He’s old. And he rarely reads my posts so this gift will still be a surprise to him.
Continue ReadingWhat All Top Salespeople Possess
The ability to ask the right question. From Colleen Francis’ blog: Over 20 years ago, Neil Rackham concluded a 12- year study analyzing some 35,000 sales calls conducted by 22 companies in 23 countries. The objective of the study was to determine the precise behaviors of successful sales people. What did he find? That mediocre sales people make statements. The best ask questions. That is absolutely true and we see it in spades on a daily basis. Have you ever noticed how people assume someone who is talkative is often told they should go into sales? I think this conventional wisdom is the reason why there are so many overbearing… Read More
Continue ReadingGreen Monday – Better Than Cyber Monday
I didn’t know this: FORGET CYBER MONDAY. NIELSEN ONLINE has confirmed that Monday, December 10th was the biggest online shopping day this season, based on its Holiday eShopping Index. The index comprises data from more than 120 online retailers across 12 categories. The Index showed 34.9 million at home and work unique visitors on “Green Monday”–a term recently coined by eBay to describe the second Monday in December as the heaviest online shopping day of the season. Spending hit $881 million on Dec. 10, according to comScore, up 33% from last year. (From Online Media Daily)
Continue ReadingRecruitingBlogs.com Best Blog Awards 2007
We were pleased to learn that The Hire Sense has been nominated for the Best Blogs Awards 2007. The fact that we were nominated is an honor in itself as there are many tremendous blogs up for the award. If you enjoy The Hire Sense and would like to vote for us, you can simply follow this link to cast your vote in the survey or click on the image above. You can vote for this blog in the Best Overall category and the Best HR Blog category. Many thanks to RecruitingBlogs.com and to Zoom Info for running and sponsoring the annual awards and for considering our blog.
Continue ReadingBusting A Sales Slump
In all honesty, I am a streaky salesperson (at best). I have always been prone to peaks and valleys in my sales which speaks more to my abilities. Nonetheless, this ManageSmarter.com article addresses this problem with tips for breaking out of a slump. First, a great point: Besides, prospects can smell desperation in sales people. If you panic, your prospects will sense that you’re desperate, and they’ll avoid you. Oh that is so true. Prospects have an innate ability to detect a salesperson working a deal out of desperation. And, of course, that desperation typically plays out as a sizeable discount in the sale price. Then there is this: Third,… Read More
Continue ReadingGooglepedia
It already seems like a holiday week, but we’ll keep things moving this week as best we can. The first interesting item I found this morning is a story stating that Google is looking to develop a competitor to Wikipedia. From MediaPost: LOOK OUT, WIKIPEDIA. GOOGLE IS soliciting entries for a new Internet encyclopedia that will consist of material submitted by people who want to be identified as experts. The concept, revealed in a posting on Google’s Web site, poses a challenge to the nonprofit Wikipedia, whose entries are generated by unpaid, anonymous contributors. Google is calling its alternative “knol”–the company’s shorthand for a “unit of knowledge.” Submissions are currently… Read More
Continue ReadingHiring Is About Margins
This post from the Pondemonium blog at Inc.com explains the rationale behind hiring from a corporate and employee perspective. What is interesting is that the blogger is the decision maker who had to let people go last week. I thought these graphs cut right to the core of employment: I don’t know about other companies, but every time I’ve ever hired someone to work here, it was because I fully believed I’d be able to make more money with them than without them. In other words, if I pay someone $1 to do something, I expect to make $2 from their efforts or services. It’s really that simple! Unfortunately my… Read More
Continue ReadingChristmas Price Index
This info is trivial, but entertaining. From the JustSell.com daily newsletter – the 2007 cost of the 12 days of Christmas from the CNNMoney.com website: Here’s the breakdown of the 12 days… 1. Partridge in a Pear Tree – $164.99 2. Turtle Doves – $40 3. French Hens – $45 4. Calling Birds – $599.96 5. Gold Rings – $395 6. Geese-a-Laying – $360 7. Swans-a-Swimming – $4,200 8. Maids-a-Milking – $46.80 9. Ladies Dancing – $4,759.19 10. Lords-a-Leaping – $4,285.06 11. Pipers Piping – $2,213.40 12. Drummers Drumming – $2,397.85 I had no idea the price of Lords-a-Leaping had gone up so much.
Continue ReadingLinkedIn To BusinessWeek
I’m still a LinkedIn neophyte, but I like the development they are pursuing. From Online Media Daily comes this story – LinkedIn Opens ‘Back End’ To BusinessWeek, Other Web Publishers: LINKEDIN, A SOCIAL NETWORK TARGETING business professionals, is living up to its name. It’s opening its “back end” to Web publishers that want to bring the network’s functions to their sites. The first publisher to get the LinkedIn invitation, BusinessWeek, wants to use its networking function to make BW’s Web site a place where business types can connect and maybe even make deals–in other words, a place to do business, rather than just read about it. In one feature, LinkedIn… Read More
Continue ReadingCube Rage
ManageSmarter.com offers up this article – Cubicle Conniptions – that discusses office behavior that mirrors road rage (emphasis mine): Workplace violence is increasingly common in offices, and it isn’t limited to physical injury or assault, but includes any act in which a person is abused, threatened, intimidated or assaulted at his or her place of employment. Thirty-three thousand workers are assaulted on the job each week in the U.S., and 17 employees are murdered, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. I’m speechless.
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