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15 Creative Ways To Boost Revenue During a Recession

Numerous stats show that customer retention is a key component of a business’s growth strategy. Especially during these turbulent economic times. Companies spend a lot on keeping customers coming back for more. However, a lot of companies don’t see their existing customers as a form of regular income. They spend more money on trying to enter new markets and may end up losing their existing customers as a result.

Boosting revenue from existing clients means showing them that the business appreciates them and offering them benefits for their loyalty. In addition to these methods, there are other creative ways of engaging your existing clientele. Below, 15 associates of Forbes Coaches Council discuss the innovative ways they’ve seen used to boost income from existing clients.

My tip is the second one, down below.

  1. Provide A Superior Customer Experience

Make them loyal by providing a superior customer experience. Loyal customers will buy more and then refer you to others. Referrals from existing customers are a great asset because of two reasons. First, customers need references when making decisions, and their most important reference is from current customers. Second, current customers are the ones who know exactly who your target audience is and will refer you to the right potential customers. – Duong Nguyen,CEMpartner

  1. Become A Trusted Adviser

The more you develop and nurture a deeper connection with your customers by continuously finding ways to add value to the relationship, the more likely they will see you as an invaluable resource and trusted adviser. As you get to know their needs and pain points, you are perfectly positioned to offer solutions to increase lifetime value while making a bigger impact. – Michela Quilici, MQ Consulting and Business Training, Inc.

  1. Go Deeper Into Your Specialization

One way to do that is to go deeper into your specialization. If you specialize in leadership coaching, for example, create a whole package for leaders. After working as a coach for a few years, you notice that you repeat certain things a lot in your one-on-ones. This is an opportunity to create a course or an e-book around this content, which could then be part of your package. – Rajeev Shroff, Cupela Consulting

  1. Offer Holistic Support

Crowdsource from your client’s areas that they need help with and host live Q&As bringing in complementary speakers, resources and education to give them holistic support. Now is the time to show this value — and it directly translates into brand loyalty, new ideas, and collaboration potentially through partnership revenue streams and value-added content. – Maresa Friedman, Executive Cat Herder

  1. Try The ‘Money Phone’

I use a strategy I call “Money Phone.” Pick up your phone and text at least one client every day with a short video that says, “Can you think of one or two people that you could introduce me to right now with text who would be a right fit for our product/service?” Of course, spice it up with some love at the beginning and end. You’ll be surprised at how fast you can grow with quick referrals. – Mike Koenigs, The Superpower Accelerator

  1. Invest In Building Community

Invest in building community. Keep the joining cost low or not at all. Running free webinars or invite-only workshops keeps your network in the know of your expertise and value to them. It also allows them to stay updated with what you offer. Communities of practice or learning circles are great ways to bring people of similar interest together while positioning yourself as a key influencer. – Lin Tan, Collective Change Institute Pte Ltd

  1. Ask How To Serve Them Virtually

For businesses that are not yet offering services virtually, consider what you can offer online. Your customers are taking more of their business online, and you want to be in that space. Ask them how to best serve them virtually. Make it easy to find you and do business with you from their phone. Create your own app. The initial investment can cut expenses and reap big rewards in the long run. – Christine Rose,Christine Rose Coaching & Consulting

  1. Review Your Prices

Here’s the problem — the longest retained customers often have a deeper relationship with you. That doesn’t mean that you have to undercut your present-day pricing or offer them better deals. Quite the opposite. They already appreciate you. Evaluate if they are being charged appropriately in today’s market and whether you should be raising your prices. – Nick Leighton, Exactly Where You Want to Be

  1. Create A Subscription Offer Program

Create a subscription offer program or product to earn more predictable, recurring revenue. Build the offer around your most impactful work and what your best customers purchase repeatedly. You’ll likely find your subscription offer is just as compelling to new clients, too. From the first dollar earned, you’ll be making the most of your acquisition cost. – Dodie Jacobi, The Consultant’s Consultant™

  1. Upsell Current Customers

Would you like fries with that? Upselling current customers means offering new complementary products and services or newer and better levels of current products and services. For instance, maybe you run a restaurant. You could offer a special, invite-only wine pairing dinner package to your current customers. Or, you could recommend a certain bottle of wine with certain meals. – John Knotts, Crosscutter Enterprises

  1. Show Genuine Interest

Keep up with your former clients by checking in and being genuinely interested in how they’re doing. If they refer a new client to you or act as a reference for a potential one, thank them with a complimentary session. This creates a win-win-win situation, and gives you the chance to see if there’s a way that you can support and work with them again. –Denise Csaky, The Firefly Moment LLC

  1. Build A Relationship Of Trust

Building and cultivating a relationship of trust with your customers is the way to retain customers, earn more revenue, increase profit and grow your business. Customers support, continue to do projects, collaborate and innovate with people they trust — people who are trusted advisers to them. And remember that trust is learnable skill. –Natalie Doyle Oldfield, Success Through Trust Inc.

  1. Give Them A Sense Of Ownership

Shifting from customers to partners of the business is key. Give the customers a sense of ownership and pride of carrying the business brand by creating a tribe with a collective name like “partner of a business.” When they affiliate to the business, their own circle of influence will be drawn to the business, and you will begin to increase revenue from the ripple effect. – Jedidiah Alex Koh, Coaching Changes Lives

  1. Be Creative With Gifts And Surprises

Create a customer appreciation experience they won’t forget. Be creative in delightful gifts, token codes to secret surprises, or live events that are cost-effective yet highly memorable and relevant in having them feel acknowledged for doing business with you. Follow it up with another amazing experience, and at that point, make an ask to be introduced or incentivize them to share with a friend. – Anna Choi, Conscious Business Coach – Anna Sun Choi Llc

  1. Write Personalized Letters

I’m old fashioned — this means that writing personalized letters is a must. When I was in the telecom industry, the stores I oversaw had greater sales margins if they were consistent with sending handwritten notes. There was a direct correlation between those stores that sent out more cards and store sales. My highest performers were the ones with the ritual of note writing. It works. – Adriana Rosales, Adriana & Company™ LLC

This article was originally published on Forbes.com

If you’re looking for ways to recession-proof your business, I encourage you to reach out to me to discuss how we can get you set up for success in 2023. Waiting by the sidelines isn’t an option. Everyone will be affected by these turbulent economic times, but only the few who take a strategic approach to plan for their growth will weather the storm ahead. Apply for a consult.

About Michela Quilici

International Business Growth Coach, Award-winning Marketing Strategist, Best-Selling Author, Speaker and Forbes Coaches Council. Known as a Business Navigator, Michela works with growth-minded business owners, service professionals and CEOs who want to ignite their businesses and accelerate growth, while building a business aligned to who they are.

She is passionate about creating roadmaps that ignite leaders to take inspired action to navigate their growth on purpose using strategy, systems and self-leadership, so they can get noticed, get clients and get profitable.