5 things sales managers can do on a sales call

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April 25, 2012 CONNECT WITH SMARTBRIEF Share | Sign up | Archive | Advertise The Leaderboard    Leadership diversity is good for business Research found that when companies move beyond gender tokenism, they get a powerful boost to their bottom line, writes Dana Theus. "Bring the best women and men have to offer into your leadership class and, in the mix, you have a powerful resource for company growth and performance," she writes. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Leadership (4/23)       Tax season can be tough. The IRS has increased the time it spends auditing small businesses by 30%. This free white paper brought to you by American Express OPEN, will help you learn how to navigate changes in tax legislation, leverage often overlooked deductions and strategize for the coming years. Download your free white paper, What Every Small Business Owner Needs To Know For Tax Season. Sales Strategies    Why too little training may not be your problem Companies often try to address sales problems with training initiatives, but this isn't always the best approach, writes Matt Sharrers. In some cases, fixing the problem requires tweaking performance conditions, which are "the environment in which [you] place [your] sales talent." For example, if your representatives are closing fewer deals than they were in the past, you might need to re-evaluate your ideal customer, he explains. Sales Benchmark Index/Sales Force Effectiveness Blog (4/20)       5 things sales managers can do on a sales call Sales managers can assist on sales calls in a number of ways, depending on the situation, writes S. Anthony Iannarino. Sometimes this means observing the sales representative in action; in other cases, it involves handling the complex parts of a sale or even taking the lead on the call. TheSalesBlog.com (4/19)       Standard elements of a top-notch sales process An effective sales process is essential to the success of any sales organization, writes David Brock. Such a process should focus on maximizing profitability and should be designed to help salespeople do their jobs, he explains. "There is no reason to have a sales process other than making sales people more effective." Partners in Excellence Blog (4/19)       On the Internet, page-loading delays can stop customers from buying. Download our free report 3 Proven Ways to Boost Transactions with Web Acceleration and learn how Limelight Network's front-end acceleration technology can improve Time to Actions. Daily Data Points    Federal home price index turns around After nearly five years of declines, the Federal Housing Finance Agency's monthly price index posted a year-over-year increase in February. In a sign that the housing market is bottoming out, the index of prices for existing homes increased 0.4% in February. Prices in January, however, were down 0.5% from the previous month. Fox Business/Dow Jones Newswires (4/24)       Other News Britain's economy contracts and returns to recession Financial Times (tiered subscription model) (4/25)       Leveraging Cloud Security to Weather Threatening Storms Web attacks and retribution campaigns are on the rise, and they have become more frequent, more random and more extreme. This paper assesses the current cyber threat environment and discusses the use of distributed cloud services as an effective means to protect against evolving, modern-day IT threats. On the Road    Tips for surviving a hotel power outage The "Frugal Traveler" is shining a little light on a phenomenon that rarely occurs, but when it does, it jolts the business traveler out of his or her routine. Are you prepared to weather the dreaded hotel power outage? Make room in your luggage for a manual alarm clock, miniature head lamp and travel-size LED flashlight. The Sacramento Bee (Calif.)/McClatchy-Tribune News Service (free registration) (4/23)       Other News AirTran, Southwest frequent fliers can convert credits The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (4/23)       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    Google introduces its cloud-storage solution Google has rolled out its cloud-storage service, Google Drive. The service, which will be integrated with Google Docs, comes with 5GB of free storage, but you can get more by paying a monthly fee. Mashable (4/24)       Learn about Xerox® solid ink and enter to win an Apple® MacBook Air®— Exceptional color print quality, 90% less waste than comparable color lasers, and speeds up to 40 ppm make the ColorQube® 8570 printer your perfect solution for affordable color printing. Enter to win an Apple®MacBook Air® when you learn more. Featured Content    Why You Can't Fire Employees for Bad-Mouthing Your Business Courtney Rubin 5 Ways Effective Marketing Makes Your Business Worth More John Jantsch How Entrepreneurs Can Change the World Tom Harnish 6 Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Jackie and John F. Kennedy Rieva Lesonsky Fighting for the Young Consumer's Attention Dan Schawbel Making Small Talk  Escaped cow visits McDonald's drive-thru A cow escaped from her pen in Brush, Colo., and walked up to the takeout window at a nearby McDonald's before she was returned to her home. "She didn't get her burger," said Vivian Llewellyn, a police clerk. The Denver Post/The Associated Press (4/24)       Position Title Company Name Location Director of Sales – eDiscovery Corporate Recommind Washington, DC Director, Federal Sales PC Mall Gov Chantilly, VA Click here to view more job listings. SmartQuote  VPs of Sales are suffering from an age old belief that sales training will move the revenue number in the shortest amount of time." --Matt Sharrers, partner at Sales Benchmark Index, writing in the firm's Sales Force Effectiveness Blog       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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