Survive or Thrive? How Future-Focused CEOs Win in Tough Markets

The economy is shifting—so what does that mean for business leaders? In this episode of Revenue Remix, I revisit my 2025 predictions and reflect on what’s changed in just a few months. If you’re a future-focused CEO, now isn’t the time to retreat—it’s time to pivot. I’ll break down the three key adjustments leaders should make in sales, marketing, and customer success to protect revenue and gain market share while competitors pull back.

We’re not here to panic—we’re here to play smarter. Tune in to hear how top business leaders are navigating uncertainty, plus actionable strategies you can implement today.

🎧 Listen now to get ahead of the curve and future-proof your revenue!

Related Resources & Links:

• 2025 Predictions - what the future-focused CEO will master
• Organizational Alignment - 6 hacks to unlock growth in 2025

Show notes:

• Connect with Summer on LinkedIn
• Visit Rise of Us for more information about Summer's services or to guest on the show and share your insights
• Episode recorded and edited using Descript
• Repurposed content, such as this description created using CastMagic

Transcript

0:00

Hello, and welcome back to revenue remix, where we take a fresh spin on driving revenue growth. I'm summer Pawlenty, fractional, CRO, and founder of rise of us. If you missed this week's blog we weighed in on everyone's favorite hydroma topic. The economy. You know, the stock market seems to have this whole, uh, dual personality these days. So, unless you are living under a rock or on the moon, you've probably heard rumblings about economic uncertainty, rising unemployment, potentially a recession on the horizon, shifting consumer confidence, slowing growth, all that good stuff. Okay. So yes, the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.1% last month. That's February of 2025. If you're listening later. But let's look at this from a different angle instead of the doom and gloom of the news cycle, 96% of people are still employed, and that means that businesses need payroll. Direct deposit. Employees need healthcare, HR teams need compliance, support and companies need software and tools to operate efficiently. So demand's not white hot right now. A lot of people are looking at the news cycle and maybe taking a conservative. Let's see how this plays out approach. But there's still plenty of business out there. Welcome back to Revenue Remix, a podcast from Rise of Us, where we take a fresh spin on driving revenue growth, hosted by Summer Pelletti, a fractional CRO who works with business owners and leaders who feel held back by outdated systems. This podcast explores how adaptable, unified frameworks can transform static processes. Equipping teams to meet evolving customer needs and drive resilient, lasting growth. Each episode features insights from Summer and her guests, offering practical strategies to sidestep common pitfalls and build real revenue momentum. It's time to remix the way we think about growth. Enjoy the show. And we're talking to you today, the future focused CEO, you don't panic. You adapt. You shift strategies based on conditions instead of freezing or making hasty fear-driven fear-driven decisions. And today we're talking about those strategies, what works in a downmarket or in fluctuating conditions. Because here's the truth. Of course you can't save your way to profits. You know, we've all heard that. Instead of resorting to belt, tightening tactics, the future focus CEO sees this as a blip in their longterm journey. It would be silly to not react and stay the course when forecasts have changed relatively dramatically from. What economists we're forecasting at the end of 2024, but it's also silly to throw out everything on hunker down, waiting for a storm. Isn't it. The news cycle thrives on drama. What if the hype about a recession or an economic downturn is just that hype to get clicks and writings. Have you ever thought? Like, what if you cut back on your growth initiatives, anticipating a recession and then none gums haven't you kind of created your own mini recession within your organization. We might be facing an uphill battle right now, but for me, this doesn't feel like time to take your foot off the guest Future-focused CEOs, aren't retreating. They're making strategic pivots in sales, marketing, and customer success that allow them to thrive in unpredictable economies. So, if you're wondering how to play offense, when everyone else is playing defense. Then today is for you. Let's talk about what you should be doing right now to future proof, your revenue. And before we get started. Ask yourself, these questions. What if the current economic uncertainty isn't a signal to retreat? But actually your greatest opportunity to gain market share while your competitors are pulling back. When was the last time you measured the ROI difference between acquiring a new customer versus expanding your relationship with existing ones or even retaining the ones that you have. If your marketing budget was cut in half tomorrow, which activities would you protect at all costs? And what does that tell you about where your true value drivers are? How much of your current team's sales approach was designed for a completely different economic reality than the one we're facing today. And finally, are you treating customer success as a nice to have a cost center or as one of your most underutilized revenue drivers, and you don't have to have a customer success team or team member. To drive a customer success strategy. Let's remember that. So let's get into it. We're going to talk today about three shifts or tweaks that you can make during these uncertain times shift. Number one, sales teams need to sell smarter, not just harder. There's a myth that in tough times, salespeople need to grind harder to make up for slower demand. But if your pipeline is full of bad fit prospects or outdated, Outreach tactics working harder. Won't fix that. Remember when we talked about how scaling outbound won't work, if your outbound isn't targeted, personalized and in sync with the challenges that your ideal buyer is facing. You don't need more bad outbound right now. While your competitors are scrambling with the same old tactics forward-thinking leaders are quietly rewriting the rules of their engagement. And here's how future focused sales teams win right now. Better qualification, less wishful thinking. Your sales pipeline cannot afford tire kickers right now. Tighten up on qualification criteria. So your team focuses on buyers who are actually in the mode to buy. And not just maybe someday leads. This is the time where you might be having people calling or engaging with your stuff who are thinking about. Maybe buying in the future. What if things change? You need to be talking to people who are serious right now. And think about it this way. Every day, your team spends working on qualified leads is another day that your competition could be connecting with your ideal buyer. AI plus H I N sales. Yes, I'm beating this drum again. AI is going to help speed up your research, personalized outrage and prioritize your deals. But human intelligence is what actually closes them. If your team isn't using AI to stream their process, they're already behind. And now is when you can't really afford to lean too much into AI because your buyers are feeling the same things that you're feeling in this uncertain economy. And a human seller can show up with real and genuine empathy for what people are feeling in this moment. Account expansion. Is better than chasing net new right now, hunting for brand new customers in a shaky economy is a hard path. Future-focused sales teams are doubling down on upsells. Cross sells expansion deals and partner wins. Through their existing customer base and through the existing partner pipeline, your current customers already trust you, your partners already trust you. So we want to sell deeper. Not just wider right now. Quick story. One of my clients in SAS. This is the last economic downturn was seeing deal cycles, stretch longer and new logo acquisition, slow. Instead of panicking. We shifted the focus to customer success and customer expansion. We mapped out where their existing accounts had unrealized potential. Coach the sales team on expansion selling. And within one quarter they increased revenue from existing customers by 32%. No extra spend no extra leads, just a better strategy. And this was a client who did not have a dedicated customer success team or even person. Shift number two. Smart CEOs are not slashing marketing budgets right now. That's right. If history has taught us anything, it's the brands who invest in marketing during downturns come out stronger at the end of it. If you don't know the Kellogg's story, your assignment is to Google it. It is old, but it is a good study. Cutting marketing spend. Right now might feel like a quick way to save some money, but it also means that your brand goes quiet while your competitors are still showing up. Your pipeline dries up that MQL. Asks QL pipeline, right? And when the economy rebounds, you're going to be playing catch up while others are already ahead. The hard truth is that marketing works on momentum. If you slash or stop your outbound marketing. When you want to ramp back up, unfortunately you do not pick up from where you left off. You start back at square one. When markets tightened visibility, isn't just about awareness. It's about survival. The brands that maintain presence now will own the conversation when spending returns. That's what that Kellogg story is all about. Basically. So what to do instead. Optimized don't cut. Instead of slashing budgets, re allocate them. If certain campaigns aren't delivering ROI shift dollars into strategies that do this is all about leaning into what is working. If paid ads, aren't performing invest more inorganic content thought leadership and demand capture. Emphasize retention over awareness. You don't need a hundred thousand new eyeballs on your brand. Right now you need the right ones shift, focus to customer education, community building, and hyper-targeted content that strengthens your existing base. You can leverage that marketing team to market within your current customer and partner base. Right. And we want you to sync up with sales. Sales knows what prospects and customers are feeling in this moment. So make sure your messaging addresses the current needs and concerns of your buyers. If you're out of alignment here. Uh, it's it could look a little tone, deaf. So we need to sync sales and marketing together sooner, as opposed to later. Quick story. In a previous downturn, a financial services client of mine was debating, pulling back on content creation to save money. You know, this is a line item we can cut. But instead we shifted their focus to high value, high impact content that nurtured current clients and improve referrals within six months, their inbound leads increased despite cutting ad spend. And why? Because existing customers started referring more business. In this type of economic situation. Social proof. Is invaluable. Now shift number three. Customer success is your revenue lifeline. This should not come as a surprise. I preach about customer success a lot. In tough economies, especially customer retention, beats customer acquisition. It's five to seven times more expensive to acquire a new client than to keep an existing one. In times of uncertainty, your current customers, aren't just looking for a vendor. They're searching for a partner who proves their worth repeatedly. Now let's be brutally honest here. Your customers are feeling the heat right now, too. Do you want them to see you as a line item in the P and L spreadsheet that deserves scrutiny right now? When you show up with refined ways to help them succeed in this fluctuating market, you show them that you care and that you're a valuable long-term partner and not just a vendor. What high-performing companies do differently. Turn customer success into a revenue driver, the best companies don't just manage customers. They proactively help them succeed. Your customers are looking for. Those. Success. Plays. You know, they're, they're looking for you to continue courting them. They don't want to just become somebody who you feel entitled to the business. And that means quarterly business reviews, health checks, identifying growth opportunities within the accounts and bringing them new strategies to help them succeed in fluctuating economies. Predict term before it happens, AI can help spot at risk accounts. You can run some customer health metrics, but then human teams need to take action. If a customer engagement drops, or they haven't seen ROI yet, reach out before they start looking for alternatives. And similar to the sales play. The customer success play here also requires that. Thinking and feeling an empathetic human being, especially in this market. Make your customers, the heroes. Case studies, testimonials customer wins are more powerful than ever right now when budgets are tight, buyers want to see proof that investing in your solution is worth it. And here's the kicker today's buyer expects value before they've even implemented your solution. How crazy is that? And social proof can provide that type of value. They see other people getting value, there's little nuggets of wisdom and actionable insights in those case studies. And that can help win the deal for you. Another quick story. In a different downturn. I worked with a B2B company that was seeing an uptick in churn as budgets tightened. Instead of writing off those losses. We pivoted quickly and launched a retention campaign. We proactively reached out to at-risk accounts, reassess their needs, and found ways to adapt pricing and value delivery. And the result was that we cut churn. By 28% in just one quarter.'cause in tough times, these relationships matter more than ever. Now the bottom line here. Is it future focus, CEOs play offense, not defense. If you're focused only on cost. Cutting, you're missing the bigger picture, the smartest businesses. Aren't just surviving economic shifts. They're using them as opportunity to gain market share while others retreat. So let's get back on that sales teams get more strategic, qualified, better and focused on customer expansion. Marketing reallocate, refine and stay visible because the brands that show up now are going to win the long game. Customer success, prioritize retention, strengthen relationships, and drive more revenue from your existing client base. By showing that you care about their success right now. When I work with clients navigating economic headwinds, the leaders I've seen thrive. Aren't just making reactive cuts. They're making these strategic pivots, they're asking different questions and challenging, old assumptions. And those old assumptions could be from November of 2024. Okay. They aren't reworking the budget completely or completely rewriting or ignoring the growth strategy. They're gathering data, having no BS conversations and leaning into what's working. There's a, this isn't my first rodeo level of confidence here in these future focus leaders. You've seen other fluctuating markets and you know what to do here. Take this with you today. Yes, of course caution is warranted, but history shows us that calculated boldness, not retreat is what separates the next decades. Market leaders from those who simply survived. And sometimes an outside opinion is helpful. Book a free mini strategy session with me and I'll give you one actionable insight. All. Right. Let's wrap this up. I appreciate the listen. And you totally got this. If any of this resonated with you, I'd appreciate a share with your network or a review. If you have an inspiring story to tell, come join me. You can find guesting information on the rise of us.com. You can find me on LinkedIn I'm summer Pawlenty rhymes with spaghetti. Thank you have a great one. I will see you next week.