Your Business vs The Recession, Which Will Win?
NO MATTER WHAT ECONOMIC CONDITIONS, HERE ARE THE Three AREAS YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS TO WIN TO realize growth
by Jennifer Martin, Founder Leadership Well Done
According to the GDP report released last Thursday, real GDP fell for a second straight quarter by 0.9% signaling a possible economic recession. Coupled with the steep rise of inflation and the decrease in consumer confidence, the current economic slowdown has many small to mid-size businesses concerned.
The good news is that even with the economy struggling to find momentum plenty of opportunities remain. A disruption in habitual consumer patterns caused by the tightening of discretionary spending could force new market leaders to emerge based on value, which is never predicated strictly on cost. In working with businesses across a multitude of industries, I’ve seen those companies who can best deliver in the following three areas not only survive numerous economic conditions, but experience realized growth.
1. Customer Relevance
Your customers really don’t want your product/service at all, what they want is the outcome, or progress in their lives, it provides.
In fact, within the minds of your customers there exists a goal that is independent of any product or service. Their struggle to make progress on that goal is what causes them to pull your product/service into their life.
This customer pull follows a predictable pattern starting with a first thought of “how life could be better”, and continuing through exploration, tradeoffs, decision making, buying and ultimately satisfaction/dissatisfaction measured against their original goal.
Identifying certain timeline touchpoints complete with causative events will allow you to best discover how and why your customers buy.
Once you understand both your customers’ processes and requirements you can then measure your own customer relevance by analyzing (1) how well your products/services fit into your customer’s lives and (2) how much value they provide.
Especially with a looming recession, it’s important to get customer relevance right. How well your company both meets their desired progress and provides the value mix they’re looking for will be critical to sustaining company growth.
2. Customer Experience
It’s not enough to be good at what you do, you must also be focused on how you do it. The marketplace has switched from a knowledge-based model, where companies that held the most knowledge also held the most power, to an experience driven economy. The overwhelming use of the internet as well as extended social media networks, have given customers access to more choices than ever before and they can quickly determine if a company’s core values line up with their own.
Customers want more than just a transactional relationship; they want ease of use when purchasing and have a greater expectation on engagement.
Think of customer relevance as establishing the baseline for customer expectations, and customer experience the key factor in exceeding them.
Those companies who can best help customers overcome anxieties of first use, consistently make the entire purchase and use process simple for them, deliver on core values and look for any opportunity to recognize their needs and wow them with extra care and support will immediately see an increase in the intangible differentiator of perceived customer value.
As you continue to position people as your primary focus and extend the human element back into customer interactions, you will not only create loyal customers, potentially cutting back on costly new client acqusiton, but turn your existing clients into your greatest asset as raving brand ambassadors with exponential growth.
3. Messaging that Connects and Converts
On average you have four seconds to answer two customer questions: (1) What do you do? and (2) Can you help “me” make progress on my goals?
If your messaging either causes confusion or, worse yet, causes conflict by positioning your company as the hero in the story versus your customer, you will fail to either connect or convert.
Communication wireframes should speak to what your customers want, the functional/emotional/social and philosophical needs they have and the problems you help solve to create a story where your clients can relate.
Then it’s your turn to position yourself, not as the hero, but as the trusted guide. Leading with empathy and authority, providing simple steps for them to take action and painting a clear picture of what success will look like and the failures you help them avoid.
By eliciting this type of transportive narrative, customers will become personally and emotionally engaged in the story and be driven to act.
Communicating customer relevance and experience in a meaningful way directly impacts customer connection and drives their purchasing behavior. Especially in a possible recession, where customers are quick to determine value and businesses are competing for every dollar, this kind of communication becomes imperative to position products/services correctly against competitors and cut through marketplace noise.
Think for a moment of your favorite businesses, the ones that you’re happy to recommend to friends, chances are these businesses are good at what they do, you’ve had a great experience with them and the way they communicate with you has you convinced you are what is most important in truly understanding your problems and wanting to help.
Recession or not, remembering to stay customer-centric with all your products/services helps your bottomline. You can have great products/services and even craft the most brilliant and informative content ever, but if you don’t align your products/services to the hearts and minds of your customers in these three areas you simply cannot win.