17 ways to improve your company’s growth strategy in tough times

Your business, like many other companies, may be struggling to get ahead in an uncertain economy, but there is hope. You don’t have to stay stuck.

Pivoting from a negative mindset about what’s to come in the future for your business is the first step. Now, you must put a practical plan into place that will help you strengthen your trust with loyal customers and promote brand re-engagement at the same time.

Here, 17 Fast Company Executive Board members propose their best practices to help turn the situation around in no time, even during a slow economy.

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1. FOCUSING ON AN ‘EVERGREEN’ VALUE AND LONG-TERM VISION

It’s crucial to focus on an “evergreen” value and long-term vision (e.g., social value, environmental impact, simple goodness for humanity). Capital may be shortsighted but true investment is for the collective future. Exceed your consumer demands and tighten your supply chain. Identify opportunities others miss due to resource constraints and poor planning. – Doug Lui, Aptera Motors

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2. DEMONSTRATING FISCAL PRUDENCE

Fiscal prudence is essential for companies of all sizes, and it doesn’t mean only cutting down on discretionary spending. It requires employees at all levels across the company to strive for maximizing utilization out of every dollar spent, being able to differentiate between must-haves and good-to-haves, and reducing costs through consolidation. – Vineet Jain, Egnyte Inc.

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3. IDENTIFYING SCALABLE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS

Scalability is important to understand in business. Is this investment a one-off or a scalable solution? This rings true for all functions of a company, which includes product, sales, and marketing. Determine whether the growth adds to short-term results or long-term play. Most successful companies can deploy a mix with a much larger portion geared toward the longer term. – Dave Dickman, Tagger Media

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4. ADAPTING TO MARKET REALITIES AND EMPATHIZING WITH CUSTOMERS

Always focus on value propositions and adapt to market realities to stay relevant. Try to empathize with your customers, because they are also facing the same slow economy that you are experiencing. Treat the economic challenges as an opportunity to test the hypothesis of your company’s value proposition in relevance to your customers. – Sandeep Shilawat, ADI Infocon

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5. DOUBLING DOWN ON LEAD GENERATION

Doubling down on lead generation can be a great way to maintain growth. While it’s easy to become complacent in a strong economy, challenging times present opportunities to update case studies, strengthen partnerships, and enhance lead sources. A proactive approach not only supports our positioning in a slow economy but also prepares us for a stronger outlook when economic conditions improve. – Cam Wilkie, func.media

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6. BEING ABLE TO PIVOT QUICKLY

The secret weapon we’ve relied on when facing the current economic conditions is our ability to pivot quickly. Pivoting doesn’t always necessitate a major shift in strategy or focus; it can be as simple as adapting as quickly as possible to evolving client and market needs and expectations. Companies that are nimble and can make adjustments are the ones that can find growth in challenging times. – Nihal Advani, QualSights

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7. BUILDING CUSTOMER LOYALTY AND TRUST OVER IMMEDIATE SALES

Recognize that true customer loyalty withstands the test of time, even in a slow economy. Take this time to build and cement a solid relationship with your customers on an individual basis, with VIP experiences, early access, and personalized outreaches. A smart strategy always prioritizes establishing trust over immediate sales. – Sara Varni, Attentive

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8. ELEVATING EXISTING SYSTEMS

Focus on the incremental improvement of existing systems. Regardless of the growing practice, whether it’s paid media, email marketing, cold calling, attending events, or posting on social media, keep on keeping on. Do the work. Become better at it. Don’t stop. Learn more about your customers’ needs. Understand the language that motivates a buyer. Adjust the opportunity as needed. Get 1% better every day. – Robert Brill, Brill Media

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9. PRIORITIZING BUSINESS RESILIENCE OVER BUSINESS GROWTH

One strategy is prioritizing business resilience over business growth. Recent data shows that more CEOs are putting preparation plans in place for physical threats, like extreme weather, over economic inflation. These threats will become more frequent, regardless of economic stability. Fortifying operations to mitigate the impact of threats keeps businesses agile, even in a sudden economic downturn. – Mark Herrington, OnSolve

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10. ADDRESSING THE ‘ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM’

We improve our company’s growth by simply talking about “the elephant in the room.” Instead of ignoring it, we’ve always embraced it because, more often than not, it’s actually the topic or issue that resonates most with clients at the time. They feel that we really care about what’s important to them. Even during difficult times, it’s been the main reason that we’ve been able to consistently grow our client base. – Kevin Neff, Kevin Makes Sense Media

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11. FINDING CLIENT SOLUTIONS DURING AN ECONOMIC DOWNTURN

One proven strategy we have utilized in my company’s expansion in the past is determining the cause of the economic downturn and then offering clients a solution. This way proved to be extremely instrumental. Not only did additional business come in, but many looked to us for further solutions. – Antoine Sallis, THE GREAT AMERICAN CREDIT SECRET

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12. EMBRACING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

We have fully embraced AI, using tools like FlyMSG.io, Content at Scale, and ChatGPT to aid us in everything from content creation to customer service. It saves an enormous amount of time and allows us to function in a more streamlined way while being even more productive. – Viveka Von Rosen, Vengreso

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13. PROMOTING THE BRAND’S STORY

We always stay focused on getting our personal story out there. As more news outlets fall by the wayside, having a way to communicate with potential clients gets more important every day. That’s why we never stop putting out content through newsletters, social media, and podcasts. That demonstrates what makes us unique so that we’re top of mind when clients are looking to publish books. – Anna David, Legacy LaunchPad

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14. FINDING WAYS TO STAY AHEAD OF THE CURVE

Focus on continuing to stay ahead of the curve. While the economy may slow, the pace of technology change and innovation continues. Double down on incubating new solutions and capabilities and be the first to bring these new solutions to clients. This will strengthen the trust in the heart and mind of the client and show that you are there for them during both good times as well as bad. – Craig Gorsline, Avanade

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15. UNDERSTANDING REAL AND ACCURATE DATA

Real, accurate data is always key to understanding what is (or isn’t) working, but these insights are especially important in a slow economy. This information can reveal what’s generating the most profit so you can focus on better serving the customers you already serve best. When things are shaky, this tactic maximizes profit and efficiency, so your business can emerge stronger than before. – John Winner, Kizen

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16. PERSISTENTLY GOING THE EXTRA MILE

A willingness to follow a non-traditional path to achieve results has always been a key driver of success at my company. My team members always go the extra mile and consider alternate solutions to achieve their goals, doggedly refusing to give up. – Evan Nierman, Red Banyan

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17. FOCUSING ON INNOVATION AND PRODUCT AND SERVICE IMPROVEMENTS

Even in bad economic circumstances, our company is able to stand out and attract clients by focusing on innovation and product and service improvements. We keep ahead of the competition and build our customer base by being adaptable, listening to user feedback, and making changes depending on their demands. – Misty Larkins, Relevance

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