Steven Toole of Toole & Associates: How To Grow Your Business In A Challenging Economy

An interview with Kage Spatz, CEO at Spacetwin

Steven Toole

What sustains me now is the impact of the work we do.

Is it possible to create massive growth in challenging market conditions? What steps should an entrepreneur take to grow their business during unpredictable times?

As part of our Strategy Series, Kage Spatz talks with fellow successful business owners and growth experts to help you discover new ways to grow your business during challenging economic times. Today, we had the pleasure of talking with Steven Toole.

As founder and CEO at Toole & Associates, LLC, Steven Toole brings over 30 years of leadership experience in marketing for emerging technology companies. His proprietary service, Reppster, generates reviews, offering local marketing firms a powerful affiliate partner program to augment their SEO, social media, digital advertising, and web design capabilities. Steven is a former ad agency executive and adjunct marketing professor at George Mason University.

Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?

I have always believed in the power of storytelling, especially when it comes from the customer. Early in my career, as a CMO for various challenger technology brands, or brands that aim to disrupt their industry, I found that social proof was often more persuasive than anything a brand could say about itself and was one of the most effective ways to demonstrate value against larger market incumbents. My clients were often up against big-name competitors, and it was my job to prove we were the better solution. That’s when I realized the immense value in capturing and amplifying customer voices.

When I launched Toole & Associates over eight years ago, I wanted to bring that same approach to local businesses that did not have the luxury of big marketing budgets. Through online reviews, I found a way to tell authentic, compelling stories that build trust and attract new customers away from competitors.

At the end of the day, it is about telling your story through the words of your customers, which naturally validates your message to your market.

Can you share with our readers a story from your own experience about how you were able to grow your business during a challenging economy?

When COVID hit, nearly one-third of our client base had to pause or cancel all their marketing spend overnight. Most of our business at that point came from in-person networking, speaking events, and local referrals, which were abruptly off the table with pandemic restrictions in effect. I vividly remember staring at our client dashboard one morning and seeing a row of cancellations come in like dominoes. It was a gut punch, but I didn’t panic.

I sat down and thought through what we still have to leverage to gain clients that we can double down on. It all came down to our remaining relationships. We had a base of loyal clients who believed in our work, so I launched a formal client referral program.

We offered existing clients a tangible reward for each qualified referral they sent our way. Within weeks, the referrals started coming in with warm leads from clients who already trusted us. These were small business owners who had heard firsthand how we had helped someone they knew, which was more effective than any ad campaign.

The referral program kept us afloat during that uncertain time and became the cornerstone of our growth strategy for the years after that. It reinforced what I’ve always believed, that when you deliver real value, your customers become your best marketing engine.

Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the motivation to continue through your challenges? What sustains your drive?

I never seriously considered giving up, but there were certainly moments of doubt. I had just left a long career in corporate America. I had four kids approaching or already in college. I had made a promise to myself and to my family that I would build something of my own and never go back to a 9-to-5 under someone else’s roof.

There’s a quote from Jim Rohn I love,

“If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.”

I burned the ships, so to speak. There was no backup plan. Every obstacle became a puzzle I had to solve. Every dip in revenue was a challenge I had to rise above.

What sustains me now is the impact of the work we do. I’ve watched small businesses go from invisible to in-demand simply by capturing the praise of their happiest customers across major review platforms and search engines. It reminds me that marketing isn’t just about clicks or impressions — it’s about giving good businesses the visibility they deserve. That mission keeps me moving forward.

What would you say is the most critical role of a leader during challenging times?

In uncertain times, the most critical role of a leader is to be the guiding force of the organization. Everyone is looking to you to take the temperature of the situation and set the tone for how to respond. If you panic, your team will follow suit. If you stay calm, thoughtful, and decisive, you give people something to rally around.

For me, leadership during difficult moments comes down to three things: perspective, poise, and presence.

• Perspective allows you to see the long game and not overreact to short-term chaos.
• Poise keeps you grounded and helps others feel safe, even when the road ahead is foggy.
• Presence means being available, communicative, and engaged with your team so they don’t feel like they’re navigating the storm alone.

When COVID hit and everything started shifting under our feet, I didn’t pretend everything was fine, but I also didn’t catastrophize. I told my clients and colleagues, “We’re going to figure this out.” And we did.

When the future seems so uncertain, what is the best way to boost morale? What can a leader do to inspire, motivate, and engage their team?

When people feel unsure about the future, they crave direction. Even if that direction is just the next step forward, your job as a leader is to create clarity in the chaos. You can’t always give guarantees, but you can give people a plan, a voice, and a sense of purpose to keep them engaged.

One of the biggest mistakes I see leaders make during tough times is trying to “manage” morale from a distance. You can’t motivate people through a Slack message or a blanket email. You have to show up, listen, and let people in on the response to the challenge.

That level of inclusion changes everything. People want to feel like they’re part of something bigger than a spreadsheet. When you invite them into the problem-solving process, they stop feeling like victims of circumstance and start feeling like contributors to the solution.

How can a business leader make plans when the future is so unpredictable?

You have to build plans that are flexible by design and treat your strategy as a living, workable document. You should revisit it regularly, stress test it against possible scenarios, and make room for adjustments as new data comes in.

One of the most dangerous things you can do in business is get too attached to your original idea of how things “should” go. That means moving forward with confidence, but being ready to adapt when the facts and circumstances change.

When the pandemic shut down all in-person networking, our biggest lead source at the time didn’t just wait it out. I reallocated our focus to digital referrals, online content, and deeper client relationships. That shift helped us survive and set us up to grow.

The future is always unpredictable to some degree, but if you embrace adaptability as a core part of your planning process, you stop being surprised by change and start being ready for it.

What can a company do to avoid losing clients or customers who say, “I just can’t afford it now”?

When a customer says, “I can’t afford it right now,” what they often mean is, “I’m not convinced the value outweighs the cost.” In times of economic pressure, every expense is under scrutiny, and if your product or service is seen as optional, it’s likely to be cut. That’s why the first step is to recenter the conversation around value.

For us, that means reminding clients of what our service is actually delivering, which is more visibility, more customer trust, more leads, and ultimately, more revenue from a dramatic increase in positive reviews on every major review platform and search engine.

Back your value up with real data. We back up our value by showcasing increases in online review volume, improvements in local search rankings, and anecdotal wins from customers they’ve acquired through their reviews. When clients can see that the ROI is real, the conversation shifts from “expense” to “investment.”

Another strategy is to help them reframe the risk. I shift their perspective to what the cost of disappearing right now is when their competitors are still visible. The most successful businesses during downturns are the ones that stay front and center, not the ones that retreat and wait it out. I’ve found this messaging really resonates when it’s delivered with empathy, data, and the right perspective.

What lead generation strategies work best during a difficult economy?

In a tough economy, the best lead generation strategies are low-cost, trust-driven, and scalable. That’s why online reviews and referral marketing are so effective, because they rely on social proof and word-of-mouth, which cost very little to execute but carry enormous weight in decision-making.

Think about how people behave when money is tight. They do more research, they ask friends for recommendations, and they look for reassurance that they’re making the right decision. That’s exactly what reviews and referrals provide. They build trust before you even have a conversation with a prospect. A five-star review from a real customer speaks volumes more than a paid ad ever could on an individual scale.

We also see great results from email and text message marketing to existing customers and leads. It’s affordable, easy to automate, and lets you stay in touch with people who already know and trust you. I would much rather re-convert a satisfied customer than start cold with a brand-new lead.

Are there specific marketing approaches that work best when times are tough?

When the economy starts taking a turn for the worse, your marketing strategy needs to prioritize reassurance and differentiation. Customers are more risk-averse, so your message needs to feel steady, trustworthy, and value-focused. That’s why authenticity-driven strategies, such as customer success stories, reviews, and educational content, perform best in uncertain times.

Specificity is also a great tactic to deploy in your external messaging to convey data-driven value. Vague messaging like “We’re the best” doesn’t cut it when customers are counting every dollar. You need to show exactly what makes you different and why you’re worth the investment right now. For us, that means focusing on how we help businesses generate 2x to 20x more five-star reviews, improve local search rankings, and outperform their competitors with real, measurable results.

Marketing spend can add up quickly and is often used as a crutch. To cut back on spending during tough times, use less expensive and cost-effective marketing tools. Doubling down on the channels you already own is a great way to leverage more value through less expensive means, such as your email list, your customer database, and your reputation on review platforms. These are assets that don’t require constant ad spend to maintain and can produce huge returns when nurtured properly.

Can you share 3 or 4 of the most common mistakes you have seen other businesses make during difficult times? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?

One of the most common mistakes is cutting marketing completely. It feels like the safest cost to eliminate, but in reality, it’s the operation that keeps your business visible. When you stop marketing, you stop growing, or worse, you become invisible at the exact moment your competitors are still trying to gain market share.

Another mistake is failing to adapt, which can be anything from market shifts to consumer behavior changes. Don’t cling to outdated tactics, hoping things will return to normal — that never works. The businesses that thrive are the ones that pivot quickly and experiment deliberately. If a channel or message isn’t working anymore, change it. Don’t wait for your competitor to do it.

Many businesses make the mistake of getting ultra-focused on bringing in new leads that they neglect their existing customers. That’s a missed opportunity, because it’s almost always easier and more profitable to deepen a relationship with a current customer than to build trust with a new one from scratch. In tough times, your best growth strategy is often retention.

Let’s jump over to the primary question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things a business should do to grow during a challenging economy?

1. Double down on what’s already working.

During a challenging economy, it’s tempting to chase shiny new ideas or scramble for quick fixes, but often the smartest move is to take a hard look at what’s already generating results and lean into it.

Before the pandemic hit, our traditional lead source was networking events, and once those pandemic restrictions took effect, our main source of new business vanished. One thing had remained strong, however: our client satisfaction. People loved our service and were seeing real results from it.

That realization became the foundation for formalizing a client referral program. We offered our clients a reward for each qualified referral they sent, and in return, they brought us new business from warm, trusted contacts. It worked so well that it’s now our #1 source of leads.

The lesson from that experience is not to overlook the obvious. Sometimes the best growth strategy is sitting right in front of you and just needs structure and consistency.

2. Explore low-cost, high-impact strategies.

When budgets tighten, the goal isn’t to stop marketing, it’s to market smarter. That means shifting away from expensive, speculative channels and focusing on what gives you the greatest return for the least amount of spend.

For our clients, one of the most powerful low-cost tools is online reviews. They build trust, boost search visibility, and convert new customers without any paid ad spend. We helped one local restaurant go from just 25 reviews to over 300 five-star ratings in less than a year. That alone moved them to the top of Google’s local results and drove a measurable increase in foot traffic, all without a single dollar spent on ads.

In a tough economy, the smartest businesses trim the fat and double down on precision. That’s where review marketing, referral programs, and re-engagement campaigns come in.

3. Stay visible and consistent.

As business owners and managers, we have a natural instinct to pull back and go quiet during tough times, especially when others are doing the same. That’s actually the moment when your voice matters most — when competitors go dark. Every post you make, every email you send, and every positive review you earn stands out more, and visibility becomes a competitive edge.

Even if customers are not ready to buy today, your presence tells them that you are here, steady, and ready to deliver. That kind of messaging sticks, and when the buying window opens again, you’re the first name they remember.

4. Don’t panic.

One of the biggest mistakes business owners make during a downturn is to panic and immediately start cutting costs, and marketing is usually the first thing on the chopping block. But that’s exactly the wrong move.

Your marketing program is the growth engine of your business, and unless you’re planning to shut your doors, cutting out marketing will only make the tough situation worse. It keeps you visible, relevant, and connected to your audience when they’re making buying decisions with extra caution. I have seen this firsthand time and time again,

businesses that maintain or even slightly increase their marketing efforts during tough times often come out ahead of competitors who retreat.

Even if sales dip temporarily, consistent marketing maintains your momentum and ensures that when the economy rebounds, you’re already in motion versus scrambling to catch up.

5. Branch out into new markets or offerings.

A challenging economy provides the circumstances to explore new audiences, industries, or product and service offerings that are either resilient in downturns or uniquely suited to meet the moment.

During tough economic cycles, certain sectors like healthcare, essential services, and budget-friendly consumer brands continue to grow while others contract.

Businesses should take a fresh look at who they’re serving and what they’re offering to try to identify if there are underserved markets to reach with minor adjustments to messaging or model. See if there are ways to repackage a product or address a new set of problems created by the economy.

In any case, it is not necessary to abandon the core business, just adapt it to better fit the financial headspace of the ideal customer.

We are blessed to have prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have a private lunch with and why?

I’d choose Sir Richard Branson without hesitation. His approach to entrepreneurship, his ability to zig when everyone else zags, and his knack for building brands that feel personal and global inspires me. Yes, he has built empires, but he did it with purpose, personality, and his own unique style.

Thank you for sharing your valuable insights with our audience today.

Host: Kage Spatz is a Forbes ft. founder of Spacetwin — New Cashflow for your Agency/Clients. Custom IP/Services delivered by your new F500 exp. team.