Thought for the week ahead

From a March 2008 Stefan Stern FT column Desperate measures for latter-day Willy Lomans, in which he quotes Neil Rackham, (in his words, ‘the author of the seminal Spin Selling and reliable deliverer of common sense’)

In hard times, people make the mistake of trying to sell to more people at less intensity,” Mr Rackham says. “But what actually works is selling to fewer people in more depth. The same approach that works in good times works in bad times.