14 TIPS FOR SENDING EFFECTIVE PRESS RELEASES by John Hewitt Know whom to send it to, not just where. Find out who the editor or reporter is for the section you want your release to a...

If you're in sales, you can identify with this situation - about two weeks after starting a new job, you begin to doubt your decision. You detect a widening gap between what you were told to expect and what actually occurs. After only a month on the job, you conclude, 'I think I made a mistake.' You're probably right, because salespersons seem to be more prone to selecting the wrong job. Too often, their profession's tendency to stress the positive and minimize negative factors extend into their approach in choosing a job.

CRM: THE 80/20 RULE by Patricia Czech Have you heard about the 80/20 rule of customer relationship management (CRM)? Many vendors and consultants are using this rule as a popular sales p...

After an automated sales center is up and running, it's up to producers to act on the qualified leads that the sales center coordinator, assistant, and support staff have worked on.

Prospecting is an old term; replace it with "business development."

Business development requires a positive attitude, confidence, and discipline. The business development mind-set can be picked up by anyone who has a desire to step to the front line and just do what must be done. Commit to a business development plan of action, then organize and follow through.

DO ADVERTISING AND MARKETING WORK? by Al Diamond It never ceases to amaze me. Even though the Independent Agency System is totally sales driven, too many agents do an abysmal job in ma...

While driving down Boston’s Massachusetts Avenue one Saturday afternoon, it dawned on me that every bus stop shelter along this popular main artery sported advertising signage for Apple’s iPad 2. Assuming that many bus riders were not target customers for a product selling between $500 and nearly $900, the two of us in the car thought that spending advertising dollars at bus stops seemed like a waste of money.

The growth of the Internet poses a threat to the need for sales people. In this article, John Graham offers six guidelines that sales professionals can use to survive, and thrive, in a Web-based business environment.

Paying attention to business is one of the major benefits of a recession. Ford figured it out. So did Starbucks by bringing back the founding CEO, closing nearly 1,000 marginal stores and most significantly introducing their own instant coffee. This could be a brilliant move. While proudly passing up their $4 cup of coffee, we take the instant stuff home and keep a little Starbucks in our lives.

FOCUSING ON TARGET MARKETS by Al Diamond 'Target marketing' became the buzz phrase of the '90s, yet successful agents were targeting markets for years before. Why? Because it work...

SECRETS OF CREDIBILITY MARKETING PART 1: THREE SIMPLE WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR CREDIBILITY by Michael Lovas As Michael Lovas was wr...