Analysts at Morgan Stanley have announced that the US may just skirt the predicted recession in 2023, but Europe will not be so lucky. Elon Musk has been loudly calling for the entire business community to get ready for a recession. To cap it all, Forbes magazine now has a recession tracker to help answer the question ‘are we in a recession yet?’
The economic news is gloomy. There are some industries that have bounced back into action since the pandemic, but everyone is now affected by high-interest rates and inflation. A recession is not yet confirmed, but economic uncertainty is.
So how do you recession-proof your business? First, there is a need to review your business processes. Where can efficiency be created immediately without affecting your products or customer relationships? Then it’s worth taking a closer look at all those processes that create the interface between you and your customers.
A few examples of areas to focus on include:
- Can you reduce costs without affecting the customer experience? Are there great self-service options you can introduce, such as ‘how-to’ videos on YouTube or chatbots to capture out-of-hours customer questions? How can you help the customer to find the information they need without even needing to call for help?
- Can you build greater customer loyalty? Can you deliver interactions that support the customer and give them confidence in your products? Many customers now value a seamless experience far more than a loyalty card and points that are impossible to spend – make it easy for the customer and they will recommend you to friends.
- Can you get closer to what your customers want? Can you use insight into your customer preferences to create special offers and deals designed for the individual? You know what they buy, when, and how often. You know what they don’t like. Now can you build insight into patterns of behaviour that will allow you to retain business, by predicting when a customer is about to cancel, or generate more revenue by predicting the best time to create a time-limited offer?
- Can you build greater general resilience into your business? Covid showed us all that one unexpected change can affect every process in a business. Can you spread risk across the business by working with different regions or even creating a more distributed workforce? Can you avoid the problems of the past by exploring how to design a business that can withstand shock in the future?
Every company leader should consider reviewing these processes as we head into an uncertain economic climate. The good news is that having all this under control now will also help when the recovery begins – just imagine the value of already being focused on customer loyalty when confidence starts returning.
These actions may be designed as mitigation against the effect of a recession in the short term, but they will make your business stronger in the future. These are not just strategies that look good on the page. These are processes and strategies that Quantanite has delivered for clients many times in the past. Check our website here for case studies and more opinions and ideas from our team. Feel free to share your thoughts with our Marketing Team, [email protected], or get in touch with me directly via my LinkedIn.
CC Photo by Robert Ruggiero