545: Stop Using the Recession as an Excuse | Master Sales Series

Join George Leith on an all-new episode of the Conquer Local Podcast. In this Master Sales Series episode, George highlights why you should stop using the recession as an excuse. But instead can use it as fuel to explore other business interests that can generate revenue in an economic slowdown. 

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Stop Using the Recession as an Excuse | Master Sales Series

Introduction

George: Chalking up a bad business strategy to an economic slowdown is a subpar professional’s way out of something that they just weren’t that passionate about in the first place. With economists out there shouting from the rooftops and warning of an impending recession, trusted local experts will either rise to the occasion and take advantage of this massive opportunity right in front of them, or they’ll cower and retreat with their tail between their legs. It’s up to you who you’re going to decide to be.

Historical indicators

George: I’m George Leith, and in today’s Master Sales Series episode we’re exploring the reasons why trusted local experts shouldn’t use the so-called recession as an excuse. Instead, we should use this so-called recession as fuel to become more innovative, to grind harder, and to come out on top as winners. What we do know from every economic slowdown, and I’ve had the fortune or misfortune, I don’t know which it is, of being involved in a few of them there’s going to be winners, and there’s going to be losers. It’s up to you to decide where you’re going to be on the scorecard. Historically, high inflation and quarter-over-quarter slumps in gross domestic product have many crystal balling a 2023 recession. That may be on the horizon for investment capitalists and the Wall Street elite, but the same just doesn’t ring true for local businesses and the experts that serve them. I’m not exactly convinced of an imminent recession. Let’s take a look at some of the indicators. The U.S. economy just added almost a half a million jobs again in August. The unemployment rate across various jurisdictions is dropping to record lows, most tied for their lowest levels since 1969 or even earlier than that, and gas prices have finally started to come down from the ridiculous levels they were earlier this year. Not only that, but you have to consider that during your recession, the economy doesn’t come to a full stop. Remember that. It doesn’t come to a full stop.

Consumers and spend

George: Consumers are still out there spending money. It’s up to us as trusted local experts to capture their attention and support the businesses that we serve in their digital footprint. In a time when many may be cutting their spend on marketing and advertising, we need to help our customers step up and understand the importance of getting their message out in front of their potential customers. It’s more important in a potential slowdown than ever to beat out their competitors. There’s going to be less dollars in the market and we need to help our clients capture that audience and those dollars, and we can do that by arming them with the right digital solution to attract maybe a new audience or to help them be more competitor if there’s less money being spent in the market. But remember, there’s going to be winners and losers. There’s going to be winners and losers in our profession, and there’s going to be winners and losers at the local business level.

Buying Power & Cost-Saving

George: There’s one other nugget. It historically is cheaper for these folks to do this during a potential slowdown. There’s less people buying keywords. There’s less people that are out there doing marketing. They pull back that spend a little bit. There’s more opportunity for customers to stand out from the crowd in a time of a potential pullback. As those competitors in the market are pulling back, it’s actually driving down the cost of marketing, and you can actually get more bang for your buck. We’re in a completely different world than we were in 2019. The consumer mindset has shifted fundamentally from value driven to purpose-driven. The public is willing to spend more if it means buying something that will better suit their needs, or their lifestyle, or solve the problem that they’re trying to get solved. It’s up to trusted local experts to prepare their clients to serve this new type of customer. Now, we might have to work a little bit harder to get that customer, but if we can prove that we’re solving their problem, there’s a really good chance they’ll become a repeat customer, and that’s what we need to convince our clients of in the economy that we’re facing right now.

Fields to explore

There’s more you can do to insulate yourself from any downturn. If your bread and butter is in fine dining, luxury goods, or travel and tourism, you can look at new verticals you can use to bolster your business model now. Let’s run for you a few examples you could consider digging into in this time of a potential slowdown. Childcare, especially when stay-at-home parents may be returning to work, giving their household income a boost, so maybe childcare might be a vertical you might want to go after. Home repair, always a good place to look. More people might be looking to fix the problem rather than buying new as the economy starts to slow down a little bit. Auto repair? Well, it’s pretty tough to buy a new vehicle right now because you get put on a waiting list so there might be more opportunity in businesses that are repairing older vehicles. Discount retail. If you’ve ever been to a Dollar store lately, you’ll notice that they’re busier than ever. Those dollar stores might be a good niche to go after because those customers are looking to capture more market share. Pet care? We always spend money on our pets. Doesn’t matter whether we have less money or not, we’re going to make dollars available for our pet care. Oh, speaking of something that we care about, how about our kids? Spending money on our kids. We might be a little bit more particular about where we spend money, but we’re definitely going to keep spending money in that space. Other verticals like accounting services, food, and beverage, as well as the beauty industry, are also resilient targets to set your sights on in the coming quarters.

Conclusion

Challenging economic times could spell doom and gloom for some, but it really is just a state of mind. If you’re truly passionate about serving businesses with the tools that they need to beat their competition, you should view the possibility of a downturn as an exciting challenge and opportunity. Not only do your clients have the chance to win big. By super-serving them with the right offerings, you’re sure to come out on top when we come out of this potential downturn. That’s another episode of the Master Sales Series on how we can stop using the recession as an excuse. Please subscribe and leave us a review, and thanks for joining us this week on the Conqueror Local podcast. My name is George Leith. I’ll see you when I see you.