It's not just sellers who fret in tough times. Buyers worry, too. This is what your customers worry about in tough times:

1. Financial concerns

Buyers rank money at the top of their worry list in tough times: terms, budgets and cash flow. As corporate executives seek ways to grow their bottom lines, they slash budgets, cut costs and hammer suppliers for cheaper prices. Buyers may ask for extended terms, especially if interest rates are high. It's cheaper to borrow money from suppliers than from banks.

2. Cost containment

Buyers want lower costs, not just cheaper prices. In tough times, their overall concern with costs surfaces as a price objection, but it is really more of a concern with lower operating costs. The National Assn. of Purchasing Management recently surveyed purchasing agents and found that 75 percent believe technology will help them achieve their efficiency goals. Demonstrate how your technology fits into those plans. Frame your product in its best cost-cutting light. Frame price objections as questions about cost containment.

3. Clear buying priorities

In tough times, buyers require a clearer sense of needs versus wants. Needs are mission critical. These are things they must do and things they must have in order to accomplish their goals. If you sell needs-oriented products, the good news is they must have your product. Wants are things the buyer would like to have or buy. Selling to the buyer's wants in tough times is more challenging. Here's the seller's paradox: Buyers are more price-sensitive for needs and less price-sensitive for wants . When was the last time you heard someone complain about the price of a new Mercedes Benz, Rolex or Mont Blanc pen? Buyers complain about the cost of energy, milk and healthcare — the necessities in life.

4. Employee issues

In tough times, companies lay off employees. This hurts morale and feeds a general insecurity in workers. In addition to layoffs, companies cut costs — including salaries and vital resources employees need to perform their jobs adequately. This, too, leads to morale problems.

Another concern for companies is brain drain, as more talented employees seek stability in other companies or industries. Creative and talented employees get frustrated when they see their ideas put on hold or shelved during tough times.

5. General anxiety

Another thing on customers' minds in tough times is the same thing that plagues everyone else: a general sense of anxiety or fear, as they see their 401k's slipping, their margins shrinking and their customers leaving. It takes a special person, buyer or seller, to face tough times bravely and not allow it to affect their attitude.

Many of the things that bother you also bother your customers in tough times. You are in the fox hole with your customers. Your empathy can go a long way towards helping them in tough times.