# How customers react to proposals during recessions

**Howdy!** 👋 Times have become a bit harder recently, have they not? We stay optimistic and are sure the world is heading towards a better direction now, but some challenges need to be tackled on the way there - how does this affect YOU, though?

## Fear is not always rational

We're currently entering a big recession, an economic slump of sorts. Many metrics indicate this, and even if this was not the case or you don't see any signs at this point in time - it does not really matter. The sad truth is, recessions are self-fulfilling prophecies. If enough people say and believe that one is coming - it will come.

There's a variety of factors contributing to the current mainstream view on the world's economies: (unaffordable) houses, (still unresolved) Ukraine, (often bad) new ideas of big tech corporations, (raging) inflation, (unstable) currencies, (only rising) interest rates. It's a complex issue we will not pretend to fully understand or predict, but we want to focus your attention on 1 detail: in mass perception, this crisis is also about tech.

_"This could serve as a funny illustration of the recent price hikes, if not for the fact that toilet paper is also prohibitively expensive nowadays"_

**An understanding of this is crucial: you may be 100% sure that your current or potential customer should not be affected by the crisis too much or at all. You may know for a fact they will not have any budget problems in the near future. You still should assume they will think differently than before, though.**

## A mind journey

A crisis is coming 🤯  
Money will be harder to come by 💸  
I may have enough now 😮‍💨  
It would be wise to save some or reduce spending just in case 🤔  
Worst case scenario, we will have some leftovers to splurge after the crisis 🤑  
That's your customer. Right in their head.

_"And that's your customer when they see your proposals. Hopefully not."_

## How to position yourself?

For most software houses, digital shops, aspiring crypto advisors and marketing agencies there is 1 way you can still win the customer.

By investing into your tools, they can usually save money.

When customers send you offer requests, they usually have a problem. They wouldn't be looking for solutions to said problems if it was not affecting the bottom line. A CRM system may cost $500K, but if it automates the work of 10 salespeople, each with $6K monthly salary, the savings might be considerable. In extreme cases your tools will be replacing people altogether, and system upkeep is cheaper than manual labour.

_"Steve, are you sure we need this guy to replace our accountant? He is cool but seems slightly unwieldy and not entirely gas-efficient."_

Always underline the bottom line. Clearly estimate and state how much work your solutions automate, replace or improve efficiency. Don't say upfront "By buying X you will save X", but try to make it obvious and clear.

If your product or service is not essential and does not produce much of a tangible benefit to the customer's bottom line, in the next few years you can expect to lose more of such cases due to budget reasons - real or imaginary.

## Apropo will save your firstborn

Now let's practice this on an example! Apropo is a proposal software tool specifically for software development & digital products companies. The whole point of Apropo is to **reduce developer input** from creating the proposal to just verifying it and quick, small corrections where needed.

We promise that you will see a **SUBSTANTIAL reduction in proposal creation time - and therefore improve your efficiency and free up staff hours.** Here's some actual data from long-term customers, with and without Apropo implemented:

Company A: 20 min vs. ~2h = 6x faster  
Company B: 36 min vs. ~5h = 8,33x faster  
Company C: 40 min vs. ~2h = 3x faster

These values are not ballpark figures or wishes: they're **actual times measured by both parties** and logged on our servers. We see and demonstrate the value, because it is here. It will most likely **help your company**. And we're sure of it.

## Save him/her NOW

Apropo is free to trial and we offer help in implementation. **Contact us** below and let us get back to you. We will get you and running in as little time as possible, usually around 30 minutes to 1 hour. If you don't see enough value, we will not charge you a cent and won't pester you with marketing newsletters.

Thank you for reading - be well in the current times! 👋

Michael Grubka

CEO at Apropo

Professional Salesman and Negotiator. 7 years of experience in IT sales with more than 70 deals closed and 500 estimates done. Co-owner of award-winning software development company.