Why Your Business Feels Slow (It's Not Just You)

It's a cruel summer.

Business is slow.

It's summer. But this year it's worse.

It's not just you. Conditions have changed.

The labor market is sending scary signals. Over 100,000 people in tech alone have lost their jobs this year because of AI.

The news cycle is also scary. Oil prices. The Strait of Hormuz. Inflation. Politics. Demonstrations. Unrest.

None of this is background noise. Your buyer is reading it too right before they decide whether this is the quarter to spend money on you.

So when a CFO, a founder, or a VP with a shrinking budget looks at oil prices, war, and their own rising costs and says "let's wait" that's not about you.

Buyers are also just more skeptical right now, full stop. Trust is the thing everyone's short on. They're not less interested in solving their problem. They're less willing to take a chance on something or someone they don't fully trust.

And then there's summer, doing what summer does. Decision-makers are half on vacation, half checked out, trying to keep their kids busy until school starts again, and "I'll deal with this in September" is the easiest sentence in the English language.

So no, you're not imagining it. When the person who signs off on spending is watching oil, war, and their own margins all at once, "maybe later" is the path of least resistance. Doing all the right things and watching them work less isn't a sign you did something wrong or that you can't build revenue. It's just where we are.

Here's the part I have learned through navigating many downturns.

A slow market is more punishing when you do nothing about it. A slow market is a signal to sharpen what you've got and use your creativity to do something new.

A slow market punishes vagueness. And punishes business-as-usual.

When buyers are confident, selling is easier.

In a cautious market, buyers need to understand three things fast — why this matters now, why you, and why it's worth paying for. If your message doesn't answer all three, the hesitant buyer does exactly what hesitant buyer do: nothing.

Which means the question isn't "how do I push harder?" More effort on a foggy foundation just burns you out faster. The real question is: "Is my positioning sharp enough for the market we're actually in?"

That's the work worth doing while things are slow. While you are panicking over the viability of your business. While your buyers are distracted, you are sharpening your positioning, your messaging, your value proposition.

This is not a time to do more of what you were doing only to get more ghosting and "let me think about it."

This is a time for deep focus and work.

Meg Crumbine is the founder of Heard and a go-to-market strategist for ex-corporate women building B2B consulting and service businesses. She helps women turn their expertise into clear positioning, smarter offers, and a lead generation strategy that creates strong revenue.