How to handle our business when the economy is rough

I remember a story that I read in one of Zig Ziglar’s books, where he talked about a real estate company meeting, where he was chatting with some people about the low demands in the real estate market. The first person was very upset, shaking his head, stating that with the low demand it was difficult for him to find clients that wanted to buy a house or list, and that it was a waste of time and money to invest anything in marketing. At the same time, another realtor was excited about the situation, explaining that her market share had increased, since there were fewer realtors in the market, nobody was doing any marketing, and the customers that were interested in talking to her were actually serious.

I always have this story in mind, especially because every time we think about this recession and economic turmoil, we think about budget cuts, layoffs, and lower revenues. However, we can always use a spin point, and think of ways to take care of our current customers to sustain retention and loyalty, or create new products to respond to new market needs. This is the time to think strategy again, and look for new venues to maintain the position that we had in the past, so we can keep being the Top Producers we once were, regardless of economic setbacks.