Saturday, February 27, 2010

One decision that changes everything. Take Action.

http://www.marcandangel.com/2010/01/11/one-decision-that-changes-everything/

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Good Stuff!

14 of the stupidest things ever said in sales meetings
February 25, 2010 | Jim Nichols | 3 Comments |
Share | (Editor’s note: Jim Nichols is a Senior Partner at Catalyst:SF. He submitted this column to VentureBeat.)

Saying the wrong thing can totally screw up a pitch. And sometimes even the best salesman find something utterly moronic coming out of his or her mouth. Trust me, I’ve heard plenty.
I asked a wide number of buyers and sellers about the stupidest things they’ve heard in meetings. Here are the top 14 (I’ve deleted the names to protect the guilty). Heard something as stupid – or worse? Sound off in the comments below.

1. From a Seller: “We flew to a client, and the head of the department came to the lobby to tell us that our key contact died during the night. And my boss said, ‘Well, who’s her replacement? We flew up here and expect to present to someone.”

2. From a Seller: “I fell asleep. While the client was talking. They had to poke me to rouse me.”

3. From a Buyer: “I was working for Dr. Pepper. A vendor catered lunch at headquarters. With Coke products.”

4. From a Seller: “A seller said, ‘What’s your title? We usually present to someone higher up than you.”

5. From a Buyer: “I always make a point to say hello when vendors visited my team. One day, I did my drive by hello, and when I left the room the rep said, “Your boss is smokin’. Is she single?”

6. From a Buyer: “Spelling my name wrong on slide one. It’s Smith.”

7. From a Buyer: “We had a salesman that visited monthly and told me stories of his drunken escapades. After six months, I told him I’m Mormon and didn’t care for it. So he apologized, and then joked ‘So, how many wives you got?’”

8. From a Seller: “How many times do people have to see it in sitcoms before they stop saying ‘when is your baby due?’ to an obese woman.”

9. From a Buyer: “Our consumers are predominantly Latino – as am I and some of my team. A couple years ago an ingredient supplier came in and referred to all Hispanics as Mexicans, and called our language Mexican. Throughout the meeting, we looked at each other thinking, ‘Did he really say that? There! He did it again!’ We still joke about it. And we don’t work with them anymore.”

10. From a Seller: “Our rep resigned while presenting. Just stopped and said, ‘I don’t really think I want to be in this business.’ Picked up her bag, and left.”

11. From a Buyer: The salesperson hadn’t even handed me the proposal and said he’d give 25 percent less than the quote because they had a rough quarter. Like, ‘here are the fish in the barrel, and here is your shotgun.’”

12. From a Buyer: “The all male ad agency team telling my female marketing team that they understood tampons better than us.”

13. From a Buyer: “People have certain stereotypes of Southerners. Once a rep said, ‘When I hear your accent, I start deducting IQ points.’”

Hopefully you got a chuckle from those. But I’ve saved the best for last. Not because it’s funny, but rather because of how often it happens:

From Everyone: “The rep comes, does their pitch, and doesn’t have next steps. We all file out with no progress and no deal.”

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Great job hunting tips!

Top 10 Reasons Why You’re Not Finding a Job
Related Articles
Text, Tweet, Blog and Surf Your Way To a New Job
Seven Cyber Job Hunting Tips
Is Your Name Holding You Back?
By Kate Lorenz
1 July 2008

You’ve got the flawless résumé, impeccable credentials and the perfect look — you are an employer’s dream candidate. So why is it you’ve been on the job hunt for almost a year and there are no prospects in sight?

You also need to have the right attitude, according to Tony Beshara.

What gives Beshara the right to tell you to get an attitude adjustment? He has worked with his fair share of job seekers. The president and owner of Dallas-based job placement firm Babich and Associates is a 30-year veteran of the placement and recruiting industry. He’s also an occasional contributor on a little television program called "The Dr. Phil Show."

Here are some reasons why you might be having trouble with your job search, according to Beshara’s book "The Job Search Solution: The Ultimate System for Finding a Great Job Now!" (Amacom):

1. You’re not making finding a job a job itself!
Many people don’t adopt a committed, passionate, failure-is-not-an-option attitude and don’t recognize that finding a job is a numbers game. When it comes to interviews, it’s all numbers: the more interviews you get, the better your chances of getting called back; the more times you’re called back, the better your chances of landing a good job.

2. You haven’t developed a system of finding a job.
The system should entail everything from goals and intentions that dictate planned activity to role-playing of interviews.

3. You have an unrealistic idea about the market for your skills.
There is a tendency for people to overinflate the ease of their ability to find a job, based on a distorted view of the marketability of their skills. This can lead to frustration and disappointment when the job search takes longer than expected.

4. You aren’t acknowledging the psychological and emotional stress that changing jobs entails.
By denying this reality, people operate out of fear of rejection. They confuse activity with productivity and focus on minor things that appear to be job-finding activities, but aren’t the most fruitful activities.

5. You ignore small businesses.
You’ve forgotten or don’t realize that 97 percent of the businesses in the United States employ fewer than 100 people. America is not run by big business. It is run by small groups of people who organized to provide goods and services.

6. You don’t recognize that face-to-face interviews are the only things that matter.
There are all kinds of things you can do to get face-to-face interviews, but you have to get them. Pulling out all the stops by doing anything you can to get in front of a hiring authority with pain (the need to hire someone) is key.

7. You don’t prepare well for interviews.
Most people are either not confident in themselves or act arrogant in the interviewing process simply because they are not as prepared as they should be. They don’t prepare and practice presentations on themselves with others.

8. You’re not selling yourself.
The vast majority of people going into an interviewing situation simply don’t sell themselves very well. People neglect to do everything from dress properly to focus on what they can do for a prospective employer. And worst of all, they don’t come right out and ask for the job.

9. You have the attitude, "What can you do for me?"
Most people consider interviews a two-way street. They believe that the employer is just as responsible for selling them on the company and the job as they are for selling themselves to the employer. They don’t realize that there is nothing to consider until you have an offer. If you give enough reasons to employers as to why they ought to hire you and what you can do for them, they will give you plenty of answers on what they can do for you.

10. You give poor reasons for leaving your job.
Whether it’s why you left your last employer or why you want a new job, most people present the reason from a selfish point of view. They badmouth and criticize their current or past employers and justify their own convictions, thinking that a prospective employer is going to identify with them. They’re wrong!

http://www.youngmoney.com/careers/career-advice/275_746/

Saturday, February 20, 2010

In other news

Overall rating for Shutter Island: B

Overall rating for Wolfman: Z (thats beyond an F) we recommend you go see it, then come to the office and talk about how bad it was!

Asian Palace, N. Main St, Providence: A (Good eats!)

Week at a Glance

Week ending 2.20.10

Great job to Jamison! First week after completing training he takes the number one spot in the office rankings for most new accounts and highest profit!

Congratulations to Carolyn one of 212's newest trainers who has done a great job taking on a leadership role!

Kudos to Jay who closes his first sale and sings the best rendition of Billy Idol's Rebel Yell at karaoke night!!

Welcome to Dan and Shane who started training this week!

And of course thanks to the recruiters Renee and Ashly for finding this great talent!!

Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Happy Birthday to 212!

212, Inc. of Rhode Island Celebrates Three Years of Success

Leading outsourced direct sales company reviews three successful years of growth

212, Inc., a Providence area-based outsourced sales and direct marketing agency celebrates its third birthday this week.

Originally opened in Westchester, NY in February 2007, 212, Inc. has since relocated to the New England area and has enjoyed further growth with its clients -- including one of the nation’s leading telecommunications providers.

Most notably in the past three years, 212, Inc. has seen annually revenues steadily increase along with client satisfaction. Since relocating to New England, 212 has seen a 500% growth increase.

“I am thrilled at the success we have seen over the past three years,” said Andrea Atkinson, President, 212, Inc. “Watching something grow from the ground up has been an exciting experience. Although I am even more enticed to see what we can do in another three years.”

In the past six months, 212 has increased its management and sales support staff due to increased hiring. It has also received recognition in both the third quarter and fourth quarter of 2009 for outstanding sales performance, highest sales increase, and lowest customer concern rate.


212, Inc. is an outsourced sales and marketing firm focused on quality growth for clients and employees. For more information about services and opportunities please call (401) 272-2600

Monday, February 1, 2010

Dallas Trip!

Over the weekend the management and HR team headed to Dallas for the annual kick-off meeting!

The weekend events included sales and management training as well as annual vendor awards!

212's President - Andrea Atkinson - winner of 2009's high revenue increase contest!
Andrea received recognition at the conference and an all-inclusive trip to Mexico!