If experience has taught us anything, it is that education and SaaS companies can seriously thrive during a recession. Of course, this success does not come overnight and is the result of planning and a lot of forethought. Education and SaaS companies can transform and pivot to meet the needs of their customers by using some of the following business ideas.
Why Can SaaS and Education Companies Succeed During a Recession?
If you’re an investor, looking to help your local economy, or start a business, here’s what we’ve noticed sets up SaaS Education companies for success during hard times:
- A remote work model: The majority of SaaS and education companies use a remote work model, meaning that most of their employees can work from anywhere. Bye bye big overheads.
- A shutdown should not impact services: Whether the recession causes worldwide shutdowns or not, SaaS services can still continue to reach all customers. They’re already used to it and will have the right inbound communications systems in place (inbound marketing, sales enablement, customer service communications, cloud-based CRM, etc.)
- Selling on the internet: Because these companies don’t rely on customers showing up at a store, sales can continue to thrive.
5 Ways to Make Your Company as Recession Proof as Education and SaaS Companies
These are all things SaaS Education companies are already doing — are you?
Connect With New Customers ASAP: Customers want to know that the money they are spending is valued (especially during a recession). Connecting with new customers either by phone or through email will give your customers confidence in your skills as leaders.- Host Weekly Webinars: While everyone loves the idea of webinar that attracts your prospects, offering your customers one is even more important. Customers like to see exactly what your program is going to do for them. Hosting a weekly (or bi-weekly) webinar will give your customers the opportunity to do just that. It also gives customers the chance to ask any burning questions they may have. Plus the personalized format will give customers the connection we all crave during rough waters. It shows you care. Record them and create an on-demand library and you have scale, and a wonderful library of assets.
- Send Out Win-Back Offers: There are times when customers seem all-in, but circumstances arise that may cause them to cut back or stop using your product altogether. Following a certain period of dormancy, you can send out a “win-back” offer - an offer designed to win them back. Having an inbound marketing system in place will give you the means to quickly communicate with your customers by email - but also to bring in net new customers, offer different means of communication (reach them where they are) as well as to track the success of your efforts.
- Don’t Be Afraid to Try New Things: Now is the time to try out some new ideas SaaS and education companies are great at. Some of the greatest companies started following the 2008-2009 recession (Instagram, Pinterest, Groupon). But innovation does not happen without dedicating time and space for innovation. And remember, when your creative brain is firing, don’t stifle it with criticism from your analytical brain. Let ideas take flight, you can edit them later!
- Understand when you need help: It’s great to Frankenspot when you can, and to use your own in-house resources to run your online communication systems. It’s just as great to recognize when you need help to scale. An inbound marketing agency can help you with the above ideas and more (content creation, automation, social media marketing). And they offer a lot of help for free just by talking to them! So go ahead and start asking your questions.
Learn more about recession proofing your business.
