Are you selling sand in the desert?

The economy has us all making changes and adjustments to our lifestyles. Our priorities have changed. Our values have changed. Our interests have changed. Our buying habits have changed. Even as a business owner, you are the client of other business owners, personally and professionally. Why not take a closer look at the changes you’ve made and see how they correlate to the changes your clients are making and have made?

What do you want right now? Not want did you want, but what do you want? Think of the services and products you currently use and think about what changes and/or adjustments you would like to see. Are you looking for changes in price? Changes in service? More value? Specialty services? Think of these changes from the perspective of being a client.

What are you doing differently in your personal life as a result of the current economic condition and why? Your response could be generic, but try to go deeper. Get a real understanding of why you are making the choices and changes you are and what drives to you to use one product or service over another.

What are you willing to sacrifice or sacrifice for? Are there products or services you continue to purchase regardless of the cost because you see real value in them? Where are you compromising? What have you stopped doing? What do you no longer have a need for? Is it all about price? Have you foregone quality?

Now think about your own clients. Some of your responses will be their responses. This thought process could provide valuable insight to changes and adjustments you need to make in your own business. Think of your client profile. What do they want right now – not what have they been buying from you, but what are their needs now? What are they doing differently? What buying changes have they made? How can you meet those needs? Buying habits and trends change all the time. This economy is certainly grounds to reflect on our wants vs. our needs. Why wouldn’t our clients being having the some conversation with themselves?

Stop trying to sell your clients things they no longer need or value. As a small business owner, you have the capacity to make adjustments that large corporations can’t. Take extreme advantage of that. You can respond to changing client needs more rapidly if you are in tune to your business. This is not to say that you should toss your mission statement and vision out the window.

DON’T throw the baby out with the bath water. DO change from cloth diapers to disposables or change from disposables to cloth. Disposables are more convenient and cost-effective. This is not meant to have you change your entire product line; although some small business and corporations have done just that (after careful analysis and study). However, it is meant to get you to seriously evaluate your clients past and current needs. Bottom-line, find a way to meet their changing needs.