McKinsey has just published its “Industry trends in the downturn” snapshot, covering predictions for consumer goods, chemicals, technology and steel industries.

The outlook for consumer goods is mixed, based on the fact that consumers change their habits and priorities in a recession, rather than making general cuts, McKinsey argues. The key is therefore understanding any category’s likely performance.

The report believes that technology will fare broadly better than in 2001 because IT is already managed more effectively and spending is, if anything, behind the 10 year average.

The chemicals prediction is focused on geographic moves; the report highlighting that lower cost Chinese and Middle Eastern players could supplant higher cost, established businesses.

McKinsey predicts that the steel industry is likely to recover, evidencing the infrastructure growth in India, China and the Middle East.

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This week the Radio 4 programme Word of Mouth (which explores words and the way they are used) explored the language of the medical profession. During a debate, one commentator made the point that doctors tend not to mix outside a medical setting, and that this affected their use of language.

He went on to quote a scientific study which showed that medical students communicated better when they entered medical school than when they left it.

The commentator said that whilst the students showed empathy and common sense at the beginning of medical school, at the end they based judgements purely on their skills and disease knowledge.

I wondered whether the same sometimes happens to us B2B marketers.

I think we sometimes become so wrapped up in the language and the process of marketing that we forget about what really matters – the living, breathing person we are trying to influence. The person that’s right now sitting in their office, creating a presentation, rushing to catch the train, searching for information on the web.  And above all, the person looking for ways to achieve their goals.

Whilst the “B” in B2B is important, we can get all too focused on industries and accounts. Too often we forget that empathy individuals is what creates marketing that actually works.