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Due to the slumping economy, a friend of mine recently made a pretty big career change that landed him his first sales job. Interestingly enough, and to the surprise of my friend, the company hired him without having any previous sales experience or knowledge about the product offering he would be required...
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Everyone from athletes, celebrities and businesspeople are twittering. The “next big thing” in the social networking craze allows users to send or “tweet” messages to others who receive the information on their cell phones or in an e-mail. While some might find the tweets irksome...
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When the economy was strong, it was comfortable and popular for companies to initiate a green movement. Whether it was buying green products or initiating recycling programs, it made sense for companies to enforce a green movement internally. With the economy struggling, companies are looking to cut...
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The economic struggles of the country have affected all aspects of a company’s operation. To save money, a company will look under every nook and cranny, including examining the costs associated with cleaning their facility. The cost-cutting leaves no operation sacred and building service contractors...
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Product bundling is a great way to increase sales by up-selling related products, potentially at a discounted price. In a recent Sanitary Maintenance article, “ Product Catalogs: From Print To Online ,” distributors mentioned they are informing customers of these bundles in their product...
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End users are giving more attention to e-commerce and utilizing the Web to make product purchases. It would be a shame though, if when they brought up your site, it performed improperly. With myriad Web browsers to choose from — Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, the list goes on — who knows...
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Hiring a sales staff on a commission-only basis may sound like an up-front cost-saver for most jan/san distributors, but experts say investing in a sales staff pays dividends down the road. All distributors want a good salesperson that can communicate to prospects what separates their individual business...
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In today’s Web 2.0 world, it’s gotten to the point where customers seem to know more or as much about a distributor’s products as their sales reps do. That’s because with immediate access to distributors’ Web sites, customers have all the product information they need at...
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Last month I received some staggering responses when Sanitary Maintenance surveyed nearly 450 jan/san distribution professionals asking them their current stance on green and what they’re doing as a business to go green. Let me just say this: Some jan/san distributors are guilty of not practicing...
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When discussing the safe attributes of green products to customers, how far do you take the sales pitch? In the July/August issue of Fortune Small Business , an article describes how Kevin Schwartz, founder of BabyGanic, a green househould cleaning product, will drink his product to demonstrate just...
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Engulfed in the daily grind of fulfilling customer inquiries and making sales calls, most distributor salespeople just can’t devote enough time to stay up-to-date on current industry trends. And distributors have been looking for ways to broaden their sales staff’s knowledge without disrupting...
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Too much information is not always a good thing. The New York Times story, “That Buzz in Your Ear May Be Green Noise,” discusses the multitude of agencies and organizations spouting off on the greenest practices and products. According to the story, consumers are growing tiresome of the rapidly...
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When speaking to a handful of jan/san distributors for Sanitary Maintenance’s June cover story on face time with customers, I quickly learned that most distributors are using e-mail as a major means of conversing with their customers. In fact, the majority of distributors say their customers prefer...
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If you’ve taken a flight overseas for business, you know that getting through the long security checkpoint lines can be exhausting — take off your shoes, empty your pockets, take out your liquids in your carry-on luggage and take out any electronic devices. It turns out that as of late, the...
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At the request of a younger relative, I joined the 21st Century by signing up on Facebook. For those of you who have never heard of it, Facebook is an online community that allows you to have a personal page on the Internet to exchange likes, dislikes, hobbies, gossip, pictures, play games or talk shop...