Position Your Product For The Recession Now

There is always a complex set of factors that influences purchasing decisions. But in economic downturns, especially those filled with uncertainty, managers everywhere are asked to avoid, defer or reduce costs. Perhaps "asked" is too mild. "Required" would be more accurate. So, regardless of your current value proposition, it is time to rethink how you position your product. The senior question is: "How and for whom can we reduce costs?"

Answer that question and then craft a clear message that makes the case to the target manager who is struggling for survival. Do it now, not next week. Do it before everyone climbs on the cost-cutting bandwagon. Get that message out.

This formula is especially true for B2B tech products. IT managers are already assembling lists of applications they want to get off their servers (or new ones they never want to put on them) so they can cut costs. SaaS offerings are in the sweet spot here. Low switching costs, fast implementation, and usage-based subscription pricing are perfect attributes in this climate.

Point solutions, as opposed to comprehensive enterprise applications, are especially well positioned. Make the case for how you can "snap in" your product in place of the behind-the-firewall solution currently used. Show unambiguously how you reduce costs. This is not the time to pitch soft savings. Meanwhile, assure that your user experience, from ease-of-use to support, reassures the beleaguered IT manager that moving the application to the cloud will make it pretty much disappear from his support menu.

Tech loves disruptive technology. What you want to disrupt right now is customer cost. All else is secondary.