If it feels like your customers are behaving oddly right now, you’re not alone. In fact, you’re in excellent company.
During the pandemic, B2B buying behavior changed almost overnight. Projects were delayed, uncertainty reigned, and even seasoned salespeople couldn’t get a read on timelines. Fast forward to today: some of those erratic patterns are resurfacing as a result of economic uncertainty. We’re hearing from clients in both public and private sectors that once-active deals are being paused. Emails are going unanswered. Budgets are “under review”—again.
But here’s the plot twist: there’s been a recent shift. Over the past few weeks, panic around tariffs and trade has softened. Talk of global disruption is still ambient noise, but the volume’s lower. There’s a sense that the sky isn’t falling (see our point of view below).
Overcommunicate in times of uncertainty
As we’ve said before, when your buyers freeze, your messaging shouldn’t. Elongated sales cycles call for more intentional touchpoints. That doesn’t mean aggressive selling. It means becoming the “safe choice.” Think of it as the modern B2B version of “No one ever got fired for hiring IBM.”
Focus on:
- Case studies featuring clients just like them.
- White papers tackling their specific vertical’s headaches.
- Testimonials that speak to trust, not just ROI.
Buyers want proof that you understand their world—and that you’ll still be there for them six months from now.
Challenger Brands: This Is Your Window
Interestingly, some of our most nimble clients—those who operate as #2 or #3 in their space—are quietly winning. Challenger brands are stealing share from the public behemoths who’ve grown too bloated or slow to respond. These underdog companies are quick to pivot, customize, and carve out micro-niches. While the giants sit on paused projects and ponder strategy, the challengers are chunking down big opportunities into manageable phases and getting to work.
This limbo in the market isn’t just an obstacle—it’s an opening.
By Marc Emmer for The Vistage Research Center: How business owners will adapt to AI
Business owners are actively seeking AI solutions that will transform their organizations forever, are easy to implement and free. Our expectations may be a wee bit unrealistic.
Trump Has Shown His Cards
We’ll admit it—some of us have been slow to fully grasp the contours of Trump’s economic policy decisions. But by now the playbook is clear: deregulation, friction with the judiciary, and policy decisions that sometimes seem aimed more at headlines than viable solutions.
But all the news pales in comparison to the real prize—Trump’s intent to make a mint of crypto is perhaps the most blatant attempt to skirt around conflict of interest laws in our lifetime. This will certainly bring all types of legal challenges, and perhaps not only of the civil variety. These matters will consume much of the Trump Presidency, making for a short runway to execute his agenda.
Blitzkrieg seems to be the tactic—creating a new controversy for each day’s news cycle before something else like Trump’s “Beautiful Bill” hits the airwaves. Up until now, only one thing stopped him in his tracks: the capital markets. There was evidence of this from the bond market’s violent reaction to tariffs, only to reversed by Trump. But now even congressional Republicans have had enough, as they argue the merits of tax reform. The Moody’s downgrade is only the most recent reaction of markets, unimpressed with the trajectory of tax policy and debt.
Yet Trump can take a tariff war victory lap following a convenient meeting with China, after which he called for yet another pause. While we don’t know whether it will hold, concessions by the Chinese are more than we expected. While the tariff chest bumping was complete madness, Trump’s brand of chaos did yield a significant reset of the world trade order. We hope deals with Mexico and Canada materialize—that is, before we’re banned from importing avocados and maple syrup, or the Canadians are so mad that they actually win a Stanley Cup.
It’s hard to imagine Trump is dumb enough to take a hammer to the U.S. economy for more than a couple months. And of course, the news makes everything worse than it really is. The capital markets have almost entirely recouped their losses, with the S&P up for the year. As a negative impact to GDP, the escalation of imports before tariffs were imposed sparked a GDP loss, which is a temporary condition. And one down quarter does not a recession make. Again and again, we offer this perspective: watch the news with a grain of salt, and make your own decisions on what to react to and how to invest.
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Marc Emmer is President and Chief Strategist & Facilitator at Optimize Inc.
He is an author, speaker and consultant recognized as a thought leader throughout North America as an expert in strategic planning.
