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June 27, 2012 CONNECT WITH SMARTBRIEF Share | Sign up | Archive | Advertise The Leaderboard  Why leaders must take responsibility for their teams' performance Whatever ails an organization, it's ultimately the company's leadership that is responsible for the problem, writes S. Anthony Iannarino. For example, "[i]f the strategy or direction is broken, only leadership has the power to decide and to change it." TheSalesBlog.com (6/21)       7 ways to make yourself more productive Trying to do too much and being a perfectionist are two ways you could be keeping yourself from getting more done, according to panelists Monday at a session during The New York Times Small Business Summit. “When we obsess over perfection, that’s where the stress comes in,” Constant Contact's Wendi Caplan-Carroll said. "[Y]ou can get incredible power in your life by just doing one thing and not trying to do multiple things,” Barry Moltz said. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Leadership (6/26)       Sales Strategies  The factors that influence buyers' behavior Buyers will behave differently depending on the state of their decision-making processes, writes Bob Apollo. For example, buyers may simply search for the best contractual terms if they already have a good idea of what they are trying to accomplish and how. However, sellers have a good opportunity to add value if buyers know what they want to accomplish but aren't sure how to reach their goals. Inflexion-Point.com (U.K.)/Accelerating Revenue Growth: The Inflexion-Point Blog (6/26)       How to tell if your growth is sustainable While growth is generally a good thing, rapid expansion can cause problems for a company, writes Bryce Record. Record provides two formulas that can be used to calculate your company's sales growth number and affordable growth rate, which can be used to determine whether your business is expanding at a sustainable rate. Sales Benchmark Index/Sales Force Effectiveness Blog (6/25)       Other News The proper time to build your pipeline OMGHub.com/Understanding the Sales Force blog (6/21)       Sales funnels and sales pipelines are 2 different things Successful Sales Management blog (U.K.) (6/24)       Daily Data Points  Consumer confidence in U.S. falls for fourth straight month The Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index declined for the fourth consecutive month in June. The index dropped to 62, from 64.4 in May. The index is closely watched because consumer spending accounts for 70% of economic activity in the U.S. The Washington Post/The Associated Press (6/26)       Other News Demand for chemicals continues its decline Reuters (6/26)       Regional banks increase lending as big firms pull back Bloomberg (6/26)       Smartphone, tablet sales buoy tough market for technology Dealerscope (6/26)       On the Road  Faster service when your flight is canceled or delayed Travel broker Darren Booth reveals the strategies he uses to get faster service when a flight is canceled or delayed. His first bit of advice to get re-accommodated fast: Don't follow the herd to a central customer service desk for re-booking. "First and foremost, immediately call the airline's reservations office as soon as the flight is canceled, or a delay will cause you to miss a connection," Booth writes. CNBC (6/25)       App Update  New tool can evaluate quality of professional contacts A new cloud-based tool for keeping track of business contacts has gone into public beta. Cloze, which was founded earlier this year, also scores connections so users can evaluate the strength of their relationships. VentureBeat (6/26)       Other News Top task-management tools for iPhones CBS MoneyWatch (6/26)       Featured Content    How One Small Business Survived Wire Fraud Courtney Rubin Follow the Pumpkin Farmers and Grow a Multimillion-Dollar Business Mike Michalowicz Small-Business Summit: Evolving Your Brand Erik Rhey Why Small Business Owners Fall Prey to Investment Scams Mike Periu Small-Business Summit: Be a Productivity Ninja Erik Rhey Making Small Talk  Architect finds innovative ways to optimize a tiny apartment Gary Chang, an architect in Hong Kong, has created an apartment that uses sliding walls to use the space as efficiently as possible. Chang spent a year designing and decorating the space, which can be easily transformed into a private theater. The Telegraph (London) (6/26)       Position Title Company Name Location Senior Sales Manager, West Universal Electronics Midwest/West region , CA Conference Sales Manager Destination DC Washington, DC Independent Medical Device Sales Representative Competitive Technologies, Inc. Multiple Locations, United States Click here to view more job listings. SmartQuote  Multitasking fries your brain." --Barry Moltz, as quoted by SmartBlog on Leadership       SmartBrief on Sales Partners SmartBrief delivers need-to-know news in over 100 targeted email newsletters to over 3 million readers. All our industry briefings are FREE and open to everyone—sign up today! 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