I was speaking with a potential client on the phone this morning and heard lots of what I have been hearing everywhere else. “The economy is down, my sales are off and that is putting the squeeze on margins.”
It is certainly no big surprise to hear this. I think sales are less now than they were two years ago for most everyone unless you are in a truly bulletproof niche.

My opinion of how to deal with this is very simple. Do the words Luchenbach Texas ring a bell? “Maybe it’s time we got back to the basics….” It’s not the basics of love that I am talking about, but the basics of marketing. Now more than ever we have to determine exactly what it is that triggers a consumer to order something that they can live without. What buttons do we need to push? How often can we push these buttons before we overdo it? How long does it take the consumer to ‘reset’ between button pushing?

Think back to when you started your e-business. Think of all those simple questions you asked yourself about who your market is, what their income is, how often they shop for products that you sell and all these really simple targeting questions. Now go back to those and make sure your business is focused on those. I am the first to admit that when times are good I get lazy and often forget these things.

The US (and world) economy has some re-building to do. So do we as business owners. Make sure you are properly focused on the basics and you will be ahead of the game.