Do you know what makes sales fail?

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April 17, 2012 CONNECT WITH SMARTBRIEF Share | Sign up | Archive | Advertise The Leaderboard    The traits that could signal your future success While characteristics of successful entrepreneurs run the gamut, there are a few traits that many of them have in common, Steve Tobak writes. Many are relentless about making an idea work and have strong instincts. Others have inherently good business sense and innately know how to cultivate relationships with others. CBS MoneyWatch (4/12)       There are a number of reasons why shrewd staffing agencies run background checks on potential employees before inviting them in to their business. Failure to properly screen employees can have serious business and financial consequences. This free whitepaper outlines the risks that can arise from bad hires and how careful background screening can help mitigate those risks. Sales Strategies    When the sale is "done," you still have to "win" it Losing a sale at the last minute can be a result of the salesperson not knowing who the actual decision-maker was or what competitors were doing to get ahead. Salespeople must understand how companies value price and performance, and devise a strategy to beat competitors, write Michael Leimbach and Nancy Frevert. Sales & Marketing Management (4/9), Sales & Marketing Management (4/12)       Create a "compelling event" to close the deal Sales teams can close deals by creating a compelling event, a trigger to get decision-makers to sign the deal, writes John Kenney. To identify a compelling event, assess what internal or external pressures make the need for the sale imperative. Also look at any personal or negative impacts the sale would have, and use that to reinforce the existence of the event. Sales Benchmark Index/Sales Force Effectiveness Blog (4/12)       Report reveals what makes sales fail Companies are losing out on sales not because of the products or services they offer, but because of mistakes by their sales teams, found a recent survey from AskForensics Knowledgebase. Many salespeople talk more about their company than what they can do for the client's company, and they talk more about the product than the benefits to the company interested in buying it, writes Tom Searcy. Inc. online/Explosive Growth blog (4/14)       Other News Some key stats on sales hiring OMGHub.com/Understanding the Sales Force blog (4/16)       What Every Small-Business Owner Needs To Know For Tax Season Small-business owners can seize many opportunities to reduce their taxes, lower their expenses and invest in employees and equipment this tax season. It’s important to understand the credits, deductions and strategies you can use to help maximize your business’s tax advantages. Download your 2012 Small Business Tax Strategy white paper now, exclusively for SmartBrief readers. Daily Data Points    Retailers saw higher-than-expected March sales Retail sales rose 0.8% in March, after a 1% rise in February, indicating that consumers are continuing to spend in spite of higher gas prices, according to a Commerce Department report released Monday morning. Warm weather helped boost sales of spring apparel and home-improvement and gardening supplies, and sales were up in 11 out of 13 retail categories. Reuters (4/16), The Wall Street Journal (4/16), Bloomberg (4/16)       Other News Builder confidence dipped slightly this month The Hill/On the Money blog (4/16)       Survey: Company chiefs may spend more on IT this year ComputerWeekly.com (U.K.) (4/16)       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. On the Road  Smarten up and avoid roaming and data-usage charges This columnist is telling smartphone users to smarten up when traveling abroad because charges for roaming and data usage can skyrocket when you're away on a business trip. "The amount of data transmitted by smartphones in the background can catch travelers by surprise on trips," James Kendrick writes. He also warns to watch the switch from Wi-Fi to 3G/4G connections. ZDNet/Mobile News blog (4/16)       Other News Business travelers are doing more with less, study says Los Angeles Times (tiered subscription model) (4/16)       App Update    Moxie, Salesforce step up integration Moxie and Salesforce.com are integrating data. Now details on customer interactions will be available via the Moxie Desktop interface, and you can access the Spaces by Moxie knowledge base from the Salesforce.com Service Cloud. Users also will be able to get Moxie's e-mail and chat services on the Salesforce.com AppExchange. InformationWeek/The BrainYard blog (4/16)       Other News Jot down a thing or 2 with these handwriting apps for your smartphone or tablet Intuit Small Business Blog (4/14)       Top 5 HR Compliance Concerns for Small Business Small and medium sized companies spend a lot of time focusing on core business issues, but they may overlook one of the most potentially serious and costly issues — regulatory compliance. How do you know what issues to look for in order to protect the company? Download this must-read paper that discusses the top 5 HR compliance issues. Featured Content    Are You in the Right City to Start (or Grow) a Business? Courtney Rubin Sustainable Products to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint Christine Erickson Any Brand Can Be a Green Brand! Albe Zakes How Becoming a Certified Green Business Can Improve Your Business Michael Kelley Top 10 Eco-Friendly Office Products Helen Zhang Making Small Talk  Twitter becomes forum for marriage proposal Mike Duerksen recently used Twitter to chronicle his plan to take his girlfriend -- who isn't a Twitter user -- on eight dates in 12 hours, culminating with a proposal of marriage. She said yes. He tweeted about it using the hashtag #MikeProposes. MSNBC/Digital Life (4/16)       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  Some people have a real killer instinct; they've just got to win. And one of the reasons they do is because they're relentless about getting the job done no matter what." --Steve Tobak, writing at CBS MoneyWatch       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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