The good times, bad times and changin’ times

It’s no surprise the late Steve Jobs’ favorite music was written and performed by Bob Dylan and The Beatles. I just finished his biography and it was as compelling a book as “Atlas Shrugged.”
Anyway, about three months ago I started a column about the 1964 Bob Dylan song, “The Times They Are a-Changin’.” An anthem for those times and these times. Bob Dylan can write his soul – and touch yours. The times are changing. But for one reason or another I set the column aside.
As I was reading the Walter Isaacson Steve Jobs biography (a book I could NOT put down), I got goosebumps when Jobs got fired from Apple after a decade of it being his creation and child. Devastated, he went home and played the second verse of “The Times They Are a-Changin.’ ” over and over:
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who
That it’s namin’
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’.
I just sat there stunned. The song, one of Jobs’ favorites, actually predicted his return, and arguably one of the greatest business comebacks of all time. And the timing of my column. Further proof (as if you needed it) there are no coincidences.
The most chilling of these noncoincidences is that my set-aside writing already contained Apple examples of how the world is changed.
So – here are my original thoughts and the added thoughts since I read the Jobs book:
When Dylan wrote about changing times in 1964, it was about societal change. The politics, civil rights, rebellion of kids, music and a new generation of thought and expression.
The same holds true today, almost 50 years later. It brings to mind the French novelist Alphonse Karr’s quote, “The more things change, the more they remain the same.”
The T-shirt has been the same since the ’50s. What keeps it popular is the design printed on the front and back. Millions of shirts are sold each year because someone wants the design printed on it.
The picture I want to present to you is the BIG PICTURE of change. Not your sales plan, or your quota, or your boss or your compensation plan – what I’m offering are life changes that go way beyond sales and race for dollars. It’s about how technology and your ability to see what is now will affect what is next. Jobs was able to see it and do it because it was his life’s work. But you must intensify your focus (the same way I’m intensifying mine) to see what is next for your industry, your market, and your customers – so there will be a positive impact for your company, your family and yourself.
The Internet, the smartphone, the tablet and soon Internet TV will become a vital part of our society and world commerce. Advances over the next decade will dwarf what is available now, and will change markets forever.
The same way trading of shares of stock and insurance policies were turned upside down with the Internet, the same way the iPod changed the way music is played, distributed and sold, the same way Amazon and eBay became the world’s department store – so will your market evolve. And it will go to the most prepared to understand, create, capitalize and master the evolution and the quality of products.
A FEW EXAMPLES OF WHAT WAS AND WHAT’S NEXT:
&#8226 The schoolbook is being replaced by the iPad. (Microsoft Word still tells me that iPad is misspelled.)
&#8226 The hardbound book is being taken over by an e-book.
&#8226 The television is flat and cheap. It will soon become your home Internet connection. Someone will own that market. I’m betting Apple. You?
&#8226 Got fax machine? Make me laugh! Or should I say, “LOL” or should I say, “PDF.”
&#8226 Use the Yellow Pages or Google? Bing helps you decide – I decided to use Google.
&#8226 Will cars run on gasoline in 10 years?
And with all of that, technology life cycles are shorter. How have you taken advantage of this? And for those of you saying, “I know that.” Ask yourself, “How good am I at that?” and “What am I doing to master that?”
FACT: THE times are changing.
UNKNOWN FACT: How are YOUR times changing? &#8226


Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of “The Sales Bible” and “The Little Red Book of Selling.” President of Charlotte-based Buy Gitomer, he gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts Internet training programs on selling and customer service at www.trainone.com. He can be reached at (704) 333-1112 or email to
salesman@gitomer.com

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