Why Clients Are Taking Longer to Book in 2025 (And How to Stay Visible)

Feeling the squeeze in your local, service-based, or creative business right now? You're not alone. The market is shifting, consumers are taking longer to make decisions, and many entrepreneurs are panicking – but this isn't the time to shrink or stand still.What's happening might surprise you:

• People aren't hunting for the cheapest option; they're looking for businesses that provide genuine value and demonstrate expertise.
• History shows that lowering prices during uncertainty often backfires. Instead, focus on maintaining your prices while enhancing your value.

In this episode, I share my personal experience navigating economic shifts, including how I pivoted my photography business in 2010 when others resisted change. While competitors clung to outdated methods, I adapted to meet evolving customer needs—and thrived.Key Takeaways:

• Why the middle market disappears during economic uncertainty.
• How to stay visible, consistent, and authentically connected to customers.
• The importance of listening to your customers instead of competitors.

Ready to stay consistent with your marketing through uncertainty?

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Chapters

• 0:00 Consumer Behavior Shifts
• 1:42 Value vs Price Competition
• 3:54 My 2010 Digital Pivot Story
• 7:21 Making Decisions When Others Freeze
• 9:46 Consistency Beats Panic Marketing
• 11:23 Surrender, Show Up, Stay Ready

Transcript

Brenda Eckhardt: 0:00

If you're feeling stuck in your small business right now, you're not alone. People are taking a little longer to make buying decisions, and if you're starting to panic or maybe think you're not cut out for this, you're definitely in the right place. Stick around. We're gonna talk about it, because now is definitely not the time to shrink and it's not the time to stand still. What's actually happening with consumer behavior right now? People are still booking, they're still looking, but they're being a lot more discerning. They're taking their time to make decisions and they're trying to make quality decisions. The bottom line is people are being more discerning. They're not necessarily hunting for the cheapest option. They're looking for the best bang for their buck, the most value for their time, and they do want to work with businesses that actually care because they feel like they're getting the most for their time. And they do want to work with businesses that actually care because they feel like they're getting the most for their money. And if you've been doing the work to show up, people want depth. Your consistency will pay off. Keep connecting, keep educating. The right people will find you. The bottom line is in a service-based business, people only like let's use photographers for an example, or landscapers, even florists. If someone hasn't been searching for that business or they haven't needed it in a few years, the first thought isn't oh, I should call ABC Landscape. They think I wonder if they're still in business. But the goal with small business ownership and marketing is to stay visible enough that they already have the answer to that question. So then they do just either pick up the phone to text call schedule right away. So if you've been consistent with your marketing, you're going to be fine. You just need to have some patience, because people haven't forgotten you. Your visibility will pay off and that's where the value comes in that people are looking for.

Brenda Eckhardt: 1:52

In a time and an economy like we're in, the biggest misconception in small business is that now is the time to lower your prices, and that is not the case when the economy gets a little strange or people's buying habits come from a place of being a little bit more nervous or apprehensive. What I've found and what history shows us is traditionally, in a good season or a good time, there's a bottom, middle and top, meaning lower value, churn, burn, crank and bank type of businesses than the middle businesses that are. Maybe they do this as a side gig, but they do a really great job and their prices are middle of the road. And then there's the higher end that provide high value customer support, customer service and really connect with their customers. Well, when we go into a little bit more of an unsure time, that middle goes away. People tend to go toward the low value quick money option or they really think it through and they go for the high value option where they know that their money is well spent. That's the sweet spot that we want to be in, because burnout lives in that lower and middle end. And in the higher end, where you've really created a quality customer experience and you have a quality service or product, you don't need to work as hard because the value is there. Your prices are in line with what you bring to the table. The ones who stay in the middle, they vanish, unfortunately, and there's very talented people that you're going to see maybe you already have that will just vanish. You'll see announcements left and right that they're closing their doors. So we all have a decision to make Do we want to compete on price or do we want to compete on value and connection? I always choose value and connection.

Brenda Eckhardt: 3:49

I have a story to share with you along these lines. Here's a story of when I walked away. So in 2010, when the economy was dropping here in the US, we had a double whammy in the photography community because that was happening at the same exact time that film was being taken over by digital cameras, and it was a very vulnerable time as artists and as photographers, because everybody really believed and felt at that time that the true art was in film and digital was going to ruin everything. Just like people are feeling right now about AI, not thinking of how it could enhance what a world Photoshop and Lightroom opened up for us, and that wasn't really in existence as much in the film days. So I was seeing a lot of people close their businesses. I was buying props from people that I so respected in the industry and what I was seeing was a pattern of people that were really holding tight to film. They weren't embracing digital as much.

Brenda Eckhardt: 4:56

I started mixing in digital right away and at a certain point, I knew that I couldn't stand in the gap any longer. If you stand in the gap, you get stuck. You have to keep it moving and you have to make decisions and trust your gut and your instincts and all of the education and learning that you've had up until this point. So at that point I was trusting my gut and I was asking a lot of questions of my customers and what they really wanted at that time was their digital files. All of these online labs were popping up and people were frustrated with other photographers that they didn't have access to their photos to be able to print. So I sat down one day and I created digital packages and I decided print photos were going to be very secondary to what I offer. I was going all digital. If people wanted prints, of course, I would still help them, they could still order through me, but digital was going to be my flagship product.

Brenda Eckhardt: 5:55

And when I walked out of the studio that day, I took a few steps In my mind. I threw a match over my shoulder and I thought let it burn. I'm going to stand strong in my decision and I'm going to keep moving forward. If it's not the right decision, so be it, but at least I'm moving forward. I saw everybody so stuck and paralyzed with indecisiveness, and that changed everything for my business. I was the first to go digital in my area. For a while I was called a fake, a phony and a fraud. I was getting messages and emails from other photographers about how I was single-handedly ruining the art for our area, and none of those people are in business anymore. So it turned out to be the right decision for me.

Brenda Eckhardt: 6:39

Now I'm not saying for you to do something that totally just metaphorically burns your business to the ground, but it is important that you don't get stuck and you're going to start to see a lot of others spin their wheels and feel very stuck. It happens especially on Main Street, where all of the shop owners start talking to each other and they get very caught up in the conversations of oh, numbers are down and oh, we're not seeing as much foot traffic. Well, let somebody make a decision here. Somebody needs to get ballsy and make a decision for their own business and keep things moving forward. Do things that embrace what your customers want and ask a lot of questions of your customers. Don't listen to other people in your industry. Listen to your customers and what you can do that's unique or what you can continue to do that's really worked for you in the past, and know that the right people will come. So what decisions did I make this year, knowing that things are a little strained. People are making buying decisions slower.

Brenda Eckhardt: 7:42

It's going to take longer for all of our schedules to book up, just because people are being a lot more thoughtful, and I personally think that's great, because if people are calling around, I'm going to use photography as an example, because that's like 40% of my work right now and it's what I've done for 21 years. They're calling other photographers to ask about pricing and just to get an idea of what it's like to work with that photographer. And I love that stuff because when they call me, I'm like yeah, you know, I try to create an adventure and I'm really connected. I try to ask a lot of questions so that I can lead us down the path of giving your son or daughter exactly what they'd like for senior pictures. Like let's really figure out what is them and let's bring that to life. Maybe there are other photographers that do that. Maybe you're watching it right now, I don't care, do the same thing. But it's like interviewing for a job every day when you run a small business and right now there's a lot of job interviews happening and it primes us. It just hones our skills. We have to work for it now and I think that's awesome. I personally love it and it makes us better at what we do and it really helps us to better define why us, why you? Why would people choose you? Get clear on that, because consistency is what pays off, because panic marketing doesn't work, especially in a time like we're in. But consistency, visibility, authenticity that does Scared money.

Brenda Eckhardt: 9:15

Don't make money If you're scared to raise your prices or at least to keep your prices where they're at. If you're feeling that gnawing feeling that maybe you should lower your prices for this year, ask yourself are you standing in the gap or are you stepping forward? Standing still because you're afraid is the best way to get stuck, and you may not realize it in the past, but if you look back at the times when you did feel stuck, it's always because you're standing in the gap in indecisiveness. Because you're standing in the gap in indecisiveness, unsure, waiting to see how things pan out, letting it ride. Well, the only time that you want to kind of stand in the gap is more when you know you've done everything you can, you've done all the marketing, you've been great to your customers, you're still being consistent, but then you're not in the gap anymore, you're moving forward and you're almost floating, and that's where you want to be.

Brenda Eckhardt: 10:04

We don't want to be stuck, we want to be kind of floating forward. We've done all the work. We have some propelling going on. We have that momentum going that we need to keep in place, surrender and show up. Here's the truth. None of us are in control of what's coming, what customer is going to schedule when, or who's going to walk in the door at what time. Obviously, none of us are in control of that. But if you've done the work and you've been consistent, or if you haven't and you're gonna start as of now, it will all work out. It's gonna be great.

Brenda Eckhardt: 10:35

When you put out that energy or that panic, it affects all parts of your business and people do pick up on it. If you're the steady business that is consistently showing up, your visibility is there, you're not panicking. People are attracted to that and it's going to be great. Things will continue as they should and it might be your best year in business. So this is your season to get yourself ready physically, emotionally, spiritually.

Brenda Eckhardt: 11:04

If you're in a pre-season, meaning it's about to get busy, or you're kind of in that uh, when's the phone going to ring, use this time to take care of you. Make sure that you're ready for that busy season. Don't get stuck. Don't burn yourself out marketing yourself to death. Know that you're doing things consistently and you're also taking care of yourself so that you're primed and ready to go when things go crazy, because they're bound to go crazy again. It happens every season.

Brenda Eckhardt: 11:33

So we're not going to spiral. We're not going to spaz out. Everything's going to be great. We just need to stay consistent and we're going to watch other people spaz out if need be, but just know that you're the steady person, the person that has the customers that are going to be attracted to you, and it's all going to continue on. So if this resonated with you, please tell me in the comments. I want to hear what you're feeling right now, where you're at, and if you're ready to just be where you're at and if you're ready to just be consistent and continue forward, or if you're feeling stuck in any certain area. Download my content clarity calendar as a great way to keep yourself consistent. I'll put it in the show notes so that you can easily grab it, and I look forward to talking to you next time.