  | June 25, 2012 | | CONNECT WITH SMARTBRIEF |  |  | |  | | | The Leaderboard |  | | |  | - You can't learn without failing first
Failure can be a powerful way to assess your performance and find meaningful ways to improve, writes Mary Jo Asmus. After asking yourself about the day's failures and triumphs and what can be gleaned, it's important to have someone hold you accountable. "Those patterns that contributed to your failures won't go away without taking action," Asmus writes. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Leadership (6/20)        |  | Find your 25th hour — Want to boost your company's productivity? Microsoft is offering a workplace productivity survey to help you discover how to give your people more time to innovate, plus find ways to improve your company's productivity. Get the survey and see how you can get time on your side. |
 | | | Sales Strategies | | | |  | - Developing a process to make your selling more efficient
Making sure that you have a high-quality sales process is a key part of taking a "lean" approach to sales and marketing, which focuses on eliminating "waste," writes David Brock. Companies should make sure their processes are focused on customers' buying behaviors, and firms also need to ensure that their sales process is tailored to their needs, he writes. Representatives also need to be able to customize the process to fit each particular sales situation. Partners in Excellence Blog (6/21) |  | Knowing your customer better comes with undeniable benefits. But challenges arise from behaviorally-targeted advertising with critical caveats on the management of personally identifiable information. Learn to balance profitable marketing, regulation and consumer trust in this FREE white papaer. |
 | | | Daily Data Points | | | |  | - Consumer optimism dims amid slowing employment
Only 22% of American households say the economy is headed in the right direction, the lowest percentage since January, finds a Bloomberg survey. The decline, related in part to the slowing labor market, "will likely result in slower spending, which in turn will likely have an adverse impact on business confidence," says Bloomberg senior economist Joseph Brusuelas. Bloomberg (6/21) |  | You've heard about the switch businesses are making to VoIP phone systems but are they right for your business? With more features and lower costs, the answer is probably yes. But don't take our word for it. Read Ziff Davis' Phone Systems Buyer's Guide and Comparison Guides, FREE with your registration. |
 | | | Strategies from Sales & Marketing Management | | | |  | - What makes a full marketing effort
There's a lot of talk these days about the alignment of sales and marketing teams. Marketing communications and sales literature are important, but they're only part of a much larger picture. The most innovative enterprises have overcome the mind-set that the customer belongs to sales and product development belongs to engineering. Marketing veteran Janet Jessen shares her marketing litmus test, and sales managers would be wise to see how their marketing teams stack up against her model. Sales & Marketing Management (6/25) |  | 10 Principles for Building an Effective Human Capital Plan
The Human Capital Plan is an important tool that organizations use to drive focused actions that can ensure goal achievement and business success. It allows organizations to assess, plan for, and respond proactively to its human capital challenges and needs. Download the white paper to learn more. |
 | | | On the Road | | | |  | - Airlines adopt auction model for selling seat upgrades
Seat upgrades are now being auctioned off by several airlines, including "Etihad, Air New Zealand, Virgin Atlantic, Czech Airlines, El Al, TAP Portugal and Brussels Airlines," this feature says. Customer response has been mixed. While auction winners may find value in the system, others complain it is another "annoying" ancillary fee and that it erodes the value of frequent-flier reward programs. Ken Harris, CEO of Plusgrade, the company whose technology powers the auctions, highlights the value for airlines: "An offer-based model will always outperform a fixed-price system." CNBC/Road Warrior blog (6/21) |  | 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. |
 | | | App Update | | | |  | - Customize enterprise apps for sales productivity
Building customized enterprise-grade sales apps will pay a return on investment in productivity as well as company morale, writes Jim Steger. Customization should focus on a single purpose, and anything customer-facing should include company branding. Integrated customer relationship-management tools and offline capability also are important features. MarketingProfs (6/22) |  | RadioShack has a global presence and a variety of innovative products and services. With reasonable investment levels and hundreds of potential markets, a RadioShack franchise represents an exciting opportunity for you to associate with a powerful retail brand. Click here to learn more. |
 | | Top five news stories selected by SmartBrief on Sales readers in the past week. - Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.
| | | Most Popular Headlines from Last Week Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers. |
- Rise of the space toilets
The installation of toilets on spaceships was one of the U.S. space program's most important innovations, says Charles Bourland, who ran NASA's space-food division from 1975 to '85. It wasn't until proper bathrooms were introduced in the 1970s that astronauts became willing to eat while in outer space, giving rise to an exciting field of extraterrestrial culinary endeavors. Slate (6/21) - SmartBrief launches SmartBlog on Education
SmartBrief has launched its fifth blog on the SmartBlogs network, SmartBlog on Education, bringing together expert educators to talk about the education issues that matter most. Find out more, and subscribe to SmartBrief's suite of education newsletters.  | What and how we sell is changing. We must constantly update and refine our sales process."
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