Change has Come.

The latest issue of Selling Power arrived yesterday and there was an interesting article that offered some predictions for 2009 and how a business would need to adapt in this economy. It started with an interesting story about a CEO that cut his staff by 20% back in October "before things got too bad" - interestingly his competitors used these layoffs as a marketing tool and put fear into the CEO's current clients as well as future clients -would they be taken care of? Are they going out of business? Surely the quality will of the service will be affected? The Result - their numbers went in the toilet because they were losing current customers and the new deals were not closing - with them! If you are thinking the same way as that CEO please reconsider.
Here are the interesting predictions mentioned in the article:

1)Your customers future will continue to be uncertain.
2)Decision makers will have less time than ever to listen to you.
3)Your customers will be overwhelmed with data and have difficulty recognizing fact or fiction.
4)Your customers will have trouble seeing past the end of the current quarter.
5)Your customers will need your help more than ever before.

So are you adapting the approach of your sales group to compensate for these changes? Are the people you have even capable of changing? History is full of Paradigm shifts that left some floundering and others prospering - we are all aware of the dramatic changes going on around us, we have all felt them happening but are we change ready? Have you already changed what you are doing?