Something strange indeed

For business owners who have had the old Buffalo Springfield tune running through their heads, The NY Times reports today on what's been happening here. The Census bureau has found that incomes have fallen more since the official end of the 2007-2009 recession than actually fell during the recession. Peak to trough, median incomes have fallen nearly 10%, one of the largest drops in decades.

So again, data (and legions of economists and statisticians) are confirming what has been evident in many of our communities: the recession is really not over, at least in terms of consumer spending, the critical success factor of our local, regional and national economy.

During the Great Depression, one entrepreneur famously went about his business by focusing on "where the money is." What about you? Do you know where the (legal) money is to sustain your business?

The implications can be profound. In search of sales, many organizations begin to compromise on pricing and thus undermine their value propositions. Often it leads to a fatal spiral, where quality is compromised by the cuts needed to keep margins up in the face of lower prices, which leads to further cuts.

How well do you know your market...how tight is your focus? Are you wasting time (and money) selling to prospects that not just won't, but can't buy? Tough questions, but ones you should be asking yourself every day as we slog through this economic morass.