Carolyn Jack

Editor and CEO, Geniocity.com
A project of The Genius Group LLC

What do people want?

It’s a poser at any time, but for entrepreneurs looking to profit by answering a need or satisying a desire, the question has never been more urgent or baffling than right now. Business experts have started acknowledging that the economic recovery everyone’s hoping for will be extra slow to come because we’re all cutting back drastically on purchases in order to weather the recession. 

So what can you sell when no one’s buying? 

Well, entrepreneurs are not creative for nothing. They come up with great ideas all the time. But this scenario will challenge even the most imaginative.

I’ve been trying to analyze what’s going on in order to boost my own business, so maybe if we walk through the mental process together, we’ll identify some useful trends, if not specific products and services.

First and most obviously, big luxuries are out for the overwhelming majority of average consumers. So selling some kind of necessity is our best bet. But what counts as a necessity in a global population of so many different tastes, backgrounds, occupations and problems?

Food, of course – but not fancy food. Basic clothing, housing, fuel, transportation, medical care and supplies, education and job training. Certain kinds of equipment, such as computers, home-maintenance items, kitchen stuff (since we’re not eating out). Insurance. Legal help.

Those are things people need and must get somehow. Businesses that provide them will probably survive this slump. But that still doesn’t answer our question. In a time of great uneasiness and growing hardship, what do people want? 

Money, most of all. Jobs. Investments that regain their value. Not that too many entities are capable of providing that stuff right now, but if any could, what would having those things give people? Peace, security, confidence, optimism, comfort – right? 

Emotions. States of mind. Hmmm. If we can’t offer the actual means of achieving security and comfort, maybe we can offer something that makes people at least feel a little better. Inexpensive treats or reassurances of some kind.

Okay, not sweets and junk foods. There’s way too much of that trash available already. And I don’t know about you, but I would never sell tobacco products, booze or similarly addictive stuff that ends up damaging and killing so many people. So ix-nay on the ice-vays. We want to soothe and comfort, not enslave. 

How about access to information, markets, guidance, solutions? When people feel helpless, nothing cheers them up more than discovering they have the power to find answers and take the right steps.

How about groups? We all feel safer and better when we have a group to belong and talk to – a club, support organization, religious center, online community or neighborhood gathering spot where we can believe we’re not alone in our troubles, especially if we don’t have family to rely on. 

How about stories? During the Great Depression, lots of people managed to scrape together a nickel or two for a movie now and then, especially for glamorous, lighthearted escapes from reality such as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers flicks.  Books, music, dancing, drawings and interesting objects – the arts in general – brighten people up, too.

 And what about light and warmth? After all, it’s winter in half the world, and cold, dark days make the economy and life seem even crueler and more dangerous than they would in lush summertime.

Maybe some entrepreneurs out there (you? I?) will come up with new, creative, inexpensive products from these categories that revitalize people’s crushed spirits so magically they prove irresistible. And maybe if buyers feel helped, comforted and reassured, confidence and hope will return. 

Talk about doing well by doing good ….