a loss.
Economic Issues Affecting Sales
Before you can adjust your strategy, you first need to know why your buyers may not be making purchasing decisions lightly — or at all. Understanding the way economic uncertainty impacts buyers will inform your sales strategy and help your team prepare for potential roadblocks.
Cautionary Budgeting
For many businesses, the first response to economic uncertainty is to tighten their budget. Some buyers may implement an all-out budgetary freeze to avoid making any non-essential purchases. As organizations redirect funds into essential business operations, they may be less likely to start a new business relationship with your sales team.
Unpredictability Around the Fed
When it comes to the cost of goods and services, the influence of the Federal Reserve is an uncontrollable factor every business must keep in mind. As of July 2024, the Federal Funds Rate was at 5.33% — the highest effective federal funds rate in more than 20 years, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
A high rate means businesses have to pay more to borrow money, and the cost of goods and services increases as well, reducing the demand your sales team can capitalize on.
Anxiety Surrounding Cash Flow
Just as budgetary and financing issues impact your sales, they also affect your buyers’ revenue stream. Businesses having trouble acquiring funds either through their own sales or financing are less inclined to make purchases that could put their cash flow at risk.
How an Uncertain Economy Impacts the Sales Process
To navigate an uncertain economy, your buyers will adjust the way they approach each purchase. Your sales team will likely encounter a higher degree of scrutiny from buyers throughout your sales funnel, and, as a result, each purchasing decision will carry greater weight for decision-makers.
This elevated pressure may cause some changes to buying behavior, such as:
- Longer sales cycles: According to the Consensus 2024 Sales Engineering Compensation & Workload Report, the average sales cycle is around six months long. However, 20% of sales cycles are a year or longer. These longer cycles are often due to an increase in stakeholders and demos required to close. The longer your sales cycle, the more opportunities for your buyers to change their mind about your product. What’s more, your selling costs increase because you must dedicate a greater number of resources over time to close a deal.
- More stakeholders: The 2024 SE report also found that there has been a 19% increase in stakeholders per deal — rising from 4.8 to 5.9 on average. Buyers are likely adding stakeholders due to the increased importance of each purchasing decision. As this number rises, your team will have a harder time closing each decision-maker and personalizing sales content using traditional methods.
- Increased sales funnel volatility: The pressure on purchasing decisions is extremely high during times of economic uncertainty. This makes it difficult for your team to nurture leads all the way through your sales funnel. This is particularly true with new leads, which don’t have any existing loyalty to or knowledge of your product.
While these adjustments may be challenging to navigate, the right tactics can help your team improve their selling capabilities while insulating your business against economic volatility.
Adjusting to Selling in an Uncertain Economy
Maintaining or boosting sales in an uncertain market requires your team to re-evaluate the way they approach the sales process. Consider a complete revamp of your strategy, as traditional sales ideals may no longer work as effectively under the pressure of volatile economic conditions.
Implementing the following tactics can help you increase your sales odds, protect your financial interests, and adjust your strategy to meet shifting buyer expectations.
Reduce Sales Costs
During unstable economic conditions, your team can’t afford to burn resources unnecessarily. That’s why it’s important to optimize your sales process when selling in an uncertain economy to reduce your overall sales costs. Consider investing in digital solutions designed to reduce the work required by your team to close a sale.
Solutions like demo automation significantly reduce your team’s workload by offering buyers access to demos at their convenience. These solutions can help your team qualify leads, sort out uninterested buyers, accelerate your sales cycle, and even provide analytic insights into your customer data. Through these benefits, you can slash your sales costs and improve your team’s overall efficiency.
Diversify Sales Channels
To gain the attention of cautious prospects, you may need to rethink how you approach potential customers. One way to do this is to diversify your sales channels using tactics such as:
- Increasing your engagement on social media
- Empowering channel partners to make them an extension of your brand
- Pivoting your sales tactics to an omnichannel approach
This new strategy allows you to meet customers where they’re interacting with brands most. Buyers can then access information at their convenience and make a more informed decision when it comes time to interact with your team.
Emphasize Product Value and Personalization
An essential part of selling in an uncertain economy is highlighting the value your product has for customers. This goes beyond discussing top features and differentiating capabilities. Selling has become more personal, and your team must show buyers that your product can solve their unique problems.
The challenge here is that having more stakeholders per deal requires your team to meet more buyer expectations. To achieve this, you need solutions that can offer personalized content for each buyer without overwhelming your salespeople. Solutions like interactive video demos let each stakeholder in a buyer group customize their content to discover the exact value of your product and how it will meet their specific needs.
Nurture Existing Relationships
While it may be tempting to focus your attention on building a larger customer base during times of economic uncertainty, your existing clients are actually some of your most valuable assets. These buyers are already aware of your value, which makes them more likely to convert again through upsell or cross-selling opportunities. Compare this to the time and effort involved in qualifying a new lead, educating them on your product, and moving them through the sales funnel.
Keeping a pulse on your existing buyer relationships — and making sure they’re happy with your product — ensures a stable revenue stream and creates opportunities to increase the value each customer brings to your bottom line.
Recession-Proof Your Strategy With Insights From Consensus
While these tips can help you boost your sales resilience when selling in an uncertain economy, truly improving your sales strategy requires continued education using knowledge from industry experts. Discover more insights from the top minds in the sales world on our blog, with our webinars, and through our research.
