FEATURE: How to maintain business growth during recession

Unfortunately, a recession has long been expected in the UK.

This is largely due to the economic impacts of Covid-19 among other global factors, such as the conflict in Ukraine.

Lots of different factors contribute to the health of an economy, making it hard to pinpoint one specific factor.

Now, reports show that a recession is taking shape imminently.

As a result, businesses will be preparing for the tough times ahead, as was seen back in the 2007 financial crisis.

Here are steps you can take, as a business-owner, to help tackle what is to come.

Enhancing customer experience
Customer experience is everything when it comes to a successful business.

It has the potential to make or break reputations too.

Particularly during tricky times, people value kindness and positive experiences with strangers – and it’s also more likely to generate repeat customers if staff build rapport with them.

We saw this pattern throughout the pandemic, where people were channelling their support towards local independent businesses especially.

This doesn’t mean to say that positive customer experience with staff at larger companies doesn’t go a long way as well.

There was nationwide support towards key workers at supermarkets for example.

Revising products and services
It may be worth doing a complete overhaul of how you appeal to customers under these new circumstances.

For example, you may decide to focus on any budget options within your goods and service offering.

Sometimes it’s a case of angling your messaging and marketing so that customers are still drawn to your business despite everything.

Some products may simply not be performing well and may be worth removing entirely due to the length of time recessions tend to last.

It may be that you’re able to reintroduce them at some point, but while they aren’t generating substantial profits, they won’t help the overall health of your business.

Spreading things thinly won’t be of use during these times.

Enhancing your team with more experts
By teaming up with a consultancy firm to help with specific services, you could be in a better position to knuckle down during a recession.

They will be able to provide you with ongoing support to help you navigate the length of the recession, such as financial admin.

Otherwise, if you’re able to employ someone internally to assist with your finances, this may be beneficial.

It may be that other companies have had to make redundancies, meaning a valuable pool of talent is out there looking for work.

You won’t experience the same level of competition for talent during a recession, so it’s worth noting this if you think that recruiting someone will benefit you.

Do you have any further insight to share? Feel free to add any comments down below.

(pic by lukas blazek – unsplash licence free)