You might be missing out on some of your CRM system's best features

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August 6, 2012 CONNECT WITH SMARTBRIEF Share | Sign up | Archive | Advertise The Leaderboard    Where does intuition come from? Leaders might use their intuition, which is developed as they gain experience in different situations, when making decisions, Martin Robson writes. "We all know more than we know and therefore more than we can tell," Robson writes. Intuitive feelings come from a different part of the brain than rational thought, Robson notes. Dynamic Business online (Australia) (8/6)       Interactive marketers are feeling the pressure from government to offer clear, transparent privacy regulations for consumers. This free whitepaper, discusses various legislation, such as the EU Cookie Directive, and outlines how marketers must comply while offering a positive and enriching consumer interaction via the new paradigms of consensual targeting. Get the free whitepaper here. Sales Strategies  Your sales team needs to know something your customers can't find online Selling is getting more complicated for sales organizations because customers are now able to do so much research on their own, Brent Adamson, Matthew Dixon and Nicholas Toman write. "[B]y the time a supplier is called in, there's no need to discover needs at all. By and large, customers (believe they) have figured everything out," they write. If you can't teach your customers anything new, you will end up competing on price, they write. Harvard Business Review online/HBR Blog Network (8/2)       Upgrade your team with training, new hires A number of issues might stop leaders from upgrading the talent of their sales team, Mark Synek writes. Performance reviews might focus on the wrong questions and it's easy to get distracted by other tasks. Like Olympic athletes, the best salespeople "possess a combination of innate ability and learned competencies. ... They want to win," he writes. Sales Benchmark Index/Sales Force Effectiveness Blog (8/2)       Turn your pipeline reviews from pointless wastes of time to smart strategy sessions The time spent reviewing the pipeline during sales meetings is often unproductive, but it is possible to fix this problem, according to Heinz Marketing. It's important to make sure everyone understands the difference between opportunities and leads and to concentrate on deals that are in trouble. HeinzMarketing.com (8/3)       Daily Data Points  Economists expect narrower U.S. June trade deficit Citing lower oil prices and looking ahead to official numbers due this week, 59 economists who were polled said that the U.S. trade deficit probably shrank in June. Meanwhile, high unemployment and a sputtering economy are reducing Americans' demand for foreign goods. Bloomberg (8/5)       Strategies from Sales & Marketing Management  It's past time for your sales team to go paperless Are your reps still schlepping around catalogs and printed sales materials? Affordable and comprehensive sales solutions accessed through easily portable tablet computers can help reps make the leap from being far behind to forward-thinking -- and they can do it almost overnight with a mobile sales force automation plan. Sales & Marketing Management (8/5)       On the Road    Flights billed multiple times in Southwest glitch Southwest Airlines is issuing refunds to customers who bought half-off flights as part of a promotion yet were billed multiple times. The sale offered 50% off some flights to celebrate the company's 3 million Facebook fans, but a glitch wound up processing some payments 20 or more times. The airline says affected customers should check with their banks to confirm refunds were received, and it will pay any overdraft fees. Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.)/The Associated Press (8/5)       Hiring exceptional talent is critical to the success of your business. Whether it’s the executive who offers visionary leadership, or the sales professional who won’t settle for less than 100%, a business needs great people to thrive. This guide provides best practices for securing the top talent you need to drive business results. App Update  You might be missing out on some of your CRM system's best features Many sales professionals aren't making the most of their CRM systems, Christopher J. Bucholtz writes. For example, CRM systems provide scheduling features that are too often overlooked. "[F]requently fully functioned CRM is used as a simple contact manager without additional productivity features coming into use," he writes. E-Commerce Times (8/3)       Most Read  Top five news stories selected by SmartBrief on Sales readers in the past week. How to take a salesperson from so-so to superstar (Sales Benchmark Index) 5 elements of effective leadership (Inc. online) 4 tips for getting salespeople to use your CRM system (Selling Power) 5 traits of communication for successful leaders (SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Leadership) There's more to sales than revenue (A Sales Guy blog) Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers. Featured Content    6 Tips to Ease the Pain of an Audit Courtney Rubin Should Your Small Business Be on Google+? Alex Fitzpatrick (Mashable) Priority Dilution: The New Procrastination Rory Vaden Is Working From Home Right for You? Carla Young Most Popular Headlines from Last Week Simple Math That Will Close Deals  Mike Periu Are You at Risk for an "Electronic Overtime" Lawsuit? Mark Henricks How Will Taxmageddon Affect You? Helen Zhang Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers. Making Small Talk  Watch a 90-year-old pole vaulter in action William Bell, who is 90 years old, is still pole vaulting. A video included with this article depicts his attempt to clear 7 feet, 2 inches. Mashable (8/2)       Position Title Company Name Location mHealth Sales Executive Voxiva Inc. Washington, DC Sales - Health Marketing, Wellness, Online Media Baldwin Publishing Philadelphia area, NJ Account Manager - Online Ad Sales Publishers Clearing House Port Washington, NY Click here to view more job listings. SmartQuote  Paper-based sales should be a thing of the past. They lead to outdated information, misplaced orders, ordering errors, lost faxes and worse." --Ofer M. Yourvexel, CEO of WRNTY Ltd., writing at Sales & Marketing Management       SmartBrief on Sales Partners SmartBrief delivers need-to-know news in over 100 targeted email newsletters to over 3 million readers. All our industry briefings are FREE and open to everyone—sign up today! 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