Needs vs. Wants

One business section headline I read to day read: Manufacturing shrinks / Spending continues to plummet. I was not shocked at all. Had it said December’s numbers went up I would have been more shocked.

So it posed a 35.6 for December, and that factories will probably be laying off more workers in the coming month’s car manufactures want to work down their inventories. Yet in all this there are items and purchases that are consider essential to people.

In a survey conducted by BioResearch they listed the10 top things people would stop buying and the 10 things that people felt they would not stop buying.

Expendable
92% Luxury handbag
91% Satellite radio
91% Specialty shopping for apparel
91% High end cosmetics
90% Maid service
90% Facial
89% Fine dining
88% Manicure/pedicure
88% Upgraded cell phone
88% Club/social membership

Untouchable
81% Internet service
64% Cell phone service (basic)
61% Cable/satellite TV (basic)
43% Hair cut/color
37% Fast food restaurant
33% Casual sit-down restaurant
32% Charitable contribution
30% Vacation
26% Fast-casual restaurant

*BigResearch, American Pulse Survey

Larson note: Fist off people are going to buy want they can afford and these days more so in cash than credit cards. Seconcd most important thing to not is that items being considered expendable are women based, meaning the woman more so than men are willing to give up things for the family (sorry men, it’s a fact). So it you are in the sell in the top10 list of give ups what do you do, roll over and play dead? Hardly. First remember there are some people still in the market, there are some people still buying facials and maid serve, your job is to make sure those people buy from you and not your competition. Put on some extra value. A glass of wine when you do a pedicure? Free coat check at a social club? Restaurant, do you have a birthday club?

Get creative. If you do business in the way your accustomed to you will get the same results you and your competition has always gotten. Work to disrupt your competition. Keep them off balance and guessing. In times of panic and economic downturn it is really not that hard, just get creative

Howard Larson
Larson & Associates
Target Marketing & Telesales Professionals for new account acquisition
Making good businesses great and great businesses even better
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P.S. We make telesales for small business affordable by offering programs down to only 15 hours a week. Maybe you could add telesales into your marketing mix call today and find out.

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*Source: BigResearch, American Pulse Survey