Recession a blessing to the staffing industry?

I was reading an article on msnbc.com by Allison Linn, Amish see the recession
as a challenge and a blessing about how the Amish had been changing their lifestyles during good times and become less focused on their families.  Family and simple living are a vital ideal of their religion. 

I got thinking about how that also has happened in our industry.  Have we gotten lazy about keeping in touch with clients and candidates?  Have we let the software tools and job boards become too vital to our personal success? 

Maybe short term wins and starts have become too short sighted and our recruiters and sales folks have forgotten to invest time and effort into planting more seeds.  Have they just moved on to another field if there wasn't anything there to harvest?

Remember, we never want to stop pushing for the close, but also remember as a manager, it's up to you first to make sure you're making that investment that will payoff next year, not just next quarter.