The epitome of optimism – a headline from abcnews.com: Has the Recession Finally Ended? I guess you could characterize this as “talking up” the economy. Here is one paragraph from the article that made me laugh (emphasis mine): Today also brought some positive news from the much-battered retail sector. For the first time in three months, retail sales in May rose, by 0.5 percent, according to the Commerce Department. The sales were pushed higher by increased demand for new cars and sales at gas stations. It was the largest increase since sales rose 1.7 percent in January following six straight monthly declines. While this is good news, part of the… Read More
Continue ReadingWrite It Don’t Hide It
There seems to be some ethereal ad writing of late that I am not certain I understand. I read a sales manager ad this morning that was written by a recruiting company for their client. Here is the “Job Requirements” section: All sales will be direct at this time. What? I have no idea what that means in context of the requirements. The simple, best approach to writing sales ads is to use descriptive language that allows the reader to see themselves in the position. Our goal is always to write ads that make the right candidate know that we are describing their abilities. This ad falls far short of… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Wrong Approach
I received an email recently from someone I presume to be a salesperson looking for work. Obviously this is a common occurrence these days, but here is the error in the delivery – the email had no writing. Yup, it was just a blank email with an MS Word attachment that appeared to be a resume. This approach is a wasted effort in today’s world. I never opened the attachment for fear it may be some malicious, virus-infested computer-killer. Dramatic, I know, but the point is valid. It is similar to a phone call that comes in on your home phone at night and lists nothing more than “Out of… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Pain Of A Lagging Indicator
Hiring, that is, and it appears that it is going to be an even rougher road over the back half of 2009. If you are in the recruiting, hiring, assessing business you are aware of this fact. 9.4% unemployment is remarkable. From abcnews.com: The percentage of people without jobs in this country is now at the highest point in nearly 26 years. Every month since January 2008 we have seen jobs disappear. So far the economy has shed 6 million jobs since the recession started push (sic) employers to start handing out pink slips. I’m still looking for the report that lists the number of jobs “saved” by the stimulus… Read More
Continue ReadingLyin’ Eyes
Clearly the greatest song from the Eagles and a key to discovering lies in an interview. Forbes.com covers fascinating topic with a startling point at the beginning of the article: …they only work about 80% of the time, according to the American Polygraph Association. That is far lower than I expected. Clearly, it is probably better than the vast majority of people, but I thought the number would be north of 90% for sure. Ah, but here are the fun “tells” for interviewers to use: Liars often give short or one-word responses to questions, while truth tellers are more likely to flesh out their answers. And this: Skilled liars don’t… Read More
Continue ReadingMediocre People
This quote is from the JustSell.com daily email. I thought it was excellent: “Mediocre people have an answer for everything and are astonished at nothing.” Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) French Artist
Continue ReadingFunnel Or Sieve?
This Selling Power article title made me laugh – Are You Using a Funnel or a Sieve? I laughed because my son is a hockey goalie so the word “sieve” carries a special horror. That horror is compounded by the fact that we just returned from a hockey tournament in Winnipeg where I expected to hear some rowdy crowds and perhaps a sieve chant towards my son. My fears were unfounded as the Canadians were extremely pleasant. Hockey colloquialisms aside, this article makes many excellent points before turning into an advertisement. This entire graph is valuable: It’s an issue that makes sense from a cost standpoint as well. Karam says… Read More
Continue ReadingWhy Is Economic News Always Surprising?
Isn’t this an old marketing trick – include “surprising,” “stunned,” or “unexpected” in a headline? It seems to me that every time an economic report comes out, we are presented with one of these words to describe the data. The latest example comes from cnnmoney.com today: U.S. construction spending unexpectedly posted its biggest increase in eight months in April, advancing for a second straight month as the private sector put money into both residential and nonresidential projects, according to a government report on Monday. Oh to be able to surprise a sales manager with an unexpectedly lower sales forecast! If the experts are consistently surprised, what credentials do they have… Read More
Continue ReadingPreset For Mediocrity
SellingPower.com’s article deals with something we have seen throughout our many years of sales assessing, hiring and coaching – financial comfort zones. Here is a good explanation of it from the article (emphasis mine): Eker stumbled on the concept of financial blueprints while running his first company, a fitness business. In that business, his trainers often referred to a body’s “set point,” or the metabolic rate at which a body is comfortable. Eker, looking back over his financial history one day, realized that again and again he followed the same financial pattern of making a lot of money and then losing it. Up and down, up and down for fifteen… Read More
Continue ReadingBetter Than An MBA…
An email came my way today mentioning that our little blog was placed on this list – 100 Awesome Business Blogs that are Better than an MBA. I realize lists are good link bait and I am a sucker for them, but we definitely appreciate the recognition from The Fixer-Upper Blog.
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