Playing the Waiting Game
Posted by Matthew Aaron on June 17, 2009
An interesting side effect of this recession is that a lot of businesses aren’t necessarily telling salespeople they won’t buy, they’re just putting their purchases off until some unspecified time in the future. In other words, they’re telling us “we love your product and see what it can do for us, but it’s going to have to wait until later…” Of course, no one can actually tell you when later is going to be.
Presumably, these decision-makers are holding off new investments until the economic storm passes. But, as I’ve already mentioned several times on this blog, nobody really knows how long this recession is going to last. So, the best thing to do isn’t to wait the recession out — it’s to sell something that will help your clients make it through the other side.
You see, it isn’t that most businesses and families don’t have any money to spend right now; it’s that they don’t want to spend it on the things they were buying a year ago. A recession is no time (for most households and organizations, anyway) to make a big investment geared towards the future. Instead, they’re worried about finding ways to keep what they have now. Show them that you understand their needs, and are working on their side, by presenting them with solutions that are more defensive in nature.
Remember, playing the waiting game doesn’t do you any good. But more than that, it’s not helpful to your clients and customers, either. The people you serve still need products and services to keep their lives and careers running. The only difference is, they don’t need the same ones as they did before. So, sell what you can sell a recession, and show your clients that you can give them the answers they need. You might even make a little bit of money, you’ll probably strengthen your customer relationships, and you’ll definitely feel better than you would if you just sat around waiting for things to change.
