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108 Managing Customers Through Economic Cycles

Leverage consumers’ increased free time

During contracted economies, consumers have more free
time because of such factors as decreased discretionary
money and increased unemployment. Depending on your
particular business, it is worth exploring what products
and services are more dependent on a consumer’s discre-
tionary time. In such service industries as the legal pro-
fession and wealth management organizations, many
consumers postpone such activities because they require
an investment of time, which during prosperous periods
is at a premium. When economies contract, consumers are
less busy in their conventional jobs either because of a
business slow down or unemployment. This is a good time
to initiate marketing campaigns to capitalize on the increase
in free time of consumers. One Canadian law organization
initiated a marketing campaign to potential clients to have
province-mandated land registration legal changes done at
a discount for a limited time. The marketing message was
“Come do it now because you going to have to do it
anyway and we’ll give you a break on it if you do it
now.” Ordinarily, the law organization would not solicit
for this legal business but it was a very effective marketing
campaign during a contracted economy. The campaign
was very successful.

Help consumers manage what they owe you

One barrier to consumers’ purchasing is the fear that they
will not be able to pay for it. For businesses that sell large
ticket items, including expensive service offerings, a proac-
tive plan should be in place to ease the consumers’ fear
about how they will pay you.