By many accounts and indicators, the recession is ending and the economy is finally moving again. But, in what direction? Don’t forget, consumer prices have receded a percent-and-a-half this year and, in many states, unemployment is above 10 percent. Economists warn that any growth will be fragile, at best, and will only become sustained if consumers start spending more money. It took the government-backed “Cash for Clunkers” program to stifle inflation and stimulate the economy enough to generate a reversal in consumer spending and manufacturing production. But that initiative ended and now we’re headed into the all-too-crucial holiday shopping season.

So, who exactly are the new, post-recession customers? And how might decorated-apparel business owners woo them? These are questions upon which every wise entrepreneur must ponder, and from which draw broad-brush conclusions. The nature of decision making for would-be buyers has changed . . . forever. Oh, people will still buy from people who they like, trust, and with whom it is convenient to do business; but when, what, and how much of anything they buy will be drastically different than just a couple of years ago. In the prosperity at the turn of the millennium, shoppers splurged on $5 lattes and $200 blue jeans; retailers reacted by opening more stores and offering more choices. Today, consumers embrace frugality with a vengeance and are limiting their purchases to the essentials or the best deals.

Succumbing to customers’ attempts to control pricing or offering deep discounts just to “move the groceries” are not good strategies for long-term, sustained success for any business. The most logical alternative is to study and try to understand post-recession customers and adapt accordingly in finding ways to get them to think of you first when they are finally ready to pull the trigger on a purchase of the goods and services you offer. Want to learn more? Let’s explore.

Who are you?

Although many of today’s decorated-apparel customers are of the business-to-business variety, one may assume with some confidence that the spending behavior of the retail consumer mirrors that of the corporate merchant responsible for procuring decorated apparel. This is true because many of the garments and embellished items that are bought for marketing, promotional and branding purposes utilize discretionary dollars from a company’s operating budget. And purchasing agents are spending corporate dollars as if they were their own and their jobs depended on it—while, in fact, they do.

To start, let’s analyze some facts about consumers over the years. Belt-tightening in bad times is normal. But after every recession since World War II, penny-pinching quickly fell out of fashion with many Americans resuming their thirst for new cars, new homes and everything else on the cutting edge of technology. This time, things are markedly different.

As with the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Great Recession of 2009 seems destined to convert many Americans into lasting coupon-clippers, scrimpers, savers and do-it-yourselfers. The redemption frequency of rebate offers—a practice that manufacturers have historically counted on never to be submitted or acted upon—is at a record high.

Today’s average household has dug a debt hole over the past decade from which there’s no easy way out. Many homeowners, if they’ve not yet lost their houses to foreclosure, owe more on the principle of their loans than the dwelling is worth.

Still, consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy, is forecast by many market analysts to grow weakly next year. A study by research firm AlixPartners concluded that once a new post-recession “normal” settles in, Americans will spend at about 86 percent of their pre-downturn level. In an economy driven by consumption and job creation, the implications are far reaching, if the study proves to be correct.

For every kitchen not remodeled, there will be lost sales of appliances and cabinetry, and fewer jobs for designers and contractors. As homeowners do work around the house themselves, there will be less work for handymen and gardeners. For every shopper who trades down from designer luxury stores to discount merchants, it will mean fewer profit dollars for retailers and manufacturers. Retailers will, predictably, offer fewer product choices and carry leaner inventories, and they’ll continue to reassess store locations and advertising.

Frugality may be great for the family budget, but it stinks for the national economy. And that has the potential to reinforce the miserly practices of today’s consumer. I realize it’s a bleak picture I’ve painted here but, as the late great Walter Cronkite said, “. . . that’s the way it is.” Uncertainty and fear of the unknown, coupled with demand for greater value and selective loyalty, may seem like a perfect storm upon which to capitalize, but just as a customer’s experience was critical to business survival before the recession, it’s going to play a crucial role in business survival throughout whatever recovery may occur. The worst illusion a business owner can have is that, in time, everything will revert to the way things used to be. They won’t.

The future is very uncertain, but this much is clear: Businesses will need to develop and deliver greater value, a more pleasurable shopping experience, and deeper emotional engagement with prospects and customers. Buyers will demand it, and they’ll severely penalize those vendors unable or unwilling to deliver it. We better be ready for it.

What’s the frequency?

The conundrum with most people’s response to a challenge is that it’s eerily similar to what many salespeople do in the faceⁱ of customer resistance or objection:

they talk more and listen less;

they speak faster and often louder;

they over-emphasize product features and fail to point out benefits to the customer; and

they act more nervous and less confident.

As Dr. Phil McGraw is inclined to ask, “How’s that workin’ for ya?” The post-recession customer wants you to talk with her, not at her. And it all begins with the frequency with which you initiate a true, mutually-beneficial dialogue. During the Focus on Business seminar series at the Printwear Shows, I often pose the following questions to attendees:

In the course of a year, how often should a business initiate contact with a current client via mail, email, phone, fax, sales call or hosted event? How about with a prospective customer?

Which type of contact (mail, email, etc.) is most effective and produces the desired response on a more consistent basis?

How well are you doing maintaining your scheduled plan to contact prospects and clients on a frequent-enough basis?

How do you measure the effectiveness of your marketing-communications efforts?

The typical answer I get to the first question is “it depends” or a range of numbers from one—“We mail out our catalog to everyone once a year”—to about 50—“We call to collect their order for the week.” I hope it’s obvious (it is to me and, actually, to most of my seminar attendees) that these responses are virtually meaningless and inconsequential. Usually at least one of the seminar participants will boomerang the question back at me.

I offer the following rule-of-thumb guidance in determining with what frequency it is appropriate for a particular decorated-apparel business to contact clients and prospects:

If a client orders only once a year, quarterly communiqués are probably sufficient.

If the client orders every week, no more than 12 “special” messages should be adequate without running the risk of becoming a nuisance.

Use your best judgment for customers in between. You’ll most likely find that you will decide the majority of your clients should be contacted between six and ten times during the year—but not everyone at the same six to ten times.

Always have a good and unique reason for your contact—such as, it’s the customer’s birth month,  it’s just before the last time she ordered, or you’re celebrating your business’s anniversary with a sale (to name a few)—and vary the vehicle by which you convey the message. Don’t always just send an email blast, for example. And ask if you can visit and tour of the facility.

Personalize the message to the intended recipient even though you are sending a mass mailing. There are a number of companies—such as ConstantContact.com, iContact.com and YesMail.com—that can affordably help you manage emails to your client and prospect lists.

The disheartening truth about the answers I get to questions 2, 3 and 4 above is that rarely do I hear a substantiated answer. Most business owners confess, “I ought to be able to give you an accurate response to those questions.” For me, it’s very gratifying to inspire business owners to be industrially curious as to the health and wellbeing of their own enterprise.

The ultimate litmus test as to how often you should initiate contact with customers and prospects is asking yourself, “What lasting impression is my business leaving when it reaches out to communicate with our customers? Are we in front of them enough or too much? Will my efforts cause them to seek me out when they are in the market for my goods and services? Will they think of me first and go out of their way to do business with us?”

The right thing to do

The best response to the challenge of winning over the post-recession customer is to increase sales efforts, reduce wasted efforts, exhibit leadership by providing the relevant information and support so the customers may make the right decision for their situations, and become a trusted servant in their eyes who demonstrates a spirit of helpfulness rather than making an obvious and overt attempt to “sell” them.

Enticing coupon offers and almost hard-to-believe low prices may get the value-seeking, post-recession buyer’s foot in your door, but it will not keep him coming back. Go out of your way to stock the most popular items and find every possible means to lower your cost of goods sold without sacrificing quality and performance. The savvy post-recession consumer isn’t going to be taken in by hyped-up bells and whistles of your latest new offering. Defer to your best customers as to what is genuinely more value for their precious buck. Good luck!

Broad Strokes 

This month's broad strokes include:

In the face of any hint of an economic recovery, people will still buy from people who they like, trust, and with whom it is convenient to do business. But when, what and how much of anything they buy will be drastically different than pre-downturn times.

Uncertainty and fear, coupled with demand for greater value, may seem like a perfect storm upon which to capitalize, but just as a customer’s experience was critical to business survival before the recession, it’s going to play a crucial role in business survival throughout whatever recovery may occur.

The post-recession customer wants you to talk with her, not at her. And it all begins with the frequency with which you initiate a true, mutually-beneficial dialogue. You’ll most likely find that you’ll decide the majority of your clients should be contacted between six and ten times during the year—but not everyone at the same six to ten times.

Realistically, the wise business should increase its sales efforts, reduce wasted efforts, exhibit leadership by providing the relevant information and support so customers may make the right decisions for their situations, and become a trusted servant instead of just making an obvious and overt attempt to sell.