Right now it’s tough for businesses across the country, and Cheshire is no different. Businesses are being hit by a wave of inflation while consumer confidence is falling through the floor. In this environment, only the strongest professional services businesses will survive.
But, what if you want to buck the trend? How can you not only survive but, more than that, thrive and grow in the downturn?
There is a famous story that Kellogg’s, the cereal company, entered in the Great Depression in 1930s America as a fairly unknown brand. But they continued to invest in marketing – while their competitors cut back. The result? They not only managed to continue growing but, more than that, entered up becoming the most popular cereal in the US.
So, how can you do the same? Here are some hints and tips to continue growing, even in a downturn.
1. Look at new sectors
You might want to look at selling your existing services into new sectors. On one hand, this might be looking at sectors connected to the ones that you already operate in, and starting to target these industries through marketing, business development, and proactive sales. As the businesses operating in these sectors are already very close to the type of companies that you sell to already, the jump should, hopefully, be much easier.
On the other hand, you might want to look at new emergent sectors that are only just picking up steam now: biotechnology, AI, and virtual reality. Could your services be relevant to these new and fast-growing sectors? If so, there might be an opportunity to steal a march you your competitors, and capture these industries before your peers catch on.
2. Take advantage of thought leadership
You might want to also consider taking advantage of new forms of marketing. One new popular form of marketing is b2b thought leadership, where a company or its executives establish themselves through content as the go-to experts on a particular topic. This might be through producing multimedia content, writing blog posts, securing media coverage, or building social media followings.
For example, many law and accountancy firms have had success positioning their team members as experts on specific areas of law or accountancy, which means that their partners are the first people their customers think of when they come up against a particular problem in that area of expertise.
3. Leverage new marketing channels
The marketing landscape is constantly evolving. This makes it very difficult to keep track of where you should be investing your money to secure new customers. But it also unlocks new opportunities for you as a company: if you keep your eye out for new marketing channels that your competitors might not have taken advantage of yet, you might just find out that you are the only one speaking to your customers there.
Social media is a case in point. Just one or two years ago, the new hot social media network was Instagram. But today that has quickly been overtaken by TikTok and you find that even the most corporate of professional services companies have launched accounts on the network. A number of services firms have also started to target the metaverse, literally launching digital offices in virtual worlds.
4. Unlock new partnerships
Old tactics to grow your business continue to work well too. One of the best ways to grow your sales pipeline is signing new partnerships with other companies that can refer you regular business. The first step to unlocking new partnerships is to think about your perfect client’s journey: what other companies will they be talking to when they might need your services? This could be estate agents, estate planners, lawyers, or something else entirely.
Once you have identified the types of companies that they will be talking to, now you can start thinking about way to market directly to these businesses and start conversations with them. It might be possible to do this through direct outreach, advertising, or attending networking events. Once you have a target company in front of yourself, don’t beat around the bush but, instead, explain how a partnership would help both sides.
5. Add new services
Finally, one sure-fire way to drive growth is to expand your existing service offering in new ways. In some cases, this might not be easy because it may require upskilling team members to provide new services, investing in new equipment, or even recruiting new members of staff, but this investment can pay off if you launch the right allied services.
So, what services should you think about launching? There are two ways to think about this. Firstly, what type of services do your existing clients need that they are currently going elsewhere for at the moment. You have a pool of demand on your doorstep, which it might be easy to convert into regular revenue.
On the other hand, what services could you launch that you could use to attract completely new customers, which you could then, over time, sell your existing services. It cuts both ways.
In total, the next 12 months and beyond will be difficult for all professional services businesses, including those in Cheshire. But if you take advantage of some of the tips and tactics in this article, there might just be a way to buck the trend and grow in spite of the economic uncertainty.
