The Leaderboard

3 ways to harness the power of hope
Hopefulness is an important part of any successful business strategy, says Shane J. Lopez, a business professor and researcher. Hope helps people set goals, think through potential hurdles and stay motivated. "When you think the future will be better than the present, you start working harder today," Lopez says. Gallup Business Journal (2/12)
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Sales Strategies

How to make your forecasts more accurate
Inaccurate sales forecasts can take a toll on your company, but it's possible to make better predictions, writes Craig Klein, CEO and founder of SalesNexus.com. Businesses should track leading indicators such as the number of new and qualified leads, Klein writes. That may seem difficult, but a customer relationship management or sales automation product "can automate data capture and make generating reports easy," he writes. B2C Marketing Insider (2/12)
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How collaboration can improve your business
It's no secret that your company can operate more effectively when the sales and marketing departments are working together, but that isn't the only sort of collaboration you should try to encourage. For example, your company will also benefit if your sales-training team interacts with the marketing department, allowing the sales-training group to gather customer insights to share with the sales team. HeinzMarketing.com (2/13)
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Daily Data Points

What you get or give for Valentine's Day might depend on where you live
Americans are expected to spend $18.6 billion on Valentine's Day candy, cards, gifts and other items this year, according to the National Retail Federation. This analysis from Esri details what sweethearts buy each other based on ZIP code. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Leadership (2/14)
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N.Y. lenders open credit lines for multifamily, other construction loans
Banks and lending firms in New York have opened up credit lines for multifamily rental buildings over the past year and a half or so. Now they are looking at commercial projects such as hotels, condos and selected office and retail ventures because the real estate market is slowly recovering and loan default rates are declining. "There is plenty of debt capital available and as we bid on transactions there is a lot more competition than there was 12 months ago, and certainly more than 24 months ago," said Bill Cotter, division manager at Wells Fargo Commercial Real Estate. The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (2/12)
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Other News

This Week's Sales Cartoon

On the Road

Report: Many airline fees rose last year
At least 36 airline fees went up last year, and 16 others were shifted or changed, a TravelNerd study has found. According to the research, the average increase was $5 to $10. "Travelers really have to be extra cautious when booking a flight," said Alicia Jao of TravelNerd. "U.S. carriers are becoming creative at charging consumers extra fees." Los Angeles Times (tiered subscription model) (2/10)
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App Update

Do.com integrates with services including Google Drive
Services such as Google Drive, Dropbox and Harvest are now integrated with the Salesforce-owned productivity application Do.com, aiming to allow users to accomplish tasks more easily. "The main reason we're doing these specific integrations is because these are the apps our customers have been asking for," said Amit Kulkarni, Do's co-founder. VentureBeat (2/13), GigaOm (2/13)
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Making Small Talk

When heartbreak turns into professional success
Many famous singers owe much of their success to heartache -- recording artist Adele won several Grammys for an album about a failed relationship. Other famous people, including radio personality Ira Glass and painter Edvard Munch, may also have benefited from breakups. MentalFloss.com (2/13)
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SmartQuote

It's hard to be successful without being hopeful." -- Shane J. Lopez, a business professor and researcher, as quoted by the Gallup Business Journal Share: