I had a good conversation last week with my friend Taki Moore, and he said something quite profound. If they need a life raft, don’t sell them a yacht. I love that.

The following model was inspired by the conversation.

It’s worth thinking about your market like that. Different markets have a different distribution. Some are more likely to be OK, some are more likely to be not OK. But as a general rule your people are probably split across the four.

So, what to sell them?

Drowning. If someone is drowning it’s probably not the time to sell them anything. Throw them a life buoy. Give them some love. Help them survive. But ideally don’t jump into the water with them and start drowning yourself.

Struggling. If someone is struggling, they are probably just keeping their head above water and still not OK. They need your help. Can you help them move up to at least coping again? Or can you help with the problems that are front-of-mind now? (Not with the problems they had six months ago). Can you sell them a life raft?

Coping. If someone is coping, they are OK. Perhaps not where they expected to be, but fine. And maybe you can help them use this time well, see the opportunity, and do some great stuff now.

Thriving. If someone (or a market generally) is thriving, this means they are doing great. Right now this might be no-one in your market, or 5%, or 80%. If you know someone is thriving, perhaps they are still in the market for your yacht. But you want to make sure that that’s where they are before selling them your yacht.

It’s still OK to do business now. It’s still OK to sell. But, like always, you have to be in their world first. The cluster (the program) you were selling six months ago might not be the program to sell now. The problems you solved then might not be the problems you solve now.

But that doesn’t mean people don’t need you now. Or that you can’t run a commercial practice now.