Member Recommendations and Requests

• Ron Person points out that consultative selling doesn't work in these anxious times and recommends an article in Harvard Business Review called "In a Downturn, Provoke Your Customers."
• Gary White follows up with a recommendation of former BACN speaker Jill Konrath and her recent article, "Why You Must Assume."
• Kristi Frlekin provides a wholehearted endorsement for Speaking Circles, which focus on relational presence and getting your primary message across without ever opening your mouth. One of their new projects is making videos for websites.
• Mike Van Horn refers us to Charlie Rose's interview with Jeff Bezos on February 26, 2009. In answer to the question "What are the things that are going to be changing over the next 5 years?" Bezos said it was more important to focus on what would stay the same over the next 5 years. It's better to build your strategy on what will stay the same than on what will change.
• John Levy urges us not to miss BusinessWeek's cover story on the Top 25 Customer Servce Champs. Amazon is at Number 1 and there's a full page on how they did it.
• Penny Schultz advises everyone to stay on top of the stimulus package--pay attention to the constantly changing laws and opportunities that affect small businesses at Recovery.gov. Show your clients that you're on top of what's going on.
• Gary White wants all his fellow Jeffrey J. Fox (two-time very popular BACN speaker) fans to know that the new Fox book, Rain: What a Paperboy Learned About Business, is now available.