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The article presents information on Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) which has been the face of payroll processing in the U.S. ADP is more than a payroll processing company, paying more than 33 million people worldwide and offering solutions that address tax and compliance issues, human resources and benefits administration. The diversity of its product offerings have kept ADP's products and services from being commoditized, but the focus on solution selling is what has maintained the business' health through tough times. The company has always had a reputation as a stellar face-to-face sales organization, but in 2005, ADP created a TeleSales division to increase market penetration and lower the overall cost of sales.

The article reports that International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) has introduced a slew of marketing strategies to exploit the best of all that Web 2.0 can offer, which is based on XML [coding] unlike the old Web which was based on HTML [coding]. It is using viral video, social networking, and even a foray into the virtual world Second life to move its products. And Sandy Carter, IBM's vice president for SOA and WebSphere Marketing is spearheading the show. In the past year, she has led three campaigns using emerging technologies. Carter created an "innovation council," charged with developing creative ideas for viral marketing initiatives.. INSETS: community builders;D.I.Y. marketing.

The article presents information on Electronic Data Systems Corp., the Information Technology outsourcing giant. Through its new sales strategies and a brand makeover, the company has shown a turnaround. In 2002 the company showed shrinking revenue, intensified competition and investor frustration. However, under the leadership of Michael Jordan, chairman and CEO, the company got transformed from a struggling company to a successful company. It reported a net income of $104 million in the second-quarter of 2006, as compared to $26 million in 2005. Their sales framework was updated in 2004. The human resource department and the sales department showed a successful partnership. Everyone understood that it's their job to sell. INSET: REMOVING THE JARGON.

The article presents information on Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc.'s rebranding campaign. Javier Benito, chief marketing officer, is taking Starwood's lineup of hotels, and positioning them no longer as places to get a night's sleep as cheaply and conveniently as possible, but rather as a total experience for the weary traveler. Essential to Starwood's rebranding efforts are its sales channel and "lifestyle" partners, bringing the essence of the b-to-b world into mass-market and corporate-travel loyalty. In the b-to-b world, for example, even where product performance is at largely parity levels, price is seldom the only consideration. The company's cobranding alliances, most all of which are new within the last year, are carefully divided up among its high-to-lower end products to appeal to specific demographics. For its alliance with the big upscale retailer Nordstrom, which began an exclusive relationship selling Westin's complete line of Heavenly Bed furnishings, the return has been beyond exceptional. INSETS: What Cobranding Can and Cannot Do;One Customer at a Time.

The article presents information on the exclusive Sales & Marketing Management/Equation Research compensation survey of nearly 3,000 respondents. As the economy continues its upswing, the exclusive salary survey shows that executive and sales team payouts continue to increase. The economy is steadily improving, and as a result, pay for respondents to the Sales & Marketing Management compensation survey keeps increasing as well. Which, of course, is good news for executives and their teams. Total compensation increased for 58 percent of executives and for 68 percent of salespeople in 2005, bonuses increased or stayed the same for 83 percent of executive respondents and 85 percent of salespeople. And respondents are projecting similar increases in 2006. A key to maintaining top performance from the team is setting good quotas. But it does not mean increasing them constantly. While it is important to continually raise the bar on salespeople--63 percent of the respondents in the Sales & Marketing Management survey indicated they increased quotas by a margin of 1 percent to 20 percent last year--it is also important not to continually readjust quotas during the year.

The article focuses on the sales and marketing management while giving reference of Google Inc. It reports that when sales and marketing profiled Google in 2002, it was to highlight the search engine firm's corporate culture. After the fast forward four years, the company's name has become synonymous with online search. Revenues have grown from $440 million in 2002 to more than $6 billion in 2005, owing to its success in dominating the search advertising market. The company's technological claim to fame has often overshadowed its successful sales organization, which has contributed to what has typically been triple-digit, year-to-year revenue growth. It is not uncommon in many firms, even high-tech ones, to encounter the proverbial wall that separates the workaholic engineering geeks from the well-heeled sales team. But playing well in the sandbox with others is part of everyday life at Google. To its frontline sellers, this has all translated into organizing vertically by industry, to deepen its knowledge and customer relationships. In 2005 the company reorganized its U.S. sales force into 12 verticals that include consumer packaged goods, travel, technology, retailers, and business services.

The article focuses on the selling of strategies for small businesses. It may be inevitable that smaller companies will be viewed with skepticism by customers, even without considering the quality of their products or services. Big companies, and bigger markets, may see the little guys as inherently handicapped in terms of providing service after the sale, or in being viable for the long term. But there are ways smaller players can gain significant toeholds, if not full bridgeheads, within a national market or with Fortune 500 companies. Some of the most compelling examples are coming out of Ireland. The companies do enjoy a common advantage, however, they are being aided by Enterprise Ireland, an economic-development project of the Irish government to facilitate the growth of Irish companies in foreign markets. Similarly related examples have also been discussed in the article regarding the business strategies.

This article discusses how sales professional use golf for forging business relationships. Bill Storer, a former AT&T and Lucent Technologies sales manager, says, companies spend billions of dollars on sales training that helps people sell across the desk, but almost none is spent training people on how to build relationships and sell in informal client situations, such as during a round of golf. Since 1994 Storer's firm Business Golf Strategies has trained thousands of competent salespeople who nonetheless had never planned a strategy for their client golf outings. He says that people have to view a golf outing as a sales call that takes place over a few hours in a nice environment. Being a polite and knowledgeable golfer is only part of the role one must fulfill when using golf for business purposes. With a new or prospective client, Storer recommends to invite not only the decision maker, but also a support person from one's own firm who would service that account. On the other hand, longtime clients feel valued if an executive from the host's firm comes along to play. INSETS: DRIVING SUCCESS;HOLE IN ONE;LINKS LESSONS.

This article presents an interview with Damian Thomas, general manager, corporate sales, General Electric (GE) Co. Thomas began his career as field engineer installing power equipment for GE in 1968, eventually moving to sales when he started working in the nuclear energy division. He left GE in 1995 to become vice president of marketing and sales at Peco Energy, but returned to in 1998 to be regional manager for GE's energy sales. While a regional sales executive in GE's energy business, he was tapped to promote the sales leadership, sales-effectiveness tools, and cross-business customer relationships that will help the global sales force rise to the challenge. Thomas talks about GE's renewed customer focus, the notion of At the Customer, For the Customer (ACFC). ACFC is a method of bringing the company's processes, its best practices, and its learning to its customers. Thomas believes, if they use their best practices to help the customers be better, they become endeared to the company, and company to them.

This article examines the emergence of business networking in sales and marketing management. Just as in sales, networking has evolved from a transactional to a consultative process. Sharing ideas and resources, so-called knowledge networking--has become a launching pad for building professional relationships. Even with growing memberships, however, heads at many networking organizations say it can still be hard to convince sales professionals, especially, to get involved in a community, perhaps because of the lone-wolf mentality and the harried schedules common to the profession. Indeed, the concept of an equal exchange is what drives a successful networking relationship. Andrew Ritschel, president of Electronic Office Systems, a provider of office automation equipment and solutions based in Fairfield, New Jersey, strongly encourages his salespeople to get involved and become intimate with a networking group as a way to find qualified referrals. Ritschel is personally involved in a local, 48-person networking organization, the Executive Exchange Inc. of New Jersey, with whom he meets about every two weeks to share marketing ideas, best practices, and, primarily, leads. INSET: WEAVING YOUR WEB.

Presents an interview with Andrea Spiegel, chief executive officer at JetBlue Airways Corp. Marketing strategy of JetBlue, as explained by Spiegel; Professional background of Spiegel; Plans of the company to launch a corporate travel management service; Views of Spiegel on the market shift in the airline industry; Opinion of Spiegel on other low-cost airlines.

The article focuses on the use of trade shows, sponsorships and road shows for marketing. Trade shows, sponsorships, and road shows are all great ways to reach customers. For most U.S. companies, deciding whether an event is worth the cost is a little like estimating the size of the St. Paddy's Day parade crowd: It's largely guesswork. But companies like Xerox Corp., whose marketing budget for events is in the millions, know that in this era of limited marketing dollars, precisely measuring an event's return-on-investment is critical. There's a lot at stake: Event marketing averages 20 percent of total marketing communications budgets, according to a 2004 survey of 700 marketing decision makers in the automotive, health care, high-tech, and financial industries here and abroad, conducted by the MPI Foundation, the research arm of Dallas-based Meeting Professionals International, and the George P. Johnson Company, an event-marketing agency based in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

This article advices on getting the lost customers back. More likely than not people have had to scramble and scrounge for new clients to make up the revenue gap and keep the company afloat. But here's a little secret as statistics say executives should not be spending all of their energies on drumming up new business. Because according to consulting firm Marketing Metrics, based in Paramus, New Jersey, while people might have as low as a 5 percent shot at landing entirely new business, they have up to a 40 percent chance of winning back old customers. Because of the established relationship, their business is not only less expensive to acquire, but they have far better odds of getting it. Of course, a host of reasons may explain why a client left in the first place. If they were unhappy with their products or services, for instance, they are going to have a tough row to hoe in winning them back. Some companies, like Sysix, realize very well the importance of winback. And some industries, like telecommunications, have to employ winback strategies constantly, because the customer churn is so high that companies could not survive if they did not lure customers back and fend off competitors at the same time. INSET: BACK TO THE WELL.

This article discusses a strategy for sales. In increasingly competitive sectors like health care and retail banking, like-minded trailblazers are dealing with similar opportunities, and resistance, in establishing a sales culture where none existed before. The health care industry, for instance, has long seen sales as something that medical practitioners should not be associated with. But by applying better business savvy, Columbus Regional Hospital's John Memarian has boosted sales by millions of dollars in less than a year by reaching out to doctors the way businesses reach out to clients. Similarly, about a decade ago retail banking used to be a sleepy sector of simply savings and checking accounts. The old way was to do the work and tend to existing clients, rather than aggressively go after new business. A perfectly legitimate strategy, but not enough in what has become a competitive milieu. Decades of company tradition aren't going to be altered overnight. People may face fierce opposition from top brass who see sales as inappropriate for their industries. INSET: TIPS FROM THE TRAILBLAZERS.

This article reports that noncash sales incentives may have been shelved by budget cuts, but managers who can't shake the cash-is-king mentality could lose star employees — as well as miss out on ways to ramp up revenue. In a recent amp;MM/Equation Research survey of 335 executives, 71 percent of respondents said they still believe cash works best as a motivational tool. But with the economy stirring back to life, noncash incentive and recognition programs should be revitalized, not just because the budget is back, but also because they shouldn't have been slashed to begin with amp;MM/Equation Research survey of 388 executives say they don't give rewards to recognize top sellers. With hiring expected to pick up in 2005, understanding the role that recognition plays in fostering loyalty could prevent having to replace your sales stars next year — or help attract the free agents who want to leave their unmotivating companies. HomeLoanCenter.com's recognition and incentive culture attracted Billy Boulton to the mortgage lender as an employer.

The article highlights the role of Danielle Tiedt, director of marketing at Microsoft Corp., in the implementation of the marketing strategy for the relaunch of its MSN online services as of April 2004. The first major management decision of Tiedt at MSN, helped spark the strategic shift of the brand from being a dial-up service provider, to providing the tools that enhance the broadband experience. In 2003, MSN posted a $299 million operating loss. It did, however, post its first profit of $58 million in the quarter ended in September 2003, due to online advertising revenue. Amid negative associations with Microsoft, MSN has an ongoing relationship with its customers which may enable the company to boost it as a brand. This image can be seen in its new print, online, and television ad campaign that started in January 2004 to coincide with the launch of MSN Premium. Tiedt says that they spent a lot of weeks debating on the tag lines used in the ad campaign. Tiedt plans to make video advertisements and make it available to all 300 million of their reach users. It is estimated that the marketing budget for MSN in 2004 will be much less than the $300 million marketing budget in 2003.

Looks at the future of the marketing department. Factors that marketers need to consider in developing a marketing plan; Effort of companies to successfully change marketing departments; Use of Marketing Performance Center software from Responsys by hotel owners to track the return of investment attributes.

Focuses on the business strategy applied by Chrysler to achieve sales turnaround in 2004. Implications of the launching of Pacifica vehicle in 2003; Benefits derived from the launching of six-passenger, van-SUV hybrid; Details of the program being implemented by Dieter Zetsche, CEO of Chrysler Group, to help turnaround relations with dealers. INSET: RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT.

Highlights the development of selling and marketing strategies by several large companies to target small and midsize companies in the U.S. as of January 2004. Percentage of the business of IBM represented by smaller businesses; Measures taken by Hewlett-Packard to sell its servers, printers and computers to small and midsize businesses; Features of the Sprint Experience centers established by Sprint to stay connected to the small business market; Factors which interest smaller businesses.

The article reports on different marketing and sales strategies adopted by business enterprises to grow profits and gain sustainable competitive advantages in the current economic climate. Many of these companies have now discovered the hidden opportunity presented by price optimization. Given the financial variables at play, pricing has a tremendous amount of leverage for B2B companies. Even relatively minor improvements to realized-price can have a major impact on profitability. Price optimization has its roots in the airline and hospitality industries.

The article offers tips on building an effective, flexible, pragmatic selling methodology and deploy it within a company. It is advised to begin with a comprehensive, objective assessment of how your customers buy. One will need to sell to his/her customers the way they prefer to be sold to. If there are multiple product lines with different customer sets, it is advised to repeat the same process. Sales executives are advised to look at their current selling capabilities. Benchmarking of current performance and determining objectives are also important.

The article presents information on the training program to market the new car Honda Fit. The training was designed by Campos Creative Works Inc. in Santa Monica, California, for the benefit of Honda Motor Co. Ltd.'s saleforce. Campos Creative Works toured various cities for more than a month to train 7,500 Honda sales associates. Honda's marketing strategy involved interaction, not only with existing customers, but all potential car buyers since the market is more customer focused now. According to Greg Williams, CCW's creative director, it is important to analyze how much a customer knows about a particular car before identifying a marketing strategy.

This article presents information on the business planning of several sales organizations. The CarMart sales force at PennySaver Group Inc., the weekly shopping guides company based in Brea, California, worked hard to get a coach for a team of high achievers of the company. In 14 coaching sessions — eight in 2003 and six in 2004 — designed by Profit Builders, a business training and coaching firm based in Merrick, New York, the veteran team learned new ways to approach their clients. At the end of 2004, CarMart sales were up for the first time in three years and finished at 107 percent of plan. Will Rodgers, president of Hamilton Consultants based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, whose specialty is driving growth through sales force optimization, recently did a study for a client, analyzing each representative's sales volume, and zeroing in on gross margin. Ten years after Monster.com started as an online job board, it is the 11th most visited web site on the Internet, according to Internet measurement firm comScore. Monster's top salespeople — 50 or so A players — have to understand return-on-investment in a very detailed way. INSET: COACH TO RAISE PERFORMANCE.

The article offers information on the marketing strategies of luxury brands to fight against recession in the U.S. It states that investment in advertising, which is being cut, is following a packaged goods model. It notes that loyalty rewards and programs are gaining attention and importance such as Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus In-Circle. It emphasizes that smarter luxury brands are turning to limited-time, special-price-off offers on categories that customers have not purchased before, rather than discounts.

The article offers information on the factors that have influenced the business success of Todd McGowan, owner of St. Louis-based McGowan Crain, in Missouri. McGowan states that the success of the company is due to its three-pronged motto, simple, smart and strategic. He notes that smart means using ones common sense, while sticking to ones strategy. He emphasizes that advertising is a direct pipeline to consumers, while sales promotion targets three distinct audiences such as the wholesalers, the retailers and the consumers.

The article offers information on the seven things that executives must avoid when targeting women in marketing products in the U.S. It states that acting like customer service and marketing are different from each other, thus customer service is the most powerful differentiator. It notes that women's ideas about what's hot, sexy and attractive are not the same with men. It emphasizes that retailers must not focus much on consumers at 20s and early 30s, but also give importance to the aging population for they have more money to spend.

The article offers tips on how retailers can gain back its profit after slashing its prices due to the economic meltdown in the U.S. It states that the retailers need to stop discounting before it becomes ingrained into U.S. shopping behavior. Glen Senk, chief executive officer (CEO) of Urban Outfitters, notes that the store ambiance is important in attracting customers as the product is being sold. It notes that retailers must commit to provide newness and excitement at a great price. It emphasizes that retailers must capitalize on the appeal of scarcity.

The article offers tips on how to end addiction to price promotion in the U.S. It states that retailers must focus on shopping process, enhancing and engaging the customer and the salesperson in the transaction. It notes that clothing retailer must hire fashionista/passionistas. It notes that hiring of a passionista must be based on their avocation and vocation and must also allow genuinely fashion-involved people to be creative. It emphasizes that retailer transaction must be fun, festive and fearless in its trust to the customer.

The article discusses the integration of search engine optimization (SEO) strategy by shopping sites to maximize search engine marketing (SEM) spend in the U.S. It states that SEO and SEM are the key part of online campaign to get people to buy products. It notes that bricks-and-mortar is one of the strategy that can help minimize troubles with man-machine interface, for it emphasizes promotional zones, product grouping and good signage. It emphasizes that inspiration, intuition and impulse are the principal factors that will guide retailers in improving digital retail services.

The article offers tips on how to inspire salespeople for better sales performance. It is important to inspire salespeople to build business-driving relationships. It is reported that today's business landscape is radically different than it was even 10 years ago, and it continues to change constantly. The salesperson's role has evolved accordingly. Instead of serving as a consultant, offering information and solutions to clients, today's sales representative acts more as a strategic advisor. It is important that sales leaders encourage their teams to stretch their comfort zones and elevate their skills.

The article offers tips on making effective trade show strategies. If implemented correctly, cause marketing can add an additional brand-defining dimension to an exhibit or marketing event. It is stated that the best way to promote the company and its products is to support a cause that the company, customers and/or industry have a personal connection to one another. It is also advised to show something about the company. It is also important to invite customers to personalize their contribution.

The article presents information on new sales and marketing strategy adopted by Toshiba America Medical Systems. The company believes that when hospitals and other healthcare facilities are looking to buy new medical imaging equipment, for instance, CT scanners and MRI systems, they first want to see the system in action, in a clinical environment similar to that in which they operated. Keeping the above factor in place, Toshiba has a team of people working with the sales department to arrange, on average, 20 to 40 site visits per week.

The article offers information on the importance of information flow and communication in customer service in sales and marketing management. Jim Witucki, sales manager of the building material manufacturer company, Nucor Fastener, stated that there is a lack of information sharing in the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Tom Miller, general manager of Nucor Fastener, stated that they want to improve customer service in terms of order accuracy, on-time delivery and quality. Nucor has developed a software that integrates with their ERP and provides facilities to establishing innovative and meaningful performance indicators.

The article offers suggestion to manage lead generation process in sales and marketing management. It is stated that one must be able to ensure consistency in marketing communications. It is suggested that before any prospecting is done, it is necessary to develop a communications strategy defining what makes a firm different. It is stated that in lead generation process, maintaining consistency of reachout is critical. It is suggested that before any call is made into prospect, the business manager should conduct news searches on the prospect.

The article focuses on trade show as a marketing tool and suggests how to make sure that investment pays off. It is stated that the single biggest reason why trade show participation fails to deliver desired results is that marketers view trade shows as stand-alone events rather than elements of an integrated marketing process. According to the author marketers should make sure the trade shows will actually attract people central to the buying process in the target market. It is commented that the first post-show duty of the marketing team should be to process the contacts that were gathered.

The article focuses on sales strategy and refers to the use of new technologies in sales and marketing management. Technologies such as Webcasts, blogs, Webinars and podcasts precludes excuses on not delivering a high ROI on lead generation. According to a report released by Ascend2 Consulting and Solutions company, to effectively target, attract and acquire a steady stream of new leads in today's Web-centric business world, savvy marketers have learned to focus their limited resources on a few of the most productive best practices.

The article presents suggestions for improving sales performance by fully utilizing the potential of a sales force in a business organization. It states that a business organization can improve the efficiency of its sales force by defining the profile of sales representatives and managers with superior performance. By creating specific roles and corresponding responsibilities for a sales force, business enterprises can promote sales. Another key factor for sales promotion is that of understanding the competencies required for each role in the organization.

The article presents the author's views on whether sales departments of business enterprises should undertake marketing. He states that when markets mature, the market segments could evolve into buyer segments while creating the need for marketing specialists as product managers in sales. He says that the market pressure would create special competencies in product definition that required marketing skills.

The article presents information on the need for giving preference to customers' interests as a marketing strategy for increasing brand loyalty. It says that a business enterprise has to improve product quality in order to respect the expectations of customers. Sales managers should be able to turn the complaints of customers into opportunities to gather ideas and build loyalty. While helping customers to engage in dialogue, sales executives can turn a customer's passive loyalty into active loyalty.

The article presents information about the business strategy of the pharmaceutical sales and marketing effectiveness company TargetRx Inc. It was founded by Mike Luby in 1999. The main problem that TargetRx aims to address--determining appropriate sales and marketing methods--is not specific to the pharmaceutical industry. Two strategies TargetRx advocates--predictive modeling and what it calls "painting a patient picture"--combine the hard numbers with the soft sell. Predictive modeling means following up with doctors to find out what they prescribed and the likelihood of future prescriptions. Painting a patient picture is what the sales representative needs to do with the doctor to drive home a detailed model of the type of patient who should be taking a given drug.

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to articles related to sales and marketing which were published in previous issues including "Sales Strategy, "S&MM Pulse" in the May 2006 issue, "The Cognitive Dissonance of Spam," by Scott Hornstein and "S&MM Performance Newsletter," in the August 7, 2006 issue.

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to articles in previous issues including "Perception vs. Integrity," in the March 2006 issue, "CRM Packages Get Thumbs Up," in the April 2006 issue, and "Today's Management Gurus."

The article presents the readers responses to the queries pertaining to sales and marketing challenges. A situation regarding the relationship between a salesperson and his/her manager is discussed and a question has been asked regarding their relationships with the clients. In the story, Tim Myers was hired as a salesperson at Milford Enterprises to fill a slot left vacant by Julie Cramford, who was promoted to regional sales manager. In the starting everything was fine but later his sales slipped just a bit each month. The reason behind this performance decrement was found due to the client relationships, that were not on the way. Suggestions on whether Cramford should realign the territory to not alienate her clients or should she again try to talk to Myers about his excessively verbose manner, have been asked for in the article. The reader's suggestions on the queries of previous months including January and February have also been offered in the article.

The article presents an interview with Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products and user experience at Google Inc. When asked about the target user demographic she try to reach through the design of Google's products, Mayer said that Google do not try to be too overly targeted about it. Google try and design for the advanced user, that is it assume the searchers know what they are doing, and that they are using this tool 20 or 50 times a day. Talking on the selling point to advertisers of a simple search page and advertisement design, Mayer said that there are not a lot of other things on the search results page, and because the ads that Google serve are so relevant, it ultimately enhances the user experience.

This article presents readers advice to a query related to Jerry Martin, an executive at Spartan Industries, who needs to develop a plan to get his sales team motivated to follow up the success the company has achieved at a trade show. Joseph E. Criscuoli, vice president, marketing and public relations at EPI-Colorspace in Gaithersburg, Maryland said that hand in hand with the new marketing strategy he employed to obtain so many leads, Martin should also consider a post-show mailing and an incentive-based follow-up competition among the members of his sales team. Many trade show exhibitors employ a preshow mailing, calling attention to their upcoming presence at a particular show. These are great for building recognition of a booth. Unfortunately, too many companies return from a show with hundreds of qualified leads and simply hand them over to sales representatives. A carefully designed post-show mailing will enable one to identify the sales representative who will be calling or who can be called. The nature of the incentive is really up to Martin, but simple is best. He wants those leads to become closed sales. A program that is realistic might mean that the contest will span three or perhaps six months. It also presents another query for readers advice. This query is related to Ted Jennings, who as sales director for Sunnyside Manufacturing, he had just received an e-mail no manager wants to receive: one that pitted his salesperson against a customer.

The article reports that Spartan Stores Inc. had its usual booth at the annual industry trade show, but through a new marketing strategy used in 2005, qualified leads increased more than 60 percent. Spartan's vice president of sales, Jerry Martin, was thrilled with the results. At Spartan's quarterly videoconferenced sales meeting, Martin asked for a progress report on the status of the trade show leads. Only five of the reps had followed up on any of the leads. Those five reported 12 sales made and a few proposals in development. Douglas W. Breon, Sales and Marketing Manager at Gold Shield of Indiana Inc., says that all employees deserve clear direction and understanding of management's expectations, as well as a clear understanding of the risks of failure and consequences thereof. Jason Vondell, a salesperson is still an inexperienced sales representative, is in need of focused training on new business strategies. Investing in his skills now may pay off handsomely in the future.

This article presents several guidelines and tools for guarding against and minimizing the negative effects of unexpected project delays faced by architects, engineers, surveyors, and building owners. A master-plan phase is a must to understand big-picture issues before concept and construction drawings are developed. Involvement of consultants and experts early in projects can help to improve planning phases. Leslie Moldow, a principal at Mithun, a Seattle architecture firm suggests that project team members manage the community process very early on, engaging in community dialogue before design work begins. Satisfying neighbors may help speed a project through the approval phase. Before renovation planning begins, some prudent, selective demolition should be done. Factors including changing market conditions may bring about the unexpected in project design, says Kenneth E. Hurd, AIA, president of Lincoln, Massachusetts-based Kenneth E. Hurd & Associates Inc.

The key to a successful plan based on the 4 Ps means starting with a framework from the outset that includes what I like to call "the four Ms": market intelligence, modeling, mix, and measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the use of the funnel concept in marketing. It is stated that the model's accuracy decays rapidly when marketers attempt to predict the behavior of their prospects by cutting each step into ever smaller slices. Suggestions are offered to abandon the two-dimensional model and use funnel rings as the basis for lead scoring rules and lead nurturing efforts.

The article presents the author's comments regarding shotgun marketing. He states that it is a very popular sales strategy for most small and mid-size manufacturers because it is easy to do and fits the sales-driven, entrepreneurial style of these companies. The author says several years ago, he was asked by a large machine shop that was just breaking even to evaluate their pricing and costing systems.