I read an interview in the NY Times with Dev Patnaik, Founder & CEO of Jump Associates, that really made me sit back and think.  He pointed out that companies focus on pimping their products (my words), instead of finding out what their customers actually need.  Sometimes the products/services one is selling happily coincides with what customers need, but oftentimes, (and I am guilty as well), you sell whatcha got.

Scroll forward to 2009 – my enlightened conversations with clients start with – “Hey, it’s tough out there – we are ready to pitch in – where do you need help and what can we do?”  It’s the right thing to do – and it wins business.

I was reading “Fast Company” last night – I find something inspirational in every magazine – Marye Anne Fox, Chemist and Chancellor of UC San Diego had some insight on responding to the changes in the world and used Darwin’s words: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives.  It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”

So, you don’t have to be strong or smart, just adaptable.  We can do that.

I also feel movement afoot in pharma.  LOTS of vacant territories smells like opportunity for me (my apologies to out-of-work reps) – but will pharma see that the doctors need ongoing brand love?  Docs are used to getting brand info and samples on demand – the human connection has been a powerful driver in the physician-pharma relationship.  What will pharma do to extend the emotional connection when there is no human?

Reaching out and offering an ongoing relationship with all the goodies and info they want, where they want, via the channel they choose sounds like a fine move.  Opening a conversation and actually listening works too.

Brand love can be virtual and is just downright practical for everyone.