The Sky is Falling - Recession - Depression - We’re all Doomed!
With all the media reports about the terrible economic times we are now facing, one would think every person in the world had lost their job, car, house and was living on the streets, sleeping in a cardboard box!
HOWEVER, the truth is far from this for MOST people and I wanted to just take a few minutes to put some perspective on this, for those of you who are truly suffering from “The Sky Is Falling” syndrome…
Funnily enough, I had occasion to catch a loonie tunes carton on this very subject a few weeks ago, and what was truly intriguing was how close to reality it was.
In this cartoon, there was a hungry fox and a hen house full of all sorts of different characters, including Chicken Little (the “star” of the story).
In true Loonie Tunes fashion, it was a clever piece of satire about a hungry fox (Foxey Loxey) that wanted to get access to the chickens, and how he achieved this.
Foxey Loxey
Essentially, he used psychological warfare on the chickens - picking the dumbest rube (Chicken Little) as his fall guy, to spread the rumour of the sky falling.
Cocky Locky - the rooster in charge of the hen house - soon puts this rumour to bed (not before the entire hen house ends up in a squawking loud mad house first) and everyone goes back on their way.
Not one to be beaten by a smart rooster, foxey loxey re-attacks with new psychology and has the entire hen house spreading rumours that cocky locky is going mad or losing the plot.
Several more times we go around & around the merry go-round, as cocky locky deals with foxey loxey’s rumours and lies, until FINALLY, the wiley fox tricks them all into running and hiding in a cave to protect themselves from the falling sky…
He then locks himself in the cave with all the stupid chickens and eats them all…
Moral of the story: Don’t believe everything you hear, and beware of believing AND spreading rumours!
So, you ask, what the heck does a cartoon about foxes and chickens have to do with our current economic woes…?
Well, while there IS economic trouble and no doubt SOME people are suffering, don’t believe EVERYTHING the media tells you (they have a vested interest in hyping up the bad news stories that they publish, for all the usual reasons) about “The Sky Is Falling”.
In reality, things are tough, but it’s not as though every single person has suddenly lost everything. The vast majority of people are still employed, still have a house they rent or pay a mortgage on to live in, are still eating food, enjoying entertainment, driving a car and taking vacations.
Yes, things have tightened up - people aren’t blowing money like there’s no tomorrow (but then, this downwards adjustment is the consequences of us doing that), and we’re not all buying 5-10 investment properties and travelling first class to Europe for 5 months.
We’ve lived the good life for quite some time now, and the general public AND many businesses have become lazy about how they earn and spend their money, hence when the correction came (that we all KNEW was coming), we all suddenly have to face up to the consequences of our lavish lifestyle and get a bit of a grip on reality again.
For those businesses that are suddenly struggling, I would say this to you:
People are STILL buying. They just want more and better reasons to part with their hard-earned cash now, and if you can’t provide them, then you’ll lose out on the buying & selling that will still continue to happen.
Forget about the old times of getting so much business that you could afford to turn it away - and get your head around the idea that you’ll have to WORK for it now. It won’t just fall in your lap anymore because shoppers want to make the right/safe decision before they purchase.
One thing to keep in mind is the matter of marketing - how do you find (or make contact) with those people who are pre-disposed to doing business with you?
It’s common during tough times for businesses to stop marketing and advertising, as a way to save on money. However, sales are the #1 most important thing needed to keep a business afloat, and if you cut back on the #1 thing that brings in your sales, you’ve just signed your death warrant!
Instead of just foolishly throwing money at any and all opportunities though, you should wisely evaluate where to best put your advertising and marketing dollars - what brings you the highest ROI. Once you’ve found the most effective option, then keep stoking the fire with fuel - keep ahead of your competition - and you’ll be the one to not only stay afloat while we ride out this tough economic time, but you’ll be the business that floats to the top when the tough times have past, and be #1 in your market place!
It takes courage to follow the path, when everyone around you is shrieking about the tough times we’re going though, and even your personal friends and family are talking negatively about the economy. Don’t be sucked into that dangerous path, because you’ll quickly find its a self-fulfilling prophecy and you’ll follow your competitors down the tube and drown in the whirlpool at the bottom.
I’m not saying all this just as a justification to get you to do more internet based marketing with us, although you’re obviously welcome to speak to us about your needs in this area. However, from our point of view, if business gets tough all over because people panic and believe all the hype the media (and their friends/family) spread, then their businesses WILL struggle and go downhill, and that won’t help any of us.
Instead, all of us at WCR Internet Marketing want you and your business to succeed, REGARDLESS of the circumstances.
To finish, here’s an appropriate little story I got in email from a colleague which I felt said it quite nicely:
HOW TO KILL YOUR BUSINESS OVERNIGHT
During the 1930’s there was a man who lived by the side of the road and
sold hot dogs. He was hard of hearing, so he had no radio. He had trouble
with his eyes, so he read no newspapers. But he sold good hot dogs. He
stood at the side of the road and cried: “Buy a hot dog, mister?” And
people bought. He increased his meat and bun orders. He bought a bigger
stove to take care of his trade.
Business was so good he brought his son home from college early to help
him out. And his son said: “Father, haven’t you been listening to the
radio? Haven’t you been reading the newspapers? The European situation is
terrible. The domestic situation is worse.”
The father thought to himself, “Well, my son’s been to college, he reads
the papers and he listens to the radio — so he ought to know.” So the
father cut down his meat and bun orders, took down his signs, and no longer
bothered to stand out on the highway to sell his hot dogs. And his hot dog
sales fell almost overnight. The father said to the boy, “You’re right,
son, we certainly are in the middle of a great depression.”
Doesn’t that sound exactly like what is happening now?
In closing, I want to encourage every single one of you to be brave, don’t believe EVERYTHING you hear or read, invest your business cashflow wisely, develop and maintain contact with other entrepreneurs who are choosing to succeed regardless of the news coming from the media, and REMEMBER that sales are #1, which means you need to give potential buyers plenty of good reasons to buy from you instead of your competition AND instead of just not taking any action at all.
Read some of our past posts about selling online for some great ideas to get you started:
- The Psychology of Sales Conversion
- Top 10 Sales Conversion Secrets of the Best Websites In The World
- The Forgotten Dynamics of Buying and Selling Online
- Does Your Website Sell?
- Selling Online vs Offline - What’s The Difference?
If you want to discuss how to get the very best out of your marketing budget online, feel free to contact us to discuss your situation.
Comments
2 Responses to “The Sky is Falling - Recession - Depression - We’re all Doomed!”
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Hi Eran,
I enjoyed reading your article and I too agree with the comments made. I like how you mentioned friends and family as this seems to be the primary source of information for most people as opposed to actually hitting the internet or reading more on the subject at hand.
In fact, I had my father in law over on the weekend deeply concerned about where we are heading and that things could and may possible get very bad soon.
My argument was that, yes, things may be getting tough but not for everyone. If I bought a 2 million dollar property in Perth 4 months ago and still owed most of that to the bank, then yes, I would be finding things most difficult.
I think its just a time to think smarter and work with what we have, not what we haven’t.
Cheers Eran.
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