When client work dries up, many businesses freak out. A life-threatening crash in revenue can begin to feel like a survival threat. But these lean times are not necessarily those of loss, smart entrepreneurs know. Scarcity, in fact, can be a chance to trim operations, create new streams of income and all-around toughen up. With the right strategies, you can be profitable even when there aren’t a lot of clients.

1. Strengthen Relationships With Existing Clients

By far one of the quickest ways to save revenue is by strengthening your relationship with the clients you already have. Research is very clear: It’s much less expensive to keep a customer than it is to get a new one.

Skip dredging for cold leads and contact past and present clients. Give them loyalty discounts, add a few small services, or just check in to let them know you care. This has me holding clients even in client retention (and sometimes generating new referrals). Satisfied customers will become your greatest cheerleaders when there are fewer new projects to be found.

2. Diversify Revenue Streams

It’s dangerous to have a single dominant product or service. When demand fails, everyone in your business suffers. That’s precisely the reason that smart companies concentrate on diversifying their revenue.

Think about producing digital products, such as templates, e-books or online courses. These can be created once and sold over and over again, earning you money when new projects are not coming in. Subscription or retainer models could also be used to build a consistent monthly income.

Not only does this maintain cash flow, it also builds your business strategy for sustainable growth.

3. Cut Costs Without Killing Growth

When money is less abundant, the reflex is to pare back on spending. But if you cut too deeply, you might harm your ability to deliver quality or scale later on. The secret is to cut costs in a strategic way.

Begin by going through all your expenses — subscriptions, office space, whatever and cutting everything you can possibly cut. Negotiate contracts or switch to less expensive products. In the meantime, track your profit margin closely so that you know which services are actually profitable and which ones end up sucking resources.

For a look inside, try McKinsey’s cost reduction strategies which tell companies how to slash and burn without killing growth.

4. Focus On Low-Cost Lead Generation

In lean times too, you need to keep filling your pipeline. But that doesn’t necessarily mean spending big on ads. Instead, concentrate on low-cost lead-generation strategies:

• Content marketing, via blogs, newsletters, or LinkedIn posts.
• Constructing alliances with related companies.
• Requesting referrals from pleased customers.
• Hosting small webinars or workshops to demonstrate expertise.

You can still attract new clients without breaking the bank, simply by remaining visible and offering value.

5. Automate & Streamline Sales Processes

When all prospects matter, losing leads for not enough follow-up is an expensive lesson. With sales automation in place, you can capture leads, nurture them and close deals in a more organized manner.

A sales funnel in conjunction with an automated software, on the other hand, can manage:

• Email campaigns to nurture leads.
• Retargeting Lost campaigns for win-back.
• Upsell / cross-sale offers in the flow to increase ARPC, average revenues per client.

This way, we’re still efficient and responsive even with a smaller team.

30-Day Roadmap to Survive a Client Drought

Week 1: Look at the finances, cut out extras and examine profit margins.

Week 2: Reconnect with clients, loyalty bonuses and maintaining relationships.

Week 3: Kick off low-cost marketing campaigns (blogs, social posts, partnerships).

Week 4: Construct or fine-tune your sales funnel, automate and measure.

At the end of 30 days, you’ll emerge not just as a survivor of the slowdown, but with systems to keep you profitable in the long game.

Final Thoughts

Allotting would-be brides and grooms really stinks, but it doesn’t mean financial doom. By continuing to concentrate on retaining customers and adding revenue streams, by making sure you watch your margins and maintain cost discipline, you can still make money in tough times.

And really, these are things that don’t only help to tide you through in drought-phasing but also make your business more durable for the future. In a downturn, it’s the companies that can pivot, optimize and be ready for growth once demand returns that will prevail.