Page 248 - Social Media Marketing

Making Rain: Taking on the Role of Rainmaker 237

2. Accept it. Going along with the change even if you're not
enthusiastic about it is a fairly good approach, enabling you
to implement the change much more quickly and with less
pain.

3. Seize it. Seizing the change and making it work to your ad-
vantage enables you to reap its full benefits and grow both
personally and professionally. It keeps you on the leading,
bleeding edge.

In the following sections, I encourage you to embrace change as
a growth strategy. I reveal various ways to keep up with changes
in your industry and changes outside your industry that affect the
way customers shop for products and services. With the information
that follows and the right attitude, you're well positioned to ride
the next big wave of change to increased sales and profits.

Changes in What Customers Buy

Tomorrow, today's trendy products and services might seem so
yesterday. Just look at what happened with video arcade games. One
day, kids were hanging out at arcades and tearing each other up in
Mortal Kombat; and the next day, once Nintendo came out with its
first game console for the home, video arcades nearly vanished. If
you sell pharmaceuticals, you are well aware of the effect that new
wonder drugs can have on your sales. In real estate, we are often at
the mercy of changing housing trends; during market downturns,
for example, people may move out of their homes and decide to
rent a place until the market recovers.

As a salesperson, you need to keep up with trends in the mar-
ketplace, so these shifts in what customers are buying do not come
as too much of a surprise. Read the industry journals regularly
and keep up with the latest news, so you know which products
and services are coming down the pipeline and can be better
prepared for when they hit the market. In some cases, you may