Changing your pitch during a recession

For context: I started my sales career July 2008. The first 18 or so months were the worst period in the US economy until... today :/

When companies are instituting hiring freezes, layoffs, and budget cuts, you may think it's futile to try and close new deals. But you would be wrong.

Companies still MUST grow or they will end up shutting down. And if you cannot just throw money after people or Google Ads anymore, companies have to get more creative in how they increase revenue.

This is your golden opportunity as a sales professional. It takes 3 "simple" (as in, nothing is actually simple about sales..but the method is fairly straightforward) steps to sell in today's environment:

1. Resonate - You have to come off as authoritative. Say things like "every CFO and CEO is looking for ways to cut to spend, including painful measures like laying off employees. But they are still trying to find ROI positive ways to grow their revenue despite the downturn."
2. Perception-Shift - "While many of our customers have reduced spend with us or have put a pause on their subscription, there's actually a handful that are doubling-down. They realize that their competitors can't spend to grow right now either, so this is the perfect time to leapfrog them for pennies on the dollar."
3. Example - "For example, XX client was struggling to hire Tier 1 salespeople because they didn't have fancy investors or overpay on comp. But with hiring freezes, they are now able to attract a much higher-quality sales rep for the same price...and with 0 competition. So when things turn around in 2-4 months, they will be far stronger than they were before the recession."

Happy selling.