When a recession hits everyone becomes more risk averse. They want more sign-offs before they purchase. They want to pick winners. If you look at the Chasm picture, those who were Early Adopters have now become Early Majority.

So now it is even more difficult to find your Early Adopter / Evangelist / Mentor. Now your networking and farming skills are going to become even more important. And once you think you've found your Early Adopter you need to qualify hard ot make sure that they really do have the budget to launch a meaningful Proof of Concept (POC)