Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Unknown
TOP STORIES
No commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownTOP STORIESNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownTOP STORIESNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownTOP STORIESNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownTOP STORIESNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownTOP STORIESNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownTOP STORIESNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownTOP STORIESNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownSPORTS NEWSNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownSPORTS NEWSNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownSPORTS NEWSNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownSPORTS NEWSNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownBUSINESS NEWSNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownBUSINESS NEWSNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownBUSINESS NEWSNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownOTHER NEWSNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownBUSINESS NEWSNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownBUSINESS NEWSNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownTOP STORIESNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownTOP STORIESNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownHEALTH NEWSNo comments
Wednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownHEALTH NEWSNo comments 
Wednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownHEALTH NEWSNo comments 
Wednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownOTHER NEWSNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownFINANCIAL NEWSNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownSPORTS NEWSNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownFINANCIAL NEWSNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownFINANCIAL NEWSNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownTOP STORIESNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownOTHER NEWSNo commentsWith pothole season hitting in full force, the city of Pontiac is adding new measures to help speed up the repair process.
The mayor's office and the Department of Public Works in a document released on the city's Facebook page are calling this season a "pothole crisis.
Wednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownOTHER NEWSNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownTOP STORIESNo comments
Wednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownBUSINESS NEWSNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownTOP STORIESNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownTOP STORIESNo commentsWednesday, February 28, 2018UnknownTECHNOLOGY NEWSNo comments
Like most functions in today’s businesses, sales is currently undergoing a transformation. Lead generation, customer acquisition, and sales resources are being approached differently. Companies now replace the cold call with new sales tools and tactics that are changing results for the better.
If you are a small to medium-sized business, you may be contemplating how to transform your sales team to maximize the results from lead generation and customer acquisition activities while minimizing sales resources. Consider these eight ways that companies are leveraging tech to change the sales process so that you can emulate their success:
The modern-day sales team has had to change its methods for approaching prospects. Before, it was all about enumerating product features. But this sales tactic never really addressed each prospect’s personal needs. Instead, it assumed everyone could benefit from the same features.
Now, sales teams must focus on personalizing all their sales pitches, specifically addressing each prospect’s perceived needs and desires. This, in turn, requires leveraging the available data and conducting extensive prospect research, which may include surveys, interviews, and/or focus groups.
Sales professionals know that they have to observe more and ask questions. They must pay attention to continue personalizing future sales with the insights gained through those conversations.
Previously, sales teams relied on manual processes, including paper proposals and contracts. Today, digital sales tools are automating many sales activities (e.g., digital signatures and contracts). As a result, there is less repetition and far fewer time-consuming tasks, which enables sales professionals to focus on the personal, one-on-one aspects of their job and close deals.
There are also many more sales tools that allow sales team to use the power of the digital environment for prospecting and sales interaction. For example, Gmail can be used to send reminders and schedule emails; sales professionals then receive notifications when prospects open their emails and can leverage open tracking. Sales teams can also use tools like Proofy or Email Validator to verify prospect emails. These are just some of the ways digital sales tools can reduce wasted time and help sales teams increase productivity for a higher rate of lead generation and conversions.
The availability of increasing amounts of data means that sales teams have a completely different perspective on who they are approaching. This data might include more specific information about various buyer personas, such as demographics, location, motivation, previous purchase behavior, and timeline for purchasing. That intelligence is enough to replace the cold call right there.
In addition to using big data, B2B lead generation companies like Sapper Consulting partner with companies to leverage precise targeting and creative email content. As a result, they can help secure meetings with those prospects that are most likely to convert into customers. This type of deep intelligence saves sales teams time and money. The approach is about focusing the team solely on prescreened prospects who are most likely to buy the products or services being offered.
For years, sales and marketing had a rather adversarial relationship. Each function thought the other didn’t understand or value what it did.
But remember how personalization is changing the modern-day sales process, and how extensive research is required to customize sales pitches to prospects? It turns out that for real insights to be collected, marketing and sales need to work together and share the data that drives the personalization process. For this level of customization to work, it has to be threaded through all marketing messages and followed up by sales. As a result, today’s sales and marketing teams are collaborating much more closely.
Some employees worry that artificial intelligence will completely take over and leave them jobless. However, sales professionals know they will always be necessary, even in future sales organizations. Therefore, they view the appearance of AI as an opportunity to further maximize their time.
First, AI has been a game changer in terms of delivering additional data and synthesizing that information into palpable insights that would have taken humans years to process. Second, AI can lighten a salesperson’s workload by automating various tasks. This makes it an ideal addition to a company that may be scaling up faster than it can hire additional sales professionals. Third, AI’s delivery of sales data insights will improve sales forecasting to bring sales budgets and strategy into greater alignment for a better return.
Although it may sound risky to outsource your sales function, more companies are realizing that it does not matter if sales professionals work directly for you or if they work outside the firm to sell your products or services. What is important is that they have the ability to generate leads, leverage tools and technology, and deliver results.
As sales organizations have sought out technology vendors and consultants to help solve sales prospecting and conversion problems, the trend is veering toward using more outsourcing providers who can add intelligence, technology, and talent to assist in the B2B and B2C environment to solve those problems and address ever-changing target audience demands. In addition, by lowering their overall sales costs, outsourcing the sales function allows organizations to realize greater value.
The belief in sales training investment as a significant way to achieve a greater return is becoming more widespread among all sizes of companies, from startups to established enterprises. According to a McKinsey report, “Just under half the fast growers spend significant time and money on sales-force training, compared to 29 percent of slow growers.”
This demonstrated competitive advantage has led to a renewed interest in sales training programs and platforms to assist sales talent within the organization as well as any of the outsourced talent that has been brought in. Now, online training programs, augmented reality, and AI-enabled training sessions are assisting sales professionals on everything from account-based selling to smart personalization.
Modern-day sales also involves new ways to undertake selling. That means sales professionals have had to learn — and value — different channels and ways to approach prospects. Previously, sales professionals picked up the phone or visited prospects in person. Today, sales professionals have to look at omnichannel selling, social selling, mobile selling, and more.
For example, stats compiled by Entrepreneur indicate that leads who come from social media convert seven times more frequently than leads who come through other channels. Sales professionals who incorporate social media as a channel for prospecting have been proven to outsell 78 percent of their peers. With such a successful track record, changing channels and outreach to other locations where prospects are more likely to be found and listen is an ideal way to improve current and future sales results.
The post Modern Day Sales: 8 Ways Companies are Changing the Future of Sales appeared first on ReadWrite.
Tuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownTECHNOLOGY NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownTECHNOLOGY NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownTECHNOLOGY NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownTECHNOLOGY NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownFASHION NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownFASHION NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownFASHION NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownFASHION NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownBUSINESS NEWSNo comments
Tuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownTOP STORIESNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownTOP STORIESNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownPOLITICS NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownPOLITICS NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownPOLITICS NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownBUSINESS NEWSNo comments
Tuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownSPORTS NEWSNo commentsFootball is full of Sliding Doors moments. What if Paul Gascoigne had stretched two inches further and got his toe to that cross in the Euro 96 semi-final? What if Jan Verheyen’s late winner for Belgium that would have meant the Netherlands failing to qualify for the 1974 World Cup had not been wrongly ruled out for offside? What if one of the 73 penalties Chelsea believe they were owed against Barcelona in the 2009 Champions League semi-final had been given and converted?
Dynasties, as Pep Guardiola knows, can hinge on the tiniest details. What if Shkodran Mustafi had not reacted to a slight nudge in the back from Sergio Agüero with all the resolve of a flighty Victorian maiden glimpsing a mouse, throwing out his arms in horror and desperately hoping somebody, anybody – a trusted servant, a passing dragoon, Craig Pawson – might help? What if he had actually done a basic bit of defending and grappled back? What if he had not got on the wrong side in the first place? What if he had chased and put pressure on Agüero so he couldn’t measure a far from easy finish over David Ospina?
Continue reading...Tuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownOTHER NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownSPORTS NEWSNo commentsOn an icy, full-throated afternoon at Wembley Manchester City produced a kind of medley-triumph, a run-through of the greatest hits of their own new age en route to the first trophy of the Pep Guardiola era.
Victory was achieved in the familiar frictionless style of this state-of-the-art team. But it was nailed into place by the boys of 2011, that thirty-something spine that has been at City ever since the first trophy-winning summer, the FA Cup final victory on this ground against Stoke City.
Continue reading...Tuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownSPORTS NEWSNo commentsDuisburg goalkeeper Mark Flekken will want to forget his side's Bundesliga 2 match with Ingolstadt after he turned his back on play to have a drink, only to turn back around and see the ball hit the back of his net. Stefan Kutschke was the grateful recipient for Ingolsdadt, but ultimately Flekken's blushes were spared as his side ran out 2-1 winners
Continue reading...Tuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownSPORTS NEWSNo commentsArsenal manager Arsène Wenger was on the losing side again as his side were defeated by Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday. The Frenchman has won the FA Cup seven times along with three Premier League trophies, but the League Cup and European success still eludes him
Continue reading...Tuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownSPORTS NEWSNo commentsManchester City manager Pep Guardiola has vowed to continue wearing the yellow ribbon in support of the Catalan referendum despite receiving an FA sanction last week. Guardiola defended his right to wear the ribbon following City's Carabao Cup final win over Arsenal at Wembley on Sunday
• Guardiola may face further sanction over ribbon defiance
Tuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownPOLITICS NEWSNo commentsOn Friday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the indictment of 13 Russians for unlawfully interfering in the 2016 U.S. election. “There is no allegation in the indictment that the charged conduct altered the outcome of the 2016 election,” said Rosenstein.
Tuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownBBC WORLD NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownBBC WORLD NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownSPORTS NEWSNo commentsKansas coach Bill Self has signed some of the nation's top-rated players during his tenure in Lawrence, allowing him to restock the roster instead of rebuilding.
Signing one-and-done players comes with a price: Constant roster turnover.
It hasn't mattered to Self and the Jayhawks. No matter who they have on the floor, they find a way to win the Big 12 title.
Tuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownOTHER NEWSNo comments
Tuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownBUSINESS NEWSNo comments
Tuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownBUSINESS NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownBUSINESS NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownCNN WORLD NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownCNN WORLD NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownBUSINESS NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownOTHER NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownOTHER NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownTOP STORIESNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownTOP STORIESNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownFox NewsNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownSTOCK MARKET NEWSNo comments| News Category | Alert | Markets | What You Need To Know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equity Corporate Actions Alert | #2018-033 | The Nasdaq Stock Market |
Tuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownSTOCK MARKET NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownSTOCK MARKET NEWSNo commentsTuesday, February 27, 2018UnknownOTHER NEWSNo comments
Monday, February 26, 2018UnknownTOP STORIESNo commentsMonday, February 26, 2018UnknownOTHER NEWSNo commentsAs Donald Trump seeks congressional support for his border wall, the Guardian's Paul Lewis meets Joe Arpaio, the controversial Arizona sheriff recently pardoned by Trump, and other local Republicans who are enraged over what they describe as an 'invasion' from Mexico. But he discovers a very different view among the Tohono O'odham Nation, a Native American tribe with members on both sides of the border
Continue reading...Monday, February 26, 2018UnknownOTHER NEWSNo comments• Manchester City manager will continue to wear pro-Catalan ribbon
• Guardiola says he is grateful to club after difficult first season
Pep Guardiola believes that Manchester City’s 3-0 Carabao Cup final win over Arsenal at Wembley can fire the club’s push for a treble of trophies this season.
The manager said the victory, secured with goals from Sergio Agüero, Vincent Kompany and David Silva, represented payback for the club’s owners for the support they gave to him last season. Guardiola will now push to add the Premier League title and the Champions League trophy.
Continue reading...Monday, February 26, 2018UnknownOTHER NEWSNo comments• Owen Farrell appeared to be involved in a clash with Ryan Wilson
• Six Nations Rugby asks RFU and SRU to give accounts of incident
England and Scotland must explain their roles in the tunnel bust-up involving Owen Farrell shortly before the Calcutta Cup match on Saturday, raising the possibility of disciplinary action against the England centre.
It is understood Farrell was the subject of provocation and did not instigate the fracas, during which he and Scotland’s No 8 Ryan Wilson had to be separated by team-mates, and while that is likely to work in his favour, the inquiry compounds England’s woes after their grand slam pursuit ended with a second defeat in Eddie Jones’s 26 matches in charge.
Continue reading...Monday, February 26, 2018UnknownOTHER NEWSNo commentsJesse Lingard caused Old Trafford to reverberate with noise after his 75th-minute header sealed a win that took Manchester United back into second place ahead of Liverpool.
The creator was Romelu Lukaku, his neat cross finding the substitute, after the No 9’s first goal for United against top-six opposition had cancelled out Willian’s opener.
Continue reading...Monday, February 26, 2018UnknownOTHER NEWSNo commentsBritain’s Olympic chiefs are targeting a top-15 finish in the Winter Olympics in four years as they seek to build on their record-breaking medal haul in Pyeongchang.
The 59-strong British team, who are due to leave South Korea in the early hours of Monday morning, were ecstatic at having achieved five medals – squeaking past the four achieved in Sochi in 2014 thanks to Billy Morgan’s thrilling if unexpected snowboarding bronze on Saturday.
Continue reading...Monday, February 26, 2018UnknownOTHER NEWSNo commentsAs Formula One prepares to take to the track for the first time in 2018 at the opening test in Barcelona on Monday, Zak Brown, the executive director of McLaren, has insisted that anything less than a marked improvement in performance from the British team would be unacceptable.
McLaren have endured three woeful seasons with an unreliable and underpowered Honda engine. Having switched to Renault for this year they will be under intense scrutiny to prove at the Circuit de Catalunya that a return to the top end of the grid is possible from the very moment the MCL33 hits the track.
Continue reading...Monday, February 26, 2018UnknownOTHER NEWSNo commentsMonday, February 26, 2018UnknownSTOCK MARKET NEWSNo comments 
Monday, February 26, 2018UnknownSTOCK MARKET NEWSNo comments 
Monday, February 26, 2018UnknownSTOCK MARKET NEWSNo comments 
