How To Grow Your Business During A Recession

Are you wondering how to grow your business during a recession or, are you feeling worried about how to recession proof your business? 

In this week’s deep dive video, I’m going to share my advice and some tips on what you need to be doing to help you grow your business during a recession. 

I’m Lor Bradley, a business strategist and mentor and I’ve started, grown and scaled businesses for myself and other entrepreneurs for almost thirty years. And in my video’s I’m going to show you how. 

Now as an entrepreneur I’m a great believer in keeping calm and carrying on when things take a downturn. But I also like to be armed with simple and practical things to DO to reduce those feelings of uncertainty as much as possible in our businesses when we hit hard times, such as in a recession.

I also firmly believe that to be ‘present’ and standing together with our networks and our customers and supporting each other is what’s going to pull our businesses through what is a time of reframing. And we need to do all these things with a positive frame of mind.

In my group mentoring program, I cover many of these areas in much more detail but I’m going to cover some of these briefly here. 

So without further ado here are practical things you can do right now. I’m going to share with you my 8-step blueprint…

Number 1.  Just Breathe.

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It’s vitally important that you take care of yourself and make that a priority in a downturn so that you can be at your best to fully focus on growing your business. 

• Watch funny films, take mindful walks, connects with friends, read, meditate and so on. Stay positive and keep smiling! I know that’s hard but it’s important to hold onto what’s good when things get tough.
• If your business is a little quieter than usual, think about your personal growth and learning. Dive into a business mentoring program, or anything else that’s been on your To-Do list for some time. 
• If you do fall ill physically or emotionally (or for any reason) think ahead of how you can involve others, perhaps family members or close friends, to support you to keep your business running. 
• For emergencies its always worth having written ‘how to’ pack you could pass on, passwords and so on to someone you trust.

Number 2: Make sure you get a plan together.
Whenever I anticipate a period of uncertainty, I always calmly create a 'Plan B' and by taking a few hours out to do that is going to help your business massively right now. A recession is the time to apply some lateral thinking to consider where, or how you might need to serve your customers a little differently over the coming months, until the economy takes an upturn.

If I ever believe my businesses will take a financial impact of any kind then I will always have a strategy in my back pocket to help me prepare for that, here’s what I do, and what you should do too:
 

• Revisit your Big Picture Vision and your current plans. 
• If you don’t have a plan then create one right now, even if it’s on a scrap of paper, or even if its a simple ‘to do list’ of things to think about.

The reason you want to have a plan is, well, if you don’t know where you are going then you’re very likely to end up in a place you didn’t want to be!

Number 3: Review your business expenses

Take a look over your last few months of business spending and ask yourself “what is absolutely necessary right now for my business”.  

You’ll need to be thinking about cutting your expenses which in turn will enable your business to operate longer during a lean period.

So, here’s my thinking process around that:

• Fine tuning your expenses onto the things that will support your growth is what will support you to grow. 
• Now is the time to reach out and connect with others more than ever so make expenses that enable you to ‘connect’ with others, or market to others a higher priority to KEEP right now.
• If you’re investing in a great business mentor and seeing business growth from their advice, then stick with it.
• Trim down on your nice to have luxuries if you think your business may be at financial risk. 
• If you become worried about your personal or business finances, reach out to your bank, your creditors and to financial counselling for professional advice. Don’t bury your head in the sand.
• And lastly stay on top of your business debtors by following up on late, or unpaid invoices and so on as you’ll need this cash in your bank account!

And once you’ve done all these things you are fine-tuned financially to focus on your growth.

Number 4: Provide an out of this world service to your customers

Now this one is really important.

When times get tough, we tend to gravitate to what we know, who we know and what feels safe for us. And that’s the same for growing a business in a recession. Our customers will naturally want to stay close to what they know, like and trust so do everything you can to provide an incredible and unforgettable level of service.

• Make your customers feel like your business is their safe space. 
• Make it your mission to help them, to serve them and double down on building strong relationships with them. 
• Also check in on your previous customers too as this is an ideal time to rekindle lukewarm relationships and win some follow-on sales.
• Take some time to think about how your paying customers are thinking and feeling. Ask yourself, “is there a better way I can connect with them to serve them better?”

And the reason we do this is, if we forget those who are investing in us then our business is less likely to grow in a recession.

Number 5: Keep Talking and stay connected to Your Tribes.
So, we all have tribes and audiences orbiting around our businesses and in any period of uncertainty, it’s the perfect time to get visible and reach out to communicate. 

• Use this as an opportunity to reframe to them how you'll be maintaining your new version of 'business as usual'. 
• Also, if you lead an online community, you’re going to need to step into those big leadership boots of yours because maintaining a personal connection is going to be really important. Add a splash of humour, be motivating and stay real! 
• Ask yourself, how can I connect and do my bit to lift others up and support them to grow through a recession.
• Supporting your audience during a tough time will be remembered by them.

And the reason we keep talking to our audience is they are more likely to buy from us if we are actively engaging and listening to them.

Number 6. Network, Support, Collaborate and get involved!
A recession is the time for small business owners to support each other by making connections, referring customers, sharing posts, co-working and collaborating. 

• Doing these things ‘virtually’ is a great way to look at new opportunities to pool your skills, support one another and promote each other.
• Spread your net out across social media and dive into connecting with influencers, get podcasting, write guest blogs and look for speaking opportunities.
• Talk to your email subscribers, ask them for recommendations of things they’d like to see you DO.
• Fight the loneliness. It’s easy for our mental health to become affected during a recession. In The 80/20 Club we virtual co-work every week so we have virtual desk buddies and it keeps us productive.
• Get out there and network!
• So, in The 80/20 Club we get together for Happy hour to build close connections, have some fun and talk about WHAT we do and WHO we know. 
• And lastly, if you have employees or a virtual team, think about how you can stay connected, upbeat and informed of what they should be doing do to support you, and each other if you aren’t available.

And the reason staying connected helps you to grow your business during a recession is, without a network around you, you may miss out on opportunities on recommendations, referrals and profitable collaborations.

Number 7. Keep Your Eyes on your Marketplace & Trends.
Changes in the economy during a recession means the competitive landscape will shift for your businesses. 

• By keeping your eyes on what’s happening in your marketplace and in the economy will help you to get savvy and stay one step ahead. 
• In The 80/20 Club group mentoring program we talk about how staying one step ahead will also mean watching similar businesses to yours, and your competitors. 
• Think about what your competitors are doing. How are they responding to the recession? 
• Now, this is about awareness of your marketplace and reframing your business, rather than 'following' or copying others as such.

The reason you understand your competitors to grow during a recession is because you are looking to capitalise on the gaps in the marketplace, your differences and opportunities they may have missed.

Number 8. Refresh Your Offerings
Think about how you can reframe or repurpose your services or product offerings to inject rapid income, by working with your current or past customers. 

• Consider ways to cross-sell, offer new payment options and how you're presenting your offers. 
• Review your offers and focus on what works and sells. Make your best-selling products or services your priority.
• Reach out to your tribe and ask them what you can do for them right now?
• If you’re not yet online, think about creating an online store, or an online calendar booking system.
• Do you have digital products you can sell? Or perhaps could you teach online? 
• Start creating free content or giving potential customers ways to try you for size. Make sure your free content is valuable and actionable.

And you want to refresh your offerings to be responsive to changes in your marketplace and in a prime position to grow your business in line with those changes.
 

So, remember, get planning, keep talking, refresh your direction and continue to stay connected to continue growing your business. 

xo, Lor Bradley