Successful sales take place in the real world

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December 1, 2011 CONNECT WITH SMARTBRIEF Share | Sign up | Archive | Advertise The Leaderboard  Are you asking the right kinds of questions? Too many strategic decisions are made with a focus on questions like "how?" "who?" and "when?" writes Art Petty. Your decision-making should also include "what?" and "why?" -- shifting the focus from operations and execution, and making sure that your strategy offers something that your customers actually want and that's easily differentiated from rival products and services. ArtPetty.com (11/29)      Earn 2X rewards points on gasoline purchases with The New Business Gold Rewards Card from American Express OPEN. Designed to earn Membership Rewards® points faster: • 3X points on airfare • 2X points on advertising, gas, shipping • 1X points on everything else LEARN MORE AND APPLY Sales Strategies    Why planning is vital to altering your sales team's size Changing the size of your sales force can be a tricky endeavor, because doing so will affect everyone on your team, writes George de los Reyes. For example, increasing the size of your team may involve members losing some of their accounts. It's important to develop a "change management plan" to identify these sorts of challenges and how to handle them, he writes. Sales Benchmark Index/Sales Force Effectiveness Blog (11/27)      Successful sales take place in the real world Sales managers should help representatives examine their opportunities to identify possible problems that exist or could arise, writes S. Anthony Iannarino. "Ignoring the obstacles, the threats, and the risks to an opportunity doesn't mean that they'll go away, and it doesn't mean that they won't cost you the deal. ... The earlier you face reality, the better," he writes. TheSalesBlog.com (11/30)      How to Master the Art of Content Marketing Learn how to turn content assets into online consumer engagement and higher web conversions. In this report, you’ll find: • An overview of content marketing strategies and solutions • Keys to content development success • Must-haves for content publishing and distribution Daily Data Points    Fed leads central banks in effort to ease funding woes The Federal Reserve led several central banks in cutting dollar-borrowing costs for banks as officials try to resolve Europe's sovereign-debt crisis. Officials said the move reflected President Barack Obama's concerns that the European crisis could adversely affect the U.S. economy. The European Central Bank and central banks in the U.K., Switzerland, Japan and Canada also participated, vowing to establish a bilateral swap program to ease funding challenges using any of their currencies. Bloomberg (11/30), Reuters (12/1), BBC (11/30), The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (11/30), The Telegraph (London) (11/30), The Guardian (London) (11/30), Financial Times (tiered subscription model) (11/30)      Other News Online ad revenues were 22% higher than in Q3 2010 MediaPost Communications/Online Media Daily (11/30)      Organizational Privacy Architecture and Assessment This checklist for Ecommerce, Web Development and Design, and Direct Marketing professionals enables you to gauge your organization’s privacy compliance and best practice levels. Thousands of companies leave the intricacies of privacy management to TRUSTe, the 13-year-old leader in online privacy. Gain an overview of the program today. On the Road  U.S. airlines providing a better experience for business travelers U.S. airlines are spending close to $2 billion to improve the travel experience for their most profitable passengers. That means there are better days ahead for business class and other premium passengers. "American airlines, which have a reputation for treating everyone like cattle, have finally worked out that, if they look after their best customers, they'll keep coming back," Clive Dorman writes. The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) (11/28)      App Update  Salesforce introduces a social solution for the new era of marketing Salesforce.com introduced a suite called Social Marketing Cloud to allow its users to improve their social media efforts. The recently acquired Radian6 is the cornerstone of the suite, which, among other functions, can help companies analyze comments on social sites and automate responses. ZDNet (11/30), BtoB Magazine (11/30), Advertising Age (tiered subscription model) (11/29)      Featured Content    5 Marketing Lessons From The Craziest Holiday Fad Of All Time Karlee Weinmann Can Gen-Y's Entrepreneurial Spirit Revive The Economy? Dan Schawbel Small Business Snapshot: House Approves More Green Cards For Workers Katie Morell When Ad Campaigns Go Horribly, Horribly Wrong Darren Dahl 4 Ideas That Stimulate Solo Innovation Ivana Taylor Making Small Talk  Dog shoots man during duck-hunting trip A man was shot by his dog while duck hunting in Utah. After the man got out of the boat he and the dog were in, the dog stepped on the gun he left behind, and 27 pellets of bird shot were fired into the man's buttocks. The man is recovering and is going to be fine. Yahoo!/The Sideshow blog (11/30)      Position Title Company Name Location Business Developer Hay Group Multiple Locations, United States Online Sales and Marketing Coordinator For Marijuana Legalization NORML Nationwide, United States Sales & Community Marketing Manager Alaska Airlines San Jose, CA Inside Sales / Customer Service Rep Rowland Company (The) Philadelphia, PA Regional Sales Director Regenesis Biomedical, Inc. Multiple Locations, United States Regional Catering Sales Manager Einstein Noah Restaurant Group Los Angeles, CA Click here to view more job listings. SmartQuote  The great benefit of challenging opportunities and facing reality is that it improves your odds of winning." --S. Anthony Iannarino, president and chief sales officer for SOLUTIONS Staffing, writing at TheSalesBlog.com      SmartBrief on Sales Partners SmartBrief delivers need-to-know news in over 100 targeted email newsletters to over 3 million readers. 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