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  |  | Sales Strategies |  | | | | - Eliminating the obstacles to sales success
A number of obstacles can inhibit your sales organization's performance, writes Louis Foong. Your salespeople may not have access to key decision-makers, for example, or there may not be enough qualified leads going into the sales funnel. It's important to focus on the long-term health of your sales organization rather than on initiatives designed to create a short-term burst in activity, he advises. LouisFoong.com (2/28) - Stop tolerating your worst-performing reps
Sales managers are sometimes resistant to fire their poorest sales representatives either because they are not good at identifying them or because they think even a bad salesperson is worth something, writes Scott Gruher. However, if you have provided your poor-performing representatives with all of the tools necessary for success and they haven't improved, you should fire them, he writes. Sales Benchmark Index/Sales Force Effectiveness Blog (2/27) Daily Data Points |  | | | | - GDP expands at 3% annual rate
In the fastest pace since the second quarter of 2010, the nation's gross domestic product expanded at a 3% annual rate, an increase from the 2.8% reported last month, the Commerce Department said. "Growth is still on the right path, but we are not going to see any acceleration," says Yelena Shulyatyeva, an economist at BNP Paribas. Reuters (2/29) On the Road |  | | |  | - Flying United or Continental soon? Prepare for the worst
As the merger of United and Continental airlines finally nears its conclusion, ticket holders should expect the unexpected as the two carriers try to embark upon a complicated combination of their computer and reservation systems. "Come this weekend, the last electronic vestiges of Continental Airlines disappear," Joe Brancatelli writes. Portfolio.com (2/29) - 5 apps for travelers who care about the environment
Green Globe is an iOS application that can help users make environmentally friendly travel choices. The app can help you find hotels, resorts and tours that practice sustainability. Other apps for green-conscious travelers include Green Travel Choice, which can keep tabs on emissions, and Green Genie. Forbes (2/29)  |  | DemandCon, the world's first conference dedicated to managing the complete Demand Generation Funnel, Top-to-Bottom provides, best practices actionable advice from some of the world's leading experts in B2B lead generation, marketing automation and social media. | |  | App Update |  | | | | - Tools that can transform your office into a collaborative wonderland
An interactive whiteboard is among the technology tools that can help to boost in-person collaboration, Jonathan Blum writes. "Groups can write directly on the [whiteboard] -- mark up documents, make highlights or take notes -- and the smart board will capture the changes," he writes. Other useful tools for fostering collaboration include "smart" tables that function as large tablet computers, he notes. Entrepreneur.com (2/29)  |  | 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. |
 |  | - Human dominoes world record set in New Orleans
A group of 850 people gathered in New Orleans to break the Guinness World Record for the largest number of participants in human dominoes. Each person who helped to set the record held on to a mattress as he or she toppled into another person who then fell back onto his or her mattress. The previous record for human dominoes was 550 people. The Telegraph (London) (2/28)  | Quit wasting time on someone that is making the choice not to invest in their own success." | | 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! | | This SmartBrief was created for cpgbrokers@gmail.com | | | | | | Recent SmartBrief on Sales Issues: - Wednesday, February 29, 2012
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