Since the start of the recession, how have your sales training programs changed?

In US and UK we have had to make sellers understand that the main presumption that it is 'all about price' is completely wrong. There is no evidence that cutting prices brings more business during hard times. LIke 'Just work harder- see more customers' and "Wait and see" some in-house strategies we come across are as suicidal now as they were in previous recessions.
During recessions resarch shows that sales people need to sell to the key drivers on which most buying decisions are currently based 'Confidence' and 'Safety'. Knowing how to create these feelings inside the head of customers is key. It is so important (and so rare) that many customers are now saying they would pay for an hour with a competent sales person who would take the time (10x longer than most sellers) to show interest in the customer's problems and then provide a focused solution (rather than the usual boiler plate version). None of the skills required here are new. Neil Rackham did all the research 40 years ago. It's just that few (very few) sellers apply it.

If you still sincerely believe that it IS about price, just remember IBM's strap line 20 years ago (in another recession) when they were surrounded by cost cutting competitors. "Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM" - their sales immediately leapt ahead by 12%.