Who wants to forget 2009? – Not Me!
2010 has certainly started off as a better year than 2009, but the scars and the holes left by 2009 will not be erased or made forgotten by a few excellent months. It is always simple to make the recovery look better by comparing things to the through, but if you compare 2010 to 2008, especially the first nine months of 2008, the last six months have not been stellar by most measures.
Add to that the fact that the “recovery” looks very uncommon depending on where you are or what you are selling. While in Canada we have loved a softer landing in 2009, and certainly a better recovery in 2010, it is not party time. In the USA, the recession hit much deeper, and the recovery has been slower, less significant, and in some spots all but absent. So even in the Fantastic White North, you have to be cognisant of the fact that if the States can’t party, ours may not last. On the other hand it may, and I for one would prefer to look at the well as being half full, or in Canada 3/4 full.
I reckon the larger issue to be looked at is what is the long-term impact of the “post Lehman Brothers era”? During the recession, every expert and his sister were putting out articles, webinars, smoke signals and tweets, about the new way of selling, in the new economy, the new reality, what a load, there was nothing new about 2009.
Maybe it is because I am over 50, or something else, but what we saw in 2009 was not new in any measure. We saw this in all previous economic downturns and recessions, the tap gets turned off; discretionary spends, employees and reason are all sacrificed to the gods of recessions, and purses are sealed in a vault far far away. Sure the language changes, remember in 2002 they called it “right sizing”, other era they call it layoffs. Doesn’t matter what the long term effect is, for corporate leaders it was ostrich time.
One question is of course are we in recovery, can we meet the expense of to forget 2009. After all they loved the TARP so much in New York, it is now touring Europe, depending on consultation response, it may tour North America again, and to larger crowds.
The real question is, and the reason you may not want to forget 2009, is what the real recovery will look like. That is when the new economy stuff should come into play, but as always, that is when the pundits will breathe a sigh of relief and give the all apparent to do it all again, with a similar end in a few years. (Hopefully I’ll be over 60 by then).
The reason I don’t want to forget 2009 is simple, if you survived, or even thrived a small in 2009, you should keep practicing that in 2010, 2011, and beyond. If you were able to communicate value and sell without discounting in 2009, those practices will give you well now. If you were able to learn and respond to market conditions in 2009, why would you stop now.
If on the other hand you withered in 2009, and are doing better now because all boats rise with the tide, you also don’t want to forget 2009, especially if we get the “double dip” many are expecting. How people respond this year will be key to your success, if it is a typical recovery, as it was in the ahead of schedule part of the last decade, you will need to alter your sales approach to benefit from it, as buyers will have uncommon expectations and sensitivities based on their experience. If it turns out that the length, depth and impact of the recession brings a uncommon kind of recovery, you too will need to reinvent the way you sell to meet new demands and expectations, which again suggests that you can’t forget 2009.
What is the ancient saying “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”