The Recession is here. 

But it’s not even bad yet (even with gas over $5/gallon). 

Wait till Q4 of this year & Q1 of 2023.  It will be absolutely brutal on consumers and small businesses. 

You might be thinking, “This won’t really affect our business…” 

And you know what…

You might be right. 

But what if you aren’t? 

Avoiding the idea of what happens during a recession is a bad idea.  

Why? 

1: Recessions birth big profit opportunities

2: Recessions birth big profit obstacles 

And this email is going to be a practical guide on how you can prepare for this economic winter. 

In this first email, you will learn the 3 Profit Pivots every company should make to increase PROFITS from this recession. 

This email is going to every Gravy client and we have data to show us that 95% of the businesses we work with were started after 2009. 

This means…

Most of you have never led a business through a recession.

And because of this, we are tempted to believe that things will “kinda stay the same for us”. 

Let me tell you the absolute truth…

Not preparing for this economic winter would be the equivalent of thinking, “I’m kinda in shape; I’m gonna run a marathon.” 

It’s unwise.

You are either going to profit from the recession or you are going to be pummeled by it. 

Right now is the time to evaluate these 3 Profit Pivots that will lock down your customers & allow you to sell even more during this time. 

This is a picture from one of the most successful private equity funds in human history. 

They have insight into thousands of companies and their message is simple. 

Build Muscle & Cut Fat right now! 

What does this mean? 

Cut Fat = examine your costs through the lens of…

“When I spend a dollar, how many do I get back in return?” 

Before the recession, we were fat and happy even though we didn't realize it. 

We kept average-performing team members around. 

We didn’t scrutinize the ROI of every marketing channel down to the details of every campaign and channel. 

We didn’t put the ROI expectation on every piece of software, tool, or vendor. 

I liken this to a family with two incomes that have “extra” every month.  

Expenses creep and we justify our spending because there isn’t pressure. 

But if one of the incomes went away… Everything changes. 

A new reality emerges. 

Every expense. Every dollar. Everything is examined. 

And what usually happens is…

That family is capable of living on one income even though they didn’t think that was possible before. 

The same is true in this looming recession.  

The pressure is about to hit your business in a potentially massive way and you must act like you are becoming a one-income family (even though that might not be true). 

The exercise of cutting fat and being ruthless on expenses is the first step, but it’s not what is going to allow you to profit during this season. 

At Gravy, we did this exercise over the last 6 months. 

Know what we found? 

We actually do better with less.  

Just like our bodies do way better with less fat, so do our companies. 

We become efficient. 

We become sharp. 

We become healthy. 

But… 

Just like being on a healthy diet, you can’t just “cut fat”.

You must Build Muscle.

In the image above, they say building muscle is R&D.  

What does R&D mean for your business? 

R&D = Look for opportunities to pivot your message, method & mission. 

The 3 Profit Pivots During Recession

1: Pivot Your Message 

When Covid-19 hit, Gravy did this and our company grew 100% from using this strategy.

Within a few weeks after the pandemic hit, I realized…

Nobody really cares about what Gravy does right now.  

They only care about themselves and how this pandemic will affect their lives and businesses. 

So, we instantly pivoted our message to be the leading voice on the PPP Loans. 

I found the top CPA’s in the world and we went on every podcast and show and started helping businesses understand how to get government assistance. 

That message had absolutely ZERO to do with what we did as a company. 

But because that’s where the world was…

We took off. 

Sales soared. 

And we were able to help a lot of people. 

Right now is your opportunity to Pivot Your Message to the market. 

You might be thinking, “We are doing just fine and people need our business.” 

That reality is over. 

With consumer and business spending cutbacks, you must speak to where the market is… NOT to what the benefits are of your product or service. 

Key Question: How does our marketing message capitalize on recession fears? 

If you remain business as usual in your message, you will see your sales reduce and product launches not do as well during the next few years. 

Every single thing you send out or post should be done through this lens: 

“How does my product/service put more money back into the pocket of the person who is scared of the recession?” 

My favorite thing about this pivot is that it costs no money to execute. 

Next Step: I’m offering my time for free (and with nothing to sell) to help you think through how you can pivot your message to a win during the recession.  

2: Pivot Your Methods

During the good times, your offers, products, and services work just fine. 

But because of the changing market, we must change to adapt to the new reality in how we serve our customers. 

At Gravy, we are having tons of chats with our clients that are wanting to CUT FAT in their business. 

Full-time, W-2 team members were great in the good times but now, they are asking, “How can we outsource more and still get the same results?” 

So, instead of being bull headed with us remaining only a Full Service Done-For-You Failed Payment Recovery company…. 

We pivoted. 

We focused on the pain of the customer and built an offering called Gravy Assist. 

Gravy Assist allows our clients to buy hours from the awesome Gravy team members and do MORE to keep their customers. 

Instead of just being in failed payments…

We are now able to: 

-Handle all customer inboxes: Why pay someone full-time to do this when it can be done in 20 hours a week with a focused person? 

-Handle all customer cancellations: Why let your customers cancel without having one of our lovely team members make them an offer to keep them? 

-Offer upsells to customers: Why not have a part-time person focused on making offers to your existing customers to get them to pay you more? 

We have pricing that scales from 20 hours a month to 160 hours a month.

It’s been unbelievable to see the acceptance in the market.

Why? 

The market has changed. 

Businesses want to CUT FAT & BUILD MUSCLE at the same time so we built the offering to allow them to do this.

What about your business? 

I know you have been focused on doing your core offering but when is the last time you personally listened to your customers in a one-on-one setting and asked, “What could we do for you that would make your business more successful?”

Yeah yeah… I know… You already think, “I know what my customers want and need.”

I thought that but boyyyyyyyy I was wrong. 

There are other offerings and offers you could start making during this recession that could give you 10-20% more profit over the next few years. 

Your customer base is waiting for you to simply ask. 

And NO… 

This isn’t solely done through a survey… Frankly, that’s lazy R&D.

Schedule 10-20 calls with customers and listen to them. 

Inside that 10 hours of work, you will find the golden pivot opportunity. 

Key Question: How many customers have I personally talked with in the last 30 days? 

3: Pivot Your Mission 

Every one of your future buyers and existing customers are asking this question:

“Is this essential for me?” 

You think your business is essential for people because you are passionate about it. 

This DOES NOT MEAN THEY DO. 

With pain at the pump and consumer spending plummeting, you must be MISSION critical.  

And mission-critical means, you make them money or you save them money. 

Before the recession, you could measure your success by how much revenue you made. 

Now, you better pivot your mission to how much revenue you made for your customer. 

At Gravy, we do this by focusing on how much money we have returned for our clients. 

As of today, we have returned 581 million dollars back to our clients. 

This metric is more important than ever. 

We want to be absolutely mission-critical and we measure it every second of every day.

What about your business? 

How are you truly measuring your customers' success? 

If you aren’t, this will bite you in the ass very soon. 

Key Question: How can we measure our customers' success in real dollars? 

Doing this will entrench you in their business and life. 

If you can’t do this… You must figure out a way to know how successful your customers are with your product/service. 

Next Step: Hop on a call with me to personally talk through how you can do this for your business.  

Lastly,

I led my last business through a recession and we ended up being acquired for a lot of money because of it. 

I’m not speaking to you from some B.S. ivory tower of thought leadership. 

I’m in this with you and I personally want to be available if you want to chat. 

‍My ask: 

If you made it this far, will you press reply and tell me which Profit Pivot you will implement in your business. 

We can’t wait to be a helpful guide through this economic season. 

‍

Casey Graham

CEO of Gravy Solutions 

‍

P.S. If you want help with your Profit Pivots, book a time with me here.  I truly have nothing to sell you and we will help you become more successful. 

P.P.S. If you are looking to outsource more and “cut fat”, reply and let me know you would be interested in Gravy Assist to keep more customers or sell your customers more stuff.