Did you think it was going to be easy? Did you think you were going to walk away untouched, unhurt, unblemished by the battle.

Your mission isn’t an easy one. No one promised you that life would be fair or reasonable. That you would “catch or break” or “get lucky”.

This isn’t a fairy tale. Sometimes your village gets burned. Your friends get wounded. What is precious get’s ripped from your hands.

It’s a battle. It’s bloody. And you are in the middle of it.

So stand up. Stand up. Stand up.

Rise to meet the challenge like the Spartans of old. Men who relished the conquest. Men who defied the odds and stood 300 of them strong against the army of the Persians that numbered into the millions. Each man made a difference.

In Jim Collins book “Good to Great” he finds that the best companies have the right people in the right seats. Hiring is one of the most important activities that a sales manager conducts. If they make the right decision they will improve the performance of the territory and elevate the performance of the entire team.
Concerns associated with lost sales in a vacant territories puts a lot of pressure on the sales manager to quickly fill the vacancy. What do you do in this situation?

Tip #30: Avoid the Plug and Play

OK, you have two candidates that you really like. One knows the products, customers and the industry. The other candidate is passionate, driven and eager to prove themselves. The easy answer for a busy manager is to hire the sales rep that comes with all the experience. But have you thought through what else they bring to the table? They bring the infamous industry baggage.

The experienced rep may be easier for the first 6 months, whereas the driven rep will have a slower start, but in 6 months will likely achieve better sales. Hire attitude over aptitude!

Sales executives and managers who are looking for more Sales Management tips to take their game to the next level look for my new book 52 Sales Management Tips: The Sales Managers Success launched at Amazon.com on Oct 15th, 2012. To find out more go to www.52SalesManagementTips.com
By Steven Rosen

A survey by Genesys revealed that the cost of poor customer service in 16 key economies on our planet is around $338.5 Billion!

As a reaction to this astonishing number GetApp has prepared an infographic to educate small business owners about the dangers of poor customer service and ways to improve it.

Let´s face it,  most small businesses struggle to provide professional customer service.

What channel to use to connect with clients? What are the don´ts when talking to clients? Are there any tools that can help?

The infographic below is packed with facts and information that will bring your customer service to the next level.

It is interactive, feel free to click on the software solutions provided at the end or click on “Customer Service Applications” to see more solutions.

So you finally decided to join the latest social network giant and created an account on Pinterest. Good for you! There’s a lot of value to using this site, especially for businesses interested in gaining an impressive amount of traffic to their sites. It can be a little frustrating in the beginning as you start networking and adding images, but with some effort on a daily basis, a solid plan, and a few tips, you’ll become more comfortable and have more followers in no time. Here are some tips to help get you started and  increase your number of followers so your items have a better chance of getting re-pinned.  

How Does the Website Work?

First of all, as you probably already know this is a visually driven social media platform. There is of course the social aspect, but really it’s the pictures that are the means of impressing people and getting them to follow you. This is why it’s so important to upload and pin only the best quality pictures possible. Use bright, vivid images, or even unique, abstract work that’s eye catching, but make sure to avoid boring and mundane. Pinterest is all about creating visually stimulating content to be shared and inspire others to action. Of course, for business these images would need to specifically target the audience you want to use your product or services. Deciding who that audience is then finding their boards to re-pin on yours will improve the reach and build a bigger following.

TODAY IN FOCUS
SOLD Magazine Recommends: Using Silence in a Negotiation by Michael Schatzki
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You are reading The X Factor Coaching And Selling by Jason Forrest
In 2009, I graduated from a yearlong coaching program to help me develop as a world-class speaker. Every week, I had to turn in one three-minute story (via video recording) plus a script. I then spent three hours on the phone getting critiqued on how to make it better.
While I was in the program, I called my coach, Steve Siebold, and said, "I need a break. I have a one-year-old at home. Our second baby was just born prematurely, and I'm trying to get 40 Day Sales Dare completed. Not only that, but I need to focus on getting more business."
His response? "Okay, Jason. That's fine if you want to quit, but let me ask you — Is it impossible to do all of that or just impossible for you? If Lance Armstrong, Michael Phelps or Oprah Winfrey were in your situation, would they do it?"