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Spring LiTErATUrE SHOWCASE 2014 www.fueloilnews.com | FUEL OiL nEWS | Spring LiTErATUrE SHOWCASE 2013 3 are pessimistic. Optimism is up three percentage points since the previous quarter, while pessimism is down five percentage points. More than two-thirds (67%) of small business owners are opti- mistic about the 12-month outlook for the local economy. Since the previous quarter, optimism has increased by 11 percentage points and is particularly strong among minority small business owners (77%) and firms in the construction industry (77%). Business Technology Some 24% of small business owners nationwide leverage applications on smartphones and tablets to help manage their firms on a daily basis, while three out of five (61%) small business owners do not use mobile technology. Firms in the transport industry (57%) and services industry (28%) are more likely to rely on mobile technology to support business opera- tions, while the majority of firms in the retail sector (71%) do not leverage mobile technology. One quarter (25%) of small business owners cite security concerns and the need to protect sensitive information as their primary issues with mobile busi- ness applications. survey MeThodology The findings reported in this release are from a telephone survey conducted by the opinion research firm, APCO Insight, the global opinion research division of communications consul- tancy, APCO Worldwide. APCO Insight interviewed a nationally- representative random sample of 400 for-profit small businesses in the U.S., weighted to Dunn and Bradstreet counts of all busi- nesses nationwide by SIC code, employee size, and geography. Small businesses are defined as those with less than $10 million in annual revenue. The interviews were conducted from March 21–31, 2014. All interviews were conducted by telephone at their places of business. One respondent per business was contacted. The margin of error is ± 4.9%age points at the 95% confidence level. Interviews were monitored at random. Sampling for this study was conducted using a national sample of businesses drawn from InfoUSA. All interviews were conducted using a computer assisted telephone interviewing system. Statistical weights were designed from the United States Department of Commerce to ensure proper inclusion of all SIC codes. ABouT cApiTAl one Capital One Financial Corporation (www.capitalone.com) is a financial holding company whose subsidiaries, which include Capital One, N.A., and Capital One Bank (USA), N. A., had $208.3 billion in deposits and $290.5 billion in total assets as of March 31, 2014. Headquartered in McLean, Va., Capital One offers a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients through a variety of chann l F O n I t's a simple fact of business: Without sales, no one else downstream can do their jobs, said veteran sales manager and business speaker Jack Daly. Because of how vital sales are to a company, CEOs fre- quently tend to misuse their best people, he said. "There are three sins that minimize the sales management role, which ultimately holds the company back from achieving its growth," said Daly. "When they misallocate key players, small to medium-sized businesses tend to go into one of two directions. They either stay small to medium, or they go out of business. When you ask why, it most often comes down to a violation of one or more of these three sins of sales management. Having the right people in important spots is absolutely the secret to success." To ensure continued growth, Daly said the people at the top must avoid the following: Sin No. 1 … is committed when the CEO or owner wears the hat of the sales manager. If you are doing that, you're essentially relegating both the CEO job and the sales manager job to part-time sta- tus. In effect, you're saying, "I'm going to grow my business part time." If you want your business to grow, you must grow your sales force, and you need someone doing that full time. Sin No. 2 … is to make the best salesperson the sales man- ager. It can work, but seldom does. The usual scenario, however, is you lose your best salesperson and get a mediocre sales manager. The role and the responsibilities are entirely different. A salesperson's role is to win new customers and nurture the ones you have, thereby differ- entiating you from your competitors. The sales manager's job involves recruiting, training, coaching, building and developing. Being effective at one of those jobs is not an indicator that a person will be equally effec- tive in the other. Salespeople are used to immediate gratification, involv- ing a deal-to-deal routine. Sales managers, by contrast, must take their time to recruit, train and coach. A salesperson might easily become disenchanted with the pace of the new role and look for another sales job, perhaps with your competitor. Sin No. 3 … is probably the most grievous of all. The best salesperson is made a sales manager, but he or she is also required to continue booking business. It's absolutely ruinous. The person's focus will remain fixed on the customer, as that is how their compensation is driven. Accordingly, the sales team will be underserved, missing the op- portunity for leveraged growth. The key to growth is to put the right people in the right places, Daly said. "Since sales drive business, it's essential to match skills and per- sonality types to the jobs, and to ensure the people can focus on their roles," Daly said. Jack Daly, is an experienced and inspirational sales trainer and sales coaching expert who, as a sought-after speaker, motivates audiences to take action in the areas of sales planning and training, and customer loyalty. Daly draws upon more than 20 years of business experience, with several suc- cessful stints as the CEO of fast-growing compa- nies. He has a bachelor's in science degree in ac- counting, a master of business administration degree, was a captain in U.S. Army and is an accomplished author ( Hyper Sales Growth) with audio and DVD programs. Visit: www.jackdaly.net The Three Major Sins of Sales Management CEOs/Owners Must be Aware of How They're Using