3 Tactics that helped Coding Dojo 3X Revenue During a Market Pull-Back
The recession chances are now at 60%. So I thought it might help if i shared some of the tried-and-true revenue-plays I'm planning to run to keep growing during a pull-back.
With JP Morgan now saying we've got a 60% chance of recession, I wanted to share some of the plays i'm running with the companies I advise to keep growing during a pull-back.
Case Study: 3 Tactics that helped Coding Dojo 3X Revenue During a Market Pull-Back
Prasid helped us align our marketing and sales orgs and better-leverage data and tools to unlock dramatic revenue growth. Prasid was instrumental in growing our revenue and in hiring a word-class marketing team.
- Richard Wang, CEO of Coding Dojo
Despite the market for coding bootcamps softening from 2021 to 2023 as we exited Covid, Coding Dojo was able to 3X revenue and get acquired.
These are 3 of the most surefire ways to grow revenue, even when market conditions are weak:
#1 Optimize for speed-to-lead → double-digit improvement in pipeline metrics
Tons of businesses take over 48 hours to call an inbound lead (if they call at all).
When we got that down to a few hours, that-alone drove a double-digit improvement in pipeline generated.
#2 Create a 'Qualified Opportunity' data feedback-loop into marketing
Red flag: Your demand gen team can't tell you the Cost per Qualified Opportunity" broken-out for each individual channel, campaign, and adgroup. That's a key difference between the growth engine of a Fiat vs. a BMW.
Example:
When we were managing-to Cost per Lead, we ignored the affiliate partner channel. Seemed like a small number of super-expensive leads.
But when we switched to looking at lower-funnel pipeline metrics (i.e. # of Qualified Opptys and Cost-per-Qualified Oppty), Affiliates was actually our most efficient channel.
It became a small but highly-reliable channel at 10% of revenue.
#3 Cold Lead Database: Drill, Baby Drill
Spicy take: you're probably not sending enough time-based offers/discounts. A lot of founders have anxiety about discounting, but even Nordstrom and Apple run sales twice a year.
(The way to protect your brand is to only share the discount offer with cold leads. Don't mention it on the website or to any current active pipeline).
These are the places I'd test an offer:
Email blasts - lowest effort, greatest reach
SMS - may not make sense in B2B, requires permission, slightly higher effort, but has much higher CTR than email
Retargeting -create audiences for past purchasers, cold opportunities, and cold leads. Retargeting ads can have conversion rates 10x higher than prospecting ads
I hope this helps! You can also read the full Coding Dojo case study (which includes 3 more growth tactics not covered here).
Onward!
-Prasid