Stop Retreating: 10 Ways to Grow When Others Pull Back

Here we go again. If you’ve been in the workforce for more than six years, you’ll understand that the extent of volatility in the economy is unpredictable and often surprising.

What’s not surprising is how business leaders respond. Cut costs. Freeze hiring and battening down the hatches. (shouldn’t you be on top of opex anyway?)

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, that’s defensive, simplistic and unsurprisingly, ineffective.

While others retreat, there’s a real opportunity to push forward to improve sales, lift margins and take market share.

Here are 10 practical moves SMEs can make right now to deal with the tough conditions we’re in:

1. Reprice properly: Review pricing with positive intent, not fear. Small increases compound quickly.

2. Cut low-margin customers: Not all revenue is good revenue. Drop or reprice work that drags your margin down.

3. Double down on your best segment: Identify your most profitable customer type and go hard at them.

4. Increase sales activity (not just strategy): More calls, more meetings, more proposals.

5. Fix your conversion rate: Tighten proposals, follow-up more frequently.

6. Bundle for value: Package services/products to increase average transaction value without discounting.

7. Target competitor customers: They’re distracted right now. This is the easiest share to win.

8. Reactivate old clients: Faster and cheaper than finding new ones. Most are sitting there untouched.

9. Upskill your salespeople: Average sales capability is a massive hidden constraint in Australian businesses.

10. Tighten cost of delivery (not just opex): Look at how you deliver work, not just what you spend.

If you’re only cutting costs, you’re missing an opportunity.

Contact us at Stoke Consulting and we’ll help you put these plans into place so you can keep growing your business.

Stoke Consulting