Distributor News

My biggest sales lesson came from a good friend who is now our head of Canadian business development, Robin Tator. Robin taught me that sales is not about what you are selling, but about making friends and about getting someone to see the world the way you do. If you do that, everything else will take care of itself.

Sales can be a melancholy job. On one hand, many people (especially nonsales people) feel that it's sleazy and lowbrow. On the other hand, it can be the most important function of a business. Until there's a sale, there is no business.

Microblogging site Twitter is now attempting to catch up with other social networks like Facebook to up its commercial value by allowing advertising on its platform. Promoted Trends and Promoted Accounts have already been around for quite some time. Now, Twitter has now come up with another platform for brands to advertise on Twitter, called Promoted Tweets.

As Twitter's website reveals, "Promoted Tweets are a new form of advertising unique to Twitter that enable you to speak to users that don't currently follow your account. Promoted Tweets are regular Tweets that are amplified to a broader audience."

Leaderpromos, Columbus, Ohio, is pleased to announce that Alan Patrick has joined their executive management team as vice president of business development.

Your post office could be slated to close as the U.S. Postal Service tries to find ways to cut red ink.

Postmaster General Patrick Donohoe released a long-awaited "post office study" of nearly 3,700 potential closings in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

"The Postal Service of the future will be smaller, leaner and more competitive and it will continue to drive commerce, serve communities and deliver value," Donahoe said.

Donahoe said that this and other moves, such as a proposal under consideration to reduce service to five days a week, are necessary to close a $20 billion gap in revenue by 2015.

Content marketing has become an essential element of successful online marketing and brand-building.

What's content marketing? All content that adds value and markets a business, directly or indirectly, can be considered a form of content marketing. The material can be distributed in long form (blogs, articles, and ebooks), short form (Twitter updates, Facebook updates and images), or through conversations and sharing (start or join Twitter conversations or share content in a forum comment). It can be a great way to build lasting connections with the right customers online.

Until the deficit negotiations took center stage this summer, several members of Congress had another issue they wanted to focus on: an overhaul of the Postal Service, which is on the brink of insolvency.

"If it wasn't for the federal debt ceiling and the budget issues, this would be a major, major issue," said Representative Stephen F. Lynch, a Massachusetts Democrat who has proposed a bill that would overhaul the Postal Service's pension obligations.

If the status quo continues, Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe said Wednesday, mail delivery could be cut back to three days a week within 20 years. 

Google+ is gaining users faster than any social network ever before. After many stumbles, Google has finally built a social network that delivers value to consumers. That makes Google+ a bigger competitor to Facebook than anything we've seen.

So far, a lot of Google+ coverage has debated its value, and examined the network from a consumer and tactical standpoint. Less scrutinized is the way the launch of Google+ could end up enhancing the competitive positioning and value of Google's search business, giving it an unprecedented view of consumer interest, social graph, intent data and conversion data.

Office-supplies giant Staples Inc. has some advice for the boss: Send your workers home.

According to a recent survey from the company's business-to-business unit, 86 percent of telecommuters say they are more productive in their home office than at the boss's workplace.

Not only do telecommuters report having less work-related stress than counterparts tethered to an office cubicle; they also tend to be more loyal to their companies, in part because working at home enables them to maintain a "better work life balance," Staples said in a press release.

Through its "one by one" philanthropic giving program, promotional products retailer 4imprint, Oshkosh, Wis., donated $57,000 in-kind to more than 114 nonprofit organizations and charities throughout the United States and Canada in the first two quarters of 2011.

WorkflowOne, Dayton, Ohio, a leading provider of print management, marketing and distribution services, today announced that Kelly Whitt has been promoted to the position of vice president of human resources.