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This list of ten trends is not an artificial construct based on some ivory tower theory about the way business ought to be; rather, it is derived from simple, experiential observation of processes that are already affecting your business, whether you realize it or not. The result of globalization and technical innovation on a massive scale, these trends are not fads; they represent opportunities and obstacles that businesses must address now if they hope to remain competitive and profitable during the economic storm that is rapidly approaching.

1. Commoditization is dramatically increasing; relationships are the only answer

The impact of globalization, the Internet and the digital information revolution has created a white hot competitive environment in which it is possible for Brand X to mimic Brand A’s best features and, seemingly overnight, produce a similar product that performs at or near the same level for a lower price. When markets achieve this level of competitiveness – i.e., when computers from Dell or HP or Lenovo or Acer or Toshiba all look the same, perform the same and cost the same – even your top of the line products and services are suddenly viewed by customers as plain old commodities rather than distinctive assets. Now the customer is fully in control of the conversation, and what does he want to talk about? That’s right – price, namely, how low can you go? For you, the question is not just, “How low can you go?”

What is the antidote to this potentially fatal shift to commoditization? In a single word, the answer is – relationships. Service, support, honesty, dependability, responsiveness, flexibility, sensitivity to customer needs, creative collaboration – these are just a sampling of the intangible “products” you can offer to set your organization apart from the rest. Find ways to maximize the quality of the relationships you create with customers, and you cease to be a commodity. Now you are a face, a friend, a strategic partner. You are also one step ahead of the competition.

2. Customers will continue to get smarter

With the Internet providing the matrix, and lightening fast computers and hand held devices providing the medium, customers are now able to collect and analyze data on every aspect of the products and services they want. It is now possible for your customers to know more about your company, your products and services, and your competitors than you do. The digital community is swarming with websites and bloggers providing free analysis on trends, cycles, product data, negotiation strategies and detailed market information, and this trend is only going to accelerate. Right now, a certain portion of your customer base may be comprised of Baby Boomers who have come to the Information Age fairly late, so they are still adapting and learning. Compare that to the pre-teens today who can’t remember life without texting, Facebook, and Google. This demographic doesn’t know any other place to go for information except the Internet; they are already masters of the medium. They are the customer of the future, and they will be smarter and much better prepared to recast the sales process to their advantage.

How will your company respond to this challenge? How will your business be affected when clients and customers start going beyond reading user reviews and begin to access hard information regarding your failure rates, cost of goods, website ranking, percentage of your customers doing repeat business with you, and how many people actually click through the average ad on your web site? You can start by using the same technology to mine more accurate data about your customers and markets, so you can more effectively target products and services to meet their needs.

3. Sales processes must adapt to new purchasing patterns

Armed with access to better information and more powerful tools, customers are now taking charge of the purchasing process like never before. For instance, after some initial hesitancy regarding doing business via the Internet, customers are now buying everything from paper clips to Boeing 737s on line. In many cases, customers now expect your company to have a highly interactive, easy to use website that can guide them seamlessly through every aspect of the sales process. The more useful information you can provide to them, and the simpler it is to determine pricing, identify shipping options, and successfully complete the order process, the more popular your organization is likely to be with customers, and the easier it will be to attract and retain new customers.

This access to information and technology also will increasingly impact the length of the sales cycle in a number of markets. Now that the customer can more effectively shop on his own – even for expensive capital outlays involving sophisticated technologies – he may be ready to move more quickly even on major purchases. He will definitely require that the account rep be more responsive, especially when it comes to providing complete and timely proposals and supporting data. Where it used to be acceptable to follow up on a customer request within 48 hours, customers now assume – and expect – that you will deliver complex and detailed information to them via email almost immediately. Any sales organization that can’t keep up with the customer’s new found need for speed is likely to lose out to competitors who are more nimble and more flexible.

4. Sales and marketing functions are aligning

With the world shrinking and every market overflowing with aggressive competitors, organizations cannot afford to waste valuable time and resources by having internal processes working out of sync with each other. This is especially true when it comes to the relationship between the marketing group and the sales group. Historically, the marketing group’s efforts to recruit good prospects have been conducted more or less independently from the process used by the sales group to transform these prospects into customers. Marketing tends to focus on long term strategies for reaching a general pool of potential new customers to the company, which can take several quarters to produce results in the sales pipeline. Conversely, the sales group is very much concerned with closing as much business as possible, as quickly as possible, with as many high value customers as possible.

This misalignment of needs, goals and strategies can lead to significant inefficiencies within the organization, and it can also create frustration within both groups, if either believes their strategies and needs are not being fully appreciated by the other group. To neutralize this problem, highly successful companies are increasingly adopting coordinated strategies that align sales and marketing functions by collaborating on targeted, high value opportunities with shorter planning and execution cycles. Maximizing communication and cooperation between sales and marketing teams conserves resources, accelerates the overall sales cycle and significantly boosts ROI from sales and marketing efforts. Aligning sales and marketing efforts empowers companies to respond rapidly to ever-changing market conditions which creates value for customers and boosts profits for the organization.

5. Talent will become even more scarce

If you subscribe to the old adage, “It is hard to find good help these days,” you are about to discover just how true it is. Organizations that track labor trends estimate that one-fifth of America’s leading corporations could lose as much as 40 percent or more of their top-level talent in the next five years. Boomers by the millions are now poised to exit the workforce every year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics confirms that by 2008 the number of young adult workers ages 25 to 40 years old will decline by 1.7 million, reversing a historic growth rate for this age range that once topped 54 percent. During the next 20 years the growth rate in this age range is expected to be no better than 3 percent. By 2010, the U.S. will face a 10 million worker labor shortage and the unemployment rate is expected to remain static at just 2 percent.

The Conference Board CEO Challenge of 2007 ranks the need to find qualified talent among the most serious challenges currently confronting corporate leaders. It is no longer a question of if or when you should become concerned about a looming talent shortage. The tide has been sucked out and the tsunami is racing towards US businesses. The time to get serious about facing the problem is now. The struggle to find and retain top talent is about to become very worrisome for even the nation’s top corporations. Companies must develop strategies to recruit, train, compensate and retain valuable personnel, or suffer serious consequences that could severely hinder their ability to be competitive on the national and international stage.