THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2009
John Chambers ignited markets on Thursday. The Cisco CEO joined other leading firms like Apple, Amazon, Alcoa, Intel, and others by stating that, "the quarter was very strong. The recovery is gaining momentum."
Earlier in the week, the institute for supply management speculated that the US GDP is likely now growing at an annualized rate of 4.5%.
Chambers continued, "what we saw is a clear tipping point as our business continued to reflect strong sequential growth tr…
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Added by Suzette Sommer on November 6, 2009 at 2:04pm —
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2009
Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. announced on Wednesday that planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell for a third straight month in October to a 19-month low.
As we've noted the labor market is continuing to improve as US economic activity rebounds.
Planned job cuts announced by U.S. employers fell to 55,679 in October, down 16 percent from 66,404 in September.
The October job cuts represent the lowest level since March 2008, and are now at or below levels that wer…
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Added by Suzette Sommer on November 5, 2009 at 2:44pm —
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Hi Everyone,
A couple of years ago, Thach Nguyen hired me to do the PR for the Mental Journey to Millions event he and Matthew Ferry were bringing to Seattle for the first time. The goal was to attract 1000 perfect guests to benefit from their empowering message about contribution. While I was very daunted by the challenge, Thach saw something in me and encouraged me to bid on the project. I thought about the door to opportunity he was opening for me, and I stepped through it. Together with his…
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Added by Nancy S. Juetten on November 3, 2009 at 2:09pm —
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009
Thursday we got another indication that the U.S. economy is returning to strong growth. The government's first estimate for the third quarter came in at a 3.5 percent annual pace.
Again most economists were wrong. The consensus was for only a 3.2% jump. In fact several analysts had actually lowered their estimates yesterday in advance of the report.
The quarter was the first to experience the positive effects of emergency government stimulus programs put in place ea…
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Added by Suzette Sommer on October 30, 2009 at 9:05pm —
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Businesses typically spend 80% of their time & $ for sales training on product and industry training and 20%, or less, on developing sales competency or mastery. Basic industry and product knowledge can be picked up in relatively short time. Obviously, deeply knowing the ins and outs of an industry and your company’s products takes time. But, basic knowledge is often very sufficient to get out into the market place and sell. That’s why new and inexperienced sales people can achieve at least…
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Added by Pete McDowell on October 30, 2009 at 2:03pm —
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Ya, the library. You know, the poster-festooned encyclopedia vault from school days past? You probably spent a lot of time there, researching for science projects and book reports. Remember reaching up on tiptoes to hand your library card to the librarian at the check-out desk?
This should bring you back – Encyclopedia Britannica! It’s never too late to join the "look it up club" whose motto was "we never guess, we look it up." Use the library’s valuable resources-even when you can see over the…
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Added by Maria Marsala, Business Coach on October 28, 2009 at 10:03pm —
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If your ideal clients are on LinkedIn, then you want to be there, too. So create a keyword driven profile on LinkedIn for yourself. Complete every area possible, take a look at the apps (applications/programs) you might want to add, and you’re done… right?
Wrong.
One of the best ways to dip your feet into a community of new business owners and executives, like LinkedIn, is to ask or answer questions. ANSWERS is a community where other members ask or answer questions to learn and connect with o…
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Added by Maria Marsala, Business Coach on October 28, 2009 at 9:33pm —
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2009
Early this week a survey release by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) provided new evidence that the U.S. recovery is solidly under way and will be sustained well into 2010. The best news of the survey is that now a majority of companies surveyed are planning to boost their payrolls this year and next.
For the first time in over a year, the percentage of businesses expecting to hire workers over the next half year exceeds the share that project mo…
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Added by Suzette Sommer on October 28, 2009 at 5:30pm —
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Is there anyone standing outside of your door, just dying to do business with you? I doubt it. When I started in sales long ago I was called me into the company owner’s office on the first day I reported for work. Here’s the brief conversation:
Owner: “Pete…welcome. We’re glad to have you on board. Do you see anyone standing outside of our door, just dying to come in and do business with us?
Me, glancing at the front door to the offices: “Ummm, no sir.”
Owner: You have to go out and bring in the…
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Added by Pete McDowell on October 28, 2009 at 3:43pm —
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Did you ever think why the company media representatives and the brand equity managers keep staking and lay emphasis about the essentiality of owning a professional logo design to march on? Is the build up of hype about having custom design logo warranted?
It sounds pretty much explainable, doesn’t it? A logo of a company is the character of the organization which marks its unique identity. There are many competitors of your business around you very near but what really signifies you is your ou…
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Added by Kathy Maxwelll on October 26, 2009 at 8:01pm —
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I met a few friends or business connections today in two locations here in the Seattle-Bellevue area. I met one person at the Bellevue Hyatt Hotel and another at the University Village Starbucks (near UW).
The Hyatt had a huge addition put on over the past two years and has been open for a few months. The connecting area between the original hotel lobby and the new one is a gorgeous atrium- a very attractive and comfortable place to sit and converse. The new tower has new ballrooms and meeting r…
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Added by Pete McDowell on October 26, 2009 at 4:12pm —
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Seattle has become a world-class city with a diverse, vibrant economy. As a home to manufacturers such as Boeing and software providers such as Microsoft, the job market has held up better than average, with a current unemployment rate of 8.8%.
Home prices had a softer landing as well, dropping just 15.2% over the past three years, about half the national average.
After another modest price decline of 2.3% in the next eight months, the market should begin to turn up.
Between June 2010 and Jun…
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Added by Suzette Sommer on October 24, 2009 at 10:30am —
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Here's what Barton Briggs (Managing Partner of Traxis Partners Investment Fund) writes in Newsweek:
"First and foremost... America (is) the greatest entrepreneurial engine ever created.
History says buy America when it's down. In addition, emerging economies may well be the new dynamo of growth.
They now account for 35 percent of world GDP and are growing two to three times faster than the developed world.
S&P 500 companies now collect almost 50 percent of their revenues from overseas, a…
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Added by Suzette Sommer on October 21, 2009 at 10:23pm —
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One of the issues I run into with social networking is that most of the businesses who have heard about social networking are focused on it primarily as a way of getting business. And when they don't get business right away they get disheartened and feel that social networking isn't working for them. Or they decide right away to use social networking as a way to advertise their business, but don't really engage the audience.
Social media consultants, in the meantime, stress authenticity and gen…
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Added by Taylor Ellwood on October 20, 2009 at 2:30pm —
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ad_seattlemag_fall2009.pdf - OPEN NOW!
IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE
CONTACT: 206-349-4297
OPEN MESSAGE FROM BETTINA:
Seattle, WA - These days, today more than ever, "who you know, not what you know," is key to business success.
Neve…
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Added by Bettina Carey on October 16, 2009 at 7:53am —
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ad_seattlemag_fall2009.pdf - OPEN NOW!
IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE:
CONTACT: BETTINA CAREY
PHONE: 206-349-4297
Financing for Small Business During the Credit Crunch Responsible for Companies Thriving in a Down Economy
Seattle - Is your small business experiencing a credit crunch causing difficu…
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Added by Bettina Carey on October 16, 2009 at 7:30am —
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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2009
As a Q3 positive earnings season rolls on, JPMorgan Chase and Intel ignited the markets on Wednesday. Later in the day, minutes from the Fed's most recent meeting reaffirmed our convictions that this recovery indeed will be strong and prolonged.
Intel reported third quarter revenue of $9.4 Billion which represents the largest second to third quarter growth in over 30 years. You will remember that earlier in the year Intel was one of the first firms to invest signifi…
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Added by Suzette Sommer on October 15, 2009 at 3:41pm —
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This is the last installment of building a relationship. It’s about respect. So many people today don’t respect others. They put up with them, but they don’t respect them. In building a personal or business relationship with someone, my hierarchy is to first decide that you are going to like the person. Then, work to build trust. Finally, out of trust should come respect.
Again, because I like to be clear on the meaning of the words we use, here’s a definition for respect: esteem for or a sense…
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Added by Pete McDowell on October 15, 2009 at 10:02am —
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“Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work. “
Warren G. Bennis
Trust makes relationships work, too.
I was just talking this morning with two associates about trust. In the business I’m in, as a consultant, it’s important to have trust to make the relationship work. Some people shy away from using the word consultant and use trusted advisor. They’re very similar but different in meaning. However, in any relationship that has an expectation of mutual gain (however d…
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Added by Pete McDowell on October 13, 2009 at 4:51pm —
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“All lasting business is built on friendship.”
Alfred A. Montapert
There are a lot of great sales trainings available today.
If you examine them all, you’ll find way more similarities than differences. Think of it this way: every cook has their way of cooking, and so do business trainers, especially sales trainers. The fundamentals and how you master and use them are what counts. I have developed my own sales training that I deliver to clients based on the study of sales and my experiences over…
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Added by Pete McDowell on October 9, 2009 at 2:19pm —
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