A Time To Sow?

I heard an interesting ad on the radio recently. It was from a fellow selling his “real estate system” in which he promised to teach those who bought his program how to profit from the current real estate slump. One of his attention-getters was, “America is on sale!”, meaning that there are currently bargains all around us thanks to the decline in real estate prices. I thought that was a good way to phrase things not just because it’s a noteworthy “grabber,” but because I tend to agree! As I’ve said in previous posts, those of you who have managed your operations well up to this point will find a great many opportunities to grow your business in a time when everyone else is scrambling to hang on. In fact, I recently moderated a panel consisting of two of our former mayors and the current president of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce. They were restating that not only is OKC in a good position because of how we’ve managed our resources up to this point, but how the current downturn could be the perfect time to expand the city’s horizons because it’s easier to negotiate for better deals on resources if you have a stronger cash position when everyone else is worrying about how they’re going to meet their current needs. As the panel emphasized, that’s just as true for a city as it is for any business or organization. You can read more about it here.

A downturn is also, absolutely, NOT the time to cut your promotional budget. If everyone else is cutting back, that means the landscape is less cluttered, so YOUR message has a better chance of getting through. Additionally, you’ll be viewed as the kind of confident organization your customers can trust in these uncertain economic times.

You need to be out assertively NETWORKING for the same reasons! As mentioned repeatedly in The Great Game of Networking, networking is the most cost-effective, powerful, customizable branding strategy you can employ any time, but especially when you’re watching your budget! 

The market is always fertile soil for an organization like YOURS who provides VALUE for your customers! In fact, if you’re as passionate about what you do as I think you are, you know they need you now more than ever! So let’s all roll up our sleeves and get busy this month planting the seeds for next month’s prosperity!

 The time to buy is at the time of maximum pessimism – Sir John Templeton