How Sales Leaders Lead During Economic Turbulence

The economy doesn’t have to completely crash for fear to take over. All it takes is a few headlines, a hint of prolonged volatility, and suddenly your sales team is stalling and your customers are second-guessing every decision they made last quarter.

In moments like this, sales leadership matters more than ever. Not just to your reps, but to your customers—and to their customers.

Let’s say it plainly: your job right now is to be the calm in the storm.

When the world outside starts to shake, your team and your clients are watching your response. They’re looking for someone steady. Someone who isn’t jumping at shadows. Someone who’s still thinking clearly. Without that clarity, you're not just going to lose deals. You’re going to lose trust.

Here’s how to lead with clarity when everyone else is spiraling.

Step 1: Prioritize What’s Mission-Critical

The first thing I do in any uncertain environment is get real about what’s actually essential.

Sit down with your sales team. Look at your current product or service lineup. Then ask: What do our customers absolutely need to survive the next 30, 60, or 90 days?

Not what they’d like to have. Not what was on the roadmap last quarter. What do they have to have to keep the lights on, to protect their operations, to serve their customers?

That’s your starting point. Everything else can wait.

If you sell into multiple industries, this step gets even more important. Different verticals are going to feel the impact differently. A restaurant chain doesn’t have the same concerns as a logistics provider or a SaaS platform. Work through those differences with your reps. Get precise.

If you can help your customers secure the essentials—and do it calmly, without drama—you become the person they want in their corner.

Step 2: Frame Every Conversation Around Cash Flow

When the Dow drops 700 points in a day, clients get nervous. But the stock market isn’t cash. It’s emotion. It’s perception. And it’s not always tied to what your customer is actually going through.

Businesses live and die by cash flow. So if you want to help your customers (and your own sales team), start there.

Ask questions like:

• What does your next 60 days of cash flow actually look like?

• What’s going out, what’s coming in, and where are the gaps?

• What parts of your business are most vulnerable right now?

And here’s the kicker—most of your clients won’t know how to answer these questions right away. That’s fine. Your role is to help them think through it.

You’re not just selling a product or a service. You’re selling peace of mind. And you earn that by helping your clients make rational, informed decisions about their short-term survival.

That might mean reducing order sizes, renegotiating terms, or shifting product focus. But if you help them preserve cash flow and stay operational, they’ll remember that long after the panic fades.

Step 3: Don’t Sell on Fear

It’s tempting to lean into urgency right now. I get it. You see tariff news coming out of China and you want to say, “Better buy now before prices go through the roof.”

But fear-based selling has a short shelf life. It might work in the moment, but it leaves a bad taste.

Your client doesn’t want another person adding fuel to the fire. They want someone who can help them solve a real problem.

So instead of scare tactics, bring logic. Bring clarity. Bring options.

Let’s say your client is sourcing a large percentage of their goods from China. Ask:

• What percentage of your revenue depends on those goods?

• Are there alternative suppliers? Have you explored them?

• How can we work backward from your customers’ needs to build a more resilient plan?

If you’re working with franchisees, break it down even further. Ask: How many stores need this upgrade to maintain profitability? What’s the minimum spend that keeps you above water while minimizing risk?

These are the kinds of conversations that build real trust. Because you’re not just helping them survive—you’re helping them lead through the chaos, too.

Step 4: Be the Reason They Have Answers

Right now, your client’s world is noisy. Internally, they’re probably getting pressure from finance, operations, procurement, and maybe even their board. Externally, they’re seeing headlines and predictions that shift daily.

You get to be the voice of reason.

That means helping them work through:

• What to prioritize

• Where to shift spend

• How to talk to their own customers about changes

Your job isn’t to have all the answers. It’s to help them find the right questions—and walk with them as they uncover what makes sense.

When you do that, you don’t just close deals. You become indispensable.

Step 5: Re-Plan for the Next 90 Days

Here’s what I recommend to every VP of Sales or Sales Manager I work with: Build a 30-60-90 day rebound plan with your team.

In the first 30 days:

• Triage lost or paused deals.

• Focus all outreach on mission-critical needs.

• Give reps updated talk tracks that address current objections calmly.

In the next 60 days:

• Help reps rewarm prospects with value-first messaging.

• Adjust cadence strategies to include light-touch check-ins.

• Start tracking small wins and stories of re-engagement to build morale.

By 90 days out:

• Reforecast based on what’s been regained or reactivated.

• Share wins internally—what worked, what messaging stuck, what shifted.

• Reinforce the behaviors (not just the results) that drove recovery.

And keep coming back to cash flow. If a rep can help a client think through what they need to generate in the next 60 days to stay liquid, that rep becomes more than a salesperson. They become a strategic partner.

Rationality Wins

Sales leaders set the tone. When you lead with steadiness, rational thinking, and a clear plan—you give your team and your clients permission to do the same.

And if you’re not sure how to build that kind of leadership culture? That’s what we do every day.

You’ve got this.

— Ed