Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

The business-backed research group called the Conference Board found that its Consumer Confidence Index dropped to its lowest level in five years, coming in at 64.5. Analysts expectations were the Index would come in around 73.0.

Now the real question will be whether this is followed up be lower consumer spending, or it's only a state of mind. We'll know when the numbers come out soon.

I know that the endless reporting on housing prices falling is used as one of the reasons for consumer confidence, but I don't get that if people are living in their homes for the purpose of living in their homes.

It would impact many who have turned to their homes as a giant piggy bank and now aren't able to use it to fund their spending on consumer goods because the declining value of their homes disallows loans or refinances against them.

The Conference Board also has two indexes that look at existing conditions as well as what consumers expect for the future.

For the present situation index, it dropped from 89.2 in March from 104.0 the month before. The expectations index dropped to 47.9 in March from 58.0 in February; the lowest drop in 35 years.

I'm a little skeptical on these last two indexes, as they very easily could be reports of what people think you want to hear, or really a mirror of what the mainstream media likes to talk about.

Like I said, as far as the numbers go, we need to look at whether consumer spending has really slowed down or not, that will be the determining factor in whether these surveys have any meaning.

Anyone in business or business leadership does need to have contingency plans in place in case consumer spending does slow down.

Sometimes people will cut back on their spending based on their fears, rather than the realities. If they believe things are really bad, they'll respond accordingly.

I'm not saying things aren't bad, just that there's been so much press coverage of the events around us, that people may be talked into their being a recession, and then produce one through a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Either way it doesn't matter. If spending slows, we need to have strategies for generating sales in place that respond to sluggish spending behavior: for consumers and businesses.