The Economic Advisor

Why Aren’t People Buying?

We are in a depression, probably one that will out-rival the last on of 1929. Unemployment is at its highest, some say around 50% when you count the people no longer on unemployment, small business owners not making enough to pay themselves a paycheck . . . let alone their bills, and recently graduated students who can’t get a job!

People are overcome by fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of what is happening around them. Fear of past sins. Some take relief in pointing the fingers at big business, the banks and anyone else but themselves. The truth is, in a way, we are all to blame. The real blame might just be greed.

We are at an important junction of our economy. If we are not at the bottom, we must be pretty damn close because a lot of us can feel our butts scraping it. The real problem is how long will we hang here? Will recovery come this fall or will it come later? No one knows, we can just speculate and that speculation is also contributing to our fears.

I do know this. As bad as this economy is, some people are still spending. Not as many as we would like, but I suspect it will be sometime before we ever see those days again.

With that thought in mind, each and everyone of us should take a step back and examine what they are doing, and what they should be doing in regard to their businesses and lives. Change is here and change is inevitable.

The world and our economy doesn’t have the time and money for those who will do nothing to position themselves properly. In order to survive and thrive, we need to re-examine our business models. If it is broken it needs to be fixed. If it is working can it be tuned to work even better? A company’s long-term survive and thrive mode will be the result of the customer’s it attracts to do business with it. And no one can expect an overabundance of customers anymore. The majority of people aren’t spending.

So choose your next step wisely in this new economy. Your customers will talk about you. They will do the selling for you. If you neglect them or the right approach that will produce them for you, you could end up in a host of trouble.

Henry Goudreau