• Why it pays to be a servant leader
  Servant leaders have all the skills and competencies of regular leaders -- but they also have a clear vision for why they're leading, writes Mark Miller. That ultimately makes them more effective, Miller asserts. "Their effectiveness is ultimately rooted in their character," he explains. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Leadership (11/15)      

• How coaching can boost performance in 2013
  Research has found that many sales representatives think they could do a better job if they got more coaching from their managers, writes Joel McCabe. "There's a reason world-class athletes seek out coaching," he writes, adding that making "tweaks could be the difference between a good year and a great year." Sales Benchmark Index/Sales Force Effectiveness Blog (11/14)      

• What is your behavior telling your sales reps?
  As a sales leader, you influence your representatives' behaviors and beliefs by the way you act, writes S. Anthony Iannarino. For example, your representatives won't consider the sales process important if you aren't committed to it, he writes. Likewise, your salespeople will become dependent on you if you don't make the effort to coach them. TheSalesBlog.com (11/14)      

• Pace of U.S. business investment drops
  Major U.S. companies are slashing investment plans at a rapid pace amid uncertainty over taxes and their economic prospects. Among the 40 largest publicly traded companies, half say they plan to scale back capital investment this year or in 2013. The Wall Street Journal (11/19)      

• Adobe: $2B in online sales projected for Cyber Monday
  Sales on Cyber Monday are expected to increase 18% this year, hitting $2 billion, according to a forecast by Adobe Systems. Black Friday will be another good day for e-retailers, with a 12% bump from 2011 sales, Adobe says. E-commerce also is set to blossom on Green Monday, which is Dec. 10, and Free Shipping Day, which is Dec. 17. PCWorld (11/18)      

• Other News

• Spending on holiday travel will rise 12% this year, survey finds
  TravelPulse (11/18)      

• High-end hotels offer day rates for the hit-and-run business traveler
  Some of the world's most luxurious hotels are quietly catering to the hit-and-run business traveler with day-rate offers at a discount price. "Most of the time, it's for business guests. Many of them might have an early meeting, and they want a place to get themselves ready and have a shower," notes Nassar Khalil, director of sales and marketing for The Beaufort in London. CNN (11/14)      

• Why security is key for mobile CRM
  It's critical for CRM companies to focus on security as they roll out mobile solutions for their customers. One way to make an app more secure is to update it frequently, according to Tim Keanini of nCircle. "Frequent updates raise the cost of attack to cybercriminals, because even if they find a vulnerability, the window of opportunity is extremely short," he said. E-Commerce Times (11/13)      

Top five news stories selected by SmartBrief on Sales readers in the past week.

• 5 tips for introducing tablets to your sales force (DestinationCRM.com)

• Leaders make mistakes, David Petraeus said before we knew his (The Daily Beast)

• Using CRM to understand the modern customer (B2C Marketing Insider)

• Why some salespeople don't succeed (MTDSalesTraining.com)

• How to teach your workers to be more upbeat (SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Leadership)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

Featured Content

• Robot catfish makes a splash at espionage exhibition
  A robot catfish named Charlie is among the unusual exhibits at an espionage exhibition in New York City. The fish is theorized to have been built by the CIA to take covert water samples from rivers near factories and nuclear plants. FastCoDesign (11/15)      

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People don't learn by listening to the words you speak. They learn by watching your behavior." --S. Anthony Iannarino, president and chief sales officer of SOLUTIONS Staffing, writing at TheSalesBlog.com