Checking the consumer's pulse. (CEO2CEO Discussion).

What do customers want? What trends have chief executives picked up on in the past months of economic downturn? During the course of the CEO2CEO Conference, business leaders in diverse industries talked about their customers' changing attitudes and requests.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS. "Customers are looking to more strategic use of telecommunications, versus tactical needs -- no longer worrying about that data connection between Kansas City and Toronto. They're taking a full look at what their infrastructure can withstand," said Richard Ellenberger, CEO of Broadwing.

"After what we've gone through, customers are far more interested in your financial viability in the telecom environment," Ellenberger added. Young managers and salespeople have required additional training "on how to explain a balance sheet and deal with financial viability."

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Harvey Seegers, CEO of GE Global eXchange, had hoped IT had enough credibility to make it through the first round of cost-cutting in the slowing economy, but "found out, painfully, that we have not achieved such prominence yet in the minds of CEOs and CFOs. A year ago we were frequently closing deals with paybacks that could be 24 to 36 months out. You can't even get to the table to talk about a deal right now with a payback of less than 12 months."

What are customers buying? "Companies are still spending a portion of their IT budgets on business-to-business e-commerce," Seegers noted. "The shift from the physical to the virtual world of business processes continues at a healthy clip. Even in this tough economy in North America, we expect our business to grow 10 to 15 percent this year -- not bad, but disappointing our expectations coming into the year that they'd be twice that."

PACKAGING: William Hickey, CEO of Sealed Air Corporation, sees customers outsourcing to reduce cost structures. "We're being asked to provide more support and service on their packing systems and packaging lines," he said. "We're needing to come out with products, enhancements and alterations to products that make customers' products more secure as they go through the distribution channel."

FOOD. In the days immediately following September 11, Bruce Rohde, chief executive of ConAgra Foods, recognized that customers were "eating out of their pantries. But people get cabin fever in a hurry, so we had a little bit of lull there, but it's started to come back." He's noticed a major uptake in comfort foods and a drop in high-end food service. "Hotels were hard hit," Rohde said. "But whether you're going to the white tablecloth restaurant or dressing down is all a function of your relative standard of living."

FINANCIAL SERVICES: Wilmington Trust CEO Ted Cecala says that customers "are more cautious, wondering about the economy. On the wealth management side, we see customers wanting discussion on how this will unfold. They need us to be a lot closer to them."

MANUFACTURING: Robert Kohlhepp, CEO of uniform maker Cintas, finds customers "more discriminating than ever. They're eliminating or reducing unnecessary costs. They're demanding value more. They're holding back on discretionary funds."

CEO Charles Holliday said that DuPont executives now "have to reverify the needs we thought were there before. We go to customers where we're working on a 15-month development program. We want to make sure that's still important to them, because their priorities may have changed. You've got to ask, because they won't always tell you they've changed."

RETAIL: Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli reported that his customer count remained strong once people got up from their television sets post--September 11. But in this recessionary environment, he is seeing a change: "People are still spending, but more selectively. Instead of re-siding, maybe they're painting. Instead of remodeling the kitchen, they're putting in new hardware. ... We're seeing people still take a tremendous amount of pride in their home, but maximizing their dollars as they become concerned about the fluidity in their cash flow,"