What is your sales recession plan? More importantly, what is your plan to break out and hit the ground running when we come out of an economic downturn?

Every sales organization needs a strategic plan for how to deal with a crisis. Whether it’s a global crisis like COVID-19 or a smaller economic downturn, you need to be prepared for the impact it will have on your sales team and organization as a whole.

In this post, our Toronto sales recruiters provide you with some tips to ensure your sales team comes out strong after an economic downturn:

1. Provide Reassurance to Your Sales Team

This is an essential first step to ensure your sales team stays strong during difficult times. Naturally, your sales reps and other people within the organization are going to be concerned about their jobs. This is in addition to worrying about their families, health, and maybe even how they are going to pay their bills. It’s very important to be honest about the status of the company.

Communicate regularly and provide them with reassurance about what you are doing to minimize the impact of the downturn on operations. Speak about how the situation is affecting the business. Be transparent about the plans and strategies you’ll enact to deal with the crisis. Tell employees about how the crisis will affect their jobs.

Make concessions and adjust operations to support your team. Consider offering more flexible schedules. Allow people to work from home (if possible). Talk about how you will cut costs to keep your sales team working.

2. Work on Relationships With Your Customers and Business Partners

Just like your sales reps need some reassurance about their status, so will your customers and strategic business partners. An economic downturn is not the time to go radio silent. It’s vital you stay in contact with your customers and everyone you do business with. Communicate any changes to operations, how the business will be affected by the crisis, and how things could be affected in the future. Work closely with each individual customer to ensure they get the service and solutions they need. Offer custom solutions and work collaboratively to find unique solutions.

Most importantly, keep them updated as things change. A change to your operations can affect them directly. Send out regular communications or create an update board on your website.

Make sure your sales team is part of this process. You may have to shift your strategy from sales to more of a support role. Proving your worth and value during trying times will ensure you still have a strong customer base once you come out of the economic downturn.

3. Make Adjustments to Your Sales Process

A crisis will undoubtedly cause you to take a second look at your sales process. You’ll need to shift your focus and also look for ways to cut costs. A crisis is a time to cut out any unnecessary activities that are costing you extra funds. Look for ways to save time and save money.

Think about tasks and projects that can be put on hold. Cut out unnecessary travel and sales meetings. Look for ways to take your team’s productivity to the next level. Consider task automation, look for more agile ways to adjust strategies, and use analytics to identify tasks that are not in alignment with your goals.

4. Monitor Risk Ongoing

Things change quickly during a crisis. Therefore, it important to perform an ongoing risk assessment to ensure your sales team is prepared and protected. Failure to be proactive could put your sales team at risk. The ability to address threats to your business and enact strategies to manage them will ensure you have minimal impact on your team.

5. What’s Your Plan for the Next Time?

You will learn a lot about your operations and sales team during leaner times. You have a better idea of what steps to take, what measures to enact, and how to make changes to your sales team. It will also provide you with insights into the type of people you want to have on your sales team in the future.

Use what you learned and create a plan. What worked? What didn’t? How can you ensure your sales team will come out even stronger next time?

Once things recover, provide your sales team with the training they need to manage the sales crisis more effectively on an individual level.

6. Do the Work Now

The key to ensuring your sales team comes out strong after the economic downturn is to do the work now. Make adjustments, have a plan to manage the situation currently, train your team, and take the right steps now so your sales team will be strong and ready to get back to business as usual once the economy recovers.

More Advice to Manage Your Sales Team During Difficult Times

An economic downturn and crisis situations like COVID-19 are challenging. Taking the right steps now is the key to ensuring your sales team is strong when things take a turn for the better. Here are some other insightful blogs from Toronto sales headhunters, filled with tips and advice to lead your sales team:

8 Ways to Be a Proactive Sales Leader During a Crisis

7 Tips for Closing Sales in an Economic Downturn

6 Tips for Managing a Remote Sales Team

7 Ways to Be a Leader in a Time of Crisis

Don’t Give Up! 4 Ways to Salvage a Sale

6 Ways to Come Back From a Drop in Sales

7 Innovative Tactics Sales Pros Can Learn From the Marketing Department

SalesForce Search is a Toronto sales recruiting company which specializes in the recruitment and placement of sales professionals. We recruit salespeople in every sector of the economy including, software, manufacturing, financial services and medical devices. Find the right salesperson for your organization, start your search here.