Selling has always been about relationships, but it is becoming more significant in today’s world. According to a recent study referenced in this Selling Power.com article – The Relationship Imperative – product superiority is not as big a driver in customers’ decision-making process. “Product superiority used to be a big advantage for companies,” says Jim Dickie, partner at CSO Insights. “But collapsing product lifecycles is changing that. If a competitor doesn’t have a feature or function today, they can catch up a lot faster than they could in the past.” The result: product superiority has dropped down to the number three reason companies win deals with just 35 percent of… Read More
Continue ReadingFastest Dying Industries
Clearly newspapers are the poster child for this topic. ABCnews.com approaches this topic with research that forecasts industry changes over the next 5 years. Some of their predictions and suggestions: Another way to avoid disaster? Diversify. In response to decades of declining circulation and shaky print advertising numbers, newspaper publishers are expanding their holdings in non-traditional ways. The two largest, Gannett and Tribune, own a stake Careerbuilder.com, the online job search Web site. In 2005, The New York Times Co. bought About.com, a general information site. Will it work? The jury is out. Worth noting, though–the industry’s most successful transition is also its most radical. The Washington Post Co. secured… Read More
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