A recent survey conducted by Goldman Sachs revealed that nearly 90 percent of small business owners say that current economic trends, including inflation, ongoing supply chain issues, and staffing challenges are impacting how they run their business. Additionally, 93 percent of those surveyed also said that they worry that the United States will soon enter into a recession, further impacting how they do business. 

As a potential recession looms, how can you set yourself and your business apart to be successful regardless of current economic conditions? Did you know that a tool you use everyday, such as your customer relationship management software, can help? 

Here are 4 ways that your CRM can help you recession proof your CRE business. 

Strengthening Relationships with Customers

When it comes to recession proofing your business, it’s important to keep in mind that nearly no business will stay afloat without the support of loyal customers. While it’s obviously important to keep a focus on developing new business, it is equally as important to nurture and develop the relationships you have with existing customers. This can mean anything from offering special promotions to returning customers, to personally reaching out to your customer base on a regular basis. 

When it comes to recession proofing your business, your CRM should play a key role in maintaining relationships and offering tailored and relevant promotions to engage with your loyal and existing customers.

Making Business Development a Priority

In addition to maintaining contact with your existing customer base, you should be using your CRM to prioritize new business, keeping a constant flow of leads in your sales pipeline. When business is good, many businesses tend to neglect new business development, leaving them to scramble in leaner times. To help recession proof your business, use your CRM to regularly prioritize new business development, ensuring that you have a sales funnel that is constantly being fed new leads and prospects. 

Create an Action Plan

When business is slow, such as in a recession, many professionals find themselves sitting around, wondering what they should do next – a strategy almost guaranteed to fail. Instead, use your CRM to help create an effective action plan before business slows. Take the time to make a list of tasks that you should complete when your business wanes, such as implementing a referral program or looking into new product or service offerings. This way, when business slows, you have a proven and actionable list of things you can do to help get you back on track.

Track Your Marketing Efforts

In a recession, it is more important than ever to spend your marketing dollars wisely, knowing what is working – as well as what isn’t. You should be using your CRM to track where your leads and customers are coming from, to help you look for trends in your marketing mix. Knowing where your best customers are coming from will help you spend your marketing budget wisely.

RealNex is a CRM tool that can be used by commercial real estate professionals to work more efficiently and improve their productivity. At RealNex, we offer an incredibly powerful, yet amazingly simple, end-to-end solution. To learn more about RealNex and see samples of the products that we offer, visit our website. When you are ready to experience the RealNex difference for yourself, schedule a demo or contact us today — we’d love to talk with you!