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	<title>Lysis Blog</title>
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	<description>Sales Management Marketing Customer Service B2B</description>
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		<title>Creativity Sells!</title>
		<link>http://salesandmanagement.com/blog/creativity-sells/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=creativity-sells</link>
		<comments>http://salesandmanagement.com/blog/creativity-sells/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Dec 2011 04:47:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Kypriotakis</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Business Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Creativity]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://salesandmanagement.com/blog/?p=476</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you are saying to yourself “But I’m not the creative type, this does not apply to me” allow me to challenge that notion for the moment and coax you to read on. People tend to like “familiarity” because in most cases it makes our life that much easier.  Think about this. When you walk into your favorite grocery store, you know your way around, you know where everything is. You could run in, get what you are looking for and be out of there. But what if they were to remodel and move everything! You wouldn’t know where anything is, it would be quite frustrating and it would take much longer to shop. But, would anything good happen in the process? Your first incline might be to say no. But think about it a bit more. You couldn’t just shop on autopilot; you had to actively engage your brain. You were forced to employ all your senses. You had to take time to look, really look for items that you used to just absentmindedly throw in your cart. And what did you see? Most likely, lots of stuff you had not seen or noticed before. But was it really [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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		<title>9 Key Steps to Sales Compensation Design</title>
		<link>http://salesandmanagement.com/blog/sales-compensation-design/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=sales-compensation-design</link>
		<comments>http://salesandmanagement.com/blog/sales-compensation-design/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 10 Oct 2011 12:50:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Kypriotakis</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[HR]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales Compensation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://salesandmanagement.com/blog/?p=32</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Are your sales low? Margins thin? Do you experience high turn over in your sales department? Worse yet, do you tend to attract and keep low-performers? Have you considered you sales compensation plan as a cause for some of your problems? If you haven&#8217;t, you should. One point before we get started: Sales compensation plans are not a substitute for good sales management. You need to have both. Here are nine keys to properly designing a sales compensation plan: Assess your needs. How effective is your existing plan? Is it in line with and does it contribute to the accomplishment of your corporate goals? If not, what needs to change? Set compensation plan objectives. What do you want this plan to achieve? Growth, Greater Service, Profitability, Customer Focus? Your plan should not merely address short-term financial issues. Define the sales reps&#8217; role. What role do sales reps play in finding, cultivating and keeping customers? What challenges do they face? Establish the pay range. Determine what you can afford to pay and how competitive you want your pay structure to be. Where have you current reps come from? Where do those who leave go? Answers to these questions will provide insights [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
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		<title>Managing the Time of your Life</title>
		<link>http://salesandmanagement.com/blog/time-management/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=time-management</link>
		<comments>http://salesandmanagement.com/blog/time-management/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 09 Oct 2011 02:50:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Kypriotakis</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Professional Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Time Management]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://salesandmanagement.com/blog/?p=134</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If your answer to “How are you?” seems to always be &#8220;BUSY&#8221;, this may be a good time to take a closer look at your most valuable resource. How can you make sure that “busy” also means productive? How can you take control of your time? First make the decision that now is the time and commit to the following: Your time audit When it comes to planning, there is only one thing worse than not knowing where you are going, and that is to not know where you are. The same is true of your time. All the time management tips in the world will not help you if at first you don&#8217;t identify where your time is currently spent. Here is one way to take care of this: The tool to use is a “time inventory sheet”. Nothing too sophisticated &#8211; there is no time for that. On the left side of a sheet of paper, make a column and list items you spend (or invest) your time such as: phone calls, meetings, reports, planning, sales calls, email, social media, etc. Remember to include idle time, personal calls, interruptions, waiting, travel time, etc. Make columns representing 15-minute increments [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>Get closer to your customers…</title>
		<link>http://salesandmanagement.com/blog/get-closer-to-your-customers%e2%80%a6/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=get-closer-to-your-customers%25e2%2580%25a6</link>
		<comments>http://salesandmanagement.com/blog/get-closer-to-your-customers%e2%80%a6/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Kypriotakis</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Customer Service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://salesandmanagement.com/blog/?p=109</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Encouraging the involvement of your whole organization in your marketing, selling and customer service efforts has this as one of its many positive results: the more integrated you become with your customer&#8217;s organization the more solid the relationship will be. The basic premise is that the more time you and your customers invest in understanding how to best work together, integrating processes, and developing effective communication channels for mutual feedback, the less likely they will be to switch suppliers when otherwise might be tempted to do so. This is due, at least in part, to the enormous learning curve that will be required to bring a new supplier &#8220;up to speed&#8221; in delivering the level of service you&#8217;ve been able to provide given your deep knowledge of your customer&#8217;s organization and their unique needs. An optimal condition for both organizations that results in managed costs, improved service quality and best use of both organizations’ resources. But think about this&#8230; Why would customers invest time to show you the way in the first place?  What are you doing to justify such level of trust and collaboration? The right answer will open the door to a great long term and mutually beneficial [...]]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Marketing in Tough Times</title>
		<link>http://salesandmanagement.com/blog/marketing-in-tough-times/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=marketing-in-tough-times</link>
		<comments>http://salesandmanagement.com/blog/marketing-in-tough-times/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Aug 2011 15:45:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>John Kypriotakis</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Business Development]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://salesandmanagement.com/blog/?p=459</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230; and one from the archives. I wrote this article a few years ago and even though the examples are a bit old, all of the principles are relevant and apply just as well today. &#8212;&#8212;&#8212;- The effects of the severe economic downturn have been felt throughout the marketplace. This has lead to problems for companies in most industries, your customers included. All indicators to date show that we may not see significant improvement anytime soon. Times are still tough.So, what does your company do when the going gets tough? Most likely, if it behaves like the rest of the world, what normally happens is the obligatory reduction of all “unnecessary” expenditures, and sadly that includes most, if not all, of your advertising and marketing dollars. Although it sounds logical, “…we are in tough times so cutting expenses makes sense”, in reality this is a losing proposition that will get you nowhere. In fact, there is plenty of empirical data to show that, if you have the foresight to implement the right strategies, an economic slow down might be the best time for your company to grow. The first step&#8230; Don’t take your eyes off of your customers. We have [...]]]></description>
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