🪂 June Sales Tanked
🛒 Shifting Buyer Behavior
🆘 Be Helpful!
🪂 June Sales Tanked
Something happened in June. It was like a switch flipped on June 3rd and sales plummetted.
Across multiple industries in Canada and the United States, sales volumes plunged 30-50%. We saw it on all of Sticky Branding’s clients’ dashboards. Quoting and sales orders fell off a cliff.
June’s sales performance was the worst month since the pandemic.
Some economic data validated what we were seeing in the field. According to the Chicago Fed, the U.S. economy slowed in June. Three of four categories tracked by the Fed declined: production-related indicators; sales, orders and inventories; and employment-related indicators.
We are seeing an uptick in our July dashboards, but the June blip put me on edge. Despite the high flying stock market, the economy is brittle.
The warning we are sharing with clients is don’t treat this as a seasonal summer slowdown. If we are experiencing economic uncertainty, the best defense is a strong offense.
If the slowdown continues into the fall, you want to be laying the sales and marketing groundwork as early as possible. Hint: Start now! 🚨
One Stat to Watch
34.5%
of the S&P 500’s market cap gains so far in 2024 can be attributed to Nvidia alone. But when you strip the Magnificent 7 from the Index, the story is bleaker with gains of 6% from the 493.
🛒 Shifting Buyer Behavior
Economic conditions impact buyer behavior. In slow times, we tend to see consumers in one of two states:
- Pained-but-Patient
- Slam-on-the-Breaks
You can see the Pained-but-Patient group in the housing market. In Toronto, new home sales were down 71% year-over-year in May, and new condo sales were down 75%. Despite that, housing prices have remained stable. Sellers aren’t buckling to the pressure.
Pained-but-Patient consumers tend to be resilient and optimistic about the future, but less confident in the current economy. They’ll choose to ride it out. As a result, major purchase decisions are postponed or they look for workarounds to conserve cash.
In June, we got a glimpse of the Slam-on-the-Breaks group. Consumers can suddenly enter this state when they feel vulnerable or hard hit financially.
Slam-on-the-Breaks is a survival mechanism. This group reduces all types of spending by eliminating, postponing, decreasing, or substituting purchases. They hunker down and effectively come to a halt.
Selling to either group is challenging. It requires a high degree of empathy and demonstrating a clear ROI.
More importantly, consumers are looking to extend their cash flow. Look for ways to help your customers “derisk” their purchases with smaller transactions, flexible payment terms, or increased support.
🆘 Be Helpful!
No one wants to be “sold to” when they are feeling vulnerable.
Selling in a downturn requires walking a fine line. On one hand, you have to dramatically increase the volume of sales and marketing activities to stay ahead of declining customer demand. But on the other hand, you don’t want your brand to be perceived as opportunistic and icky.
The solution is to be helpful by looking forward and reframing your value proposition. These are my go-to questions:
- Who needs your company and its expertise the most right now?
- What products or services can you deliver to solve real problems that are valued?
- How can you proactively sell and deliver your services to the people with the most need?
Being helpful insulates and elevates your brand because it makes it hyper-relevant and attuned to your customers’ needs.
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