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154 articles by Ken Sundheim · showing 50

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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

How Important Is Networking for Business?

People spend countless hours on sites such as LinkedIn, attending functions, branding themselves and doing everything they can to enhance the odds of achieving what they want through networking. From the years I've been in business, especially those in which I've been around job seekers - consistently analyzing their job search methods and tendencies, I've come to the conclusion that networking, for many is highly ineffective and is mostly used as a way to feel important via "dropping names." Why Networking Does Not Work For Most

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

Should You Include a Headshot With Your Resume?

If you spend any time at all reading opinions on job search and hiring, you'll often see "never send a picture along with your resume" treated as a hard and fast rule. Among the many resumes my firm receives, occasionally some are paired with pictures. We've seen everything from self-portrait-style bar shots (on younger marketing resumes) to actors' head shots (especially for applicants in NYC and L.A.), to traditional, professional corporate portraits.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

The Awful Genius of Black Friday

Due to a shortage of cabs, I found myself walking from the West Side of Manhattan through Central Park home to my apartment on 2nd Ave. As I was walking home, I walked past lines of people waiting over-anxiously for 12 a.m. to come around at the Best Buy near me. Even from across the street, I could feel a palpable tension in the crowd. (I would later be told by a girl at Best Buy that there were 2 arrests made before the doors opened.) The mere fact that people would be willing to hurt one another and go to jail over electronic prices made me decide to go shopping today.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

The Hurdles I Had To Overcome To Open My Business and the Ones You Should Expect

Gaining Discipline and a Strong Work Ethic at a Young Age Entrepreneurs mostly fall short because they don't have the work ethic needed to start a business from nothing. It took a while, but I had to train myself to work 17 hours a day. I've learned that it is the indirect work that an entrepreneur puts in that makes him or her successful. For instance, I continuously read new books that I feel may be pertinent to my job. I always take detailed notes so I don't forget the concepts.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

Entrepreneurial Companies: Getting Your Foot In The Door At Your Interview

Entrepreneurial companies are entrepreneurial in nature because they have one focus in mind: making money and doing it quickly. Working For An Entrepreneurial Company Entrepreneurial companies are exceedingly fun, yet taxing to work for. They have a different agenda than corporate, and they’re going to expect that you take on more aspects of the business than just one particular role. They won't be sending you to a formalized training and putting you in a cubicle.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

Contingency Recruiters and the Job Seeker: Some Caveats

There are a few different fee structures that recruitment agencies utilize upon staffing job seekers in the United States. For instance, many recruiting firms will work on what is called a contingency recruiting fee. This means that the recruitment firm is paid upon placing the job candidate. This is as opposed to a retained fee, which signifies that the staffing agency was paid up front and that the hiring client is typically only working with them. In the case of a retained search, the staffing agency usually has what is called “exclusivity.”

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

For The Job Seeker Deciding Between A Career In Either Inside Or Outside Sales

Inside Sales Jobs: In most instances, inside sales positions involve heavy volumes of cold prospecting via the telephone or via mass emailing attempts to target clients. However, I have seen companies use this term to describe quite the opposite. Instead, they use the term "inside sales" to describe what is really pure account management. That means the position isn't heavily focused on finding new business. Hiring companies often list desired qualities of the ideal inside sales applicant including, "hungry," "aggressive," and, "not afraid to close a deal."

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

In the Age of Web Reading, Resume Objectives Are More Important Than Ever

99.99% of job seekers don't think about the reason why a solid, well-written and compelling resume objective is that the resume is nearly always read on the web. The bulk of website readers (70%) do not scroll down on the page when reading any form of writing on the web. Moreover, about the same percentage do not read the right side of the website. For this exact reason, the objective must be the focus of every resume. Without it, the job seeker will not have the opportunity to interview for the positions that he or she wants.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

Management Via Inspiration and Environment Change

Managing 5 intelligent people hands-on while making sure revenue keeps flowing and clients remain happy has given me no choice other than to implement good management skills to make the employees who are the future of my business happy and productive. However, I see poorly implemented management all the time. Seemingly, many managers get into their role and become complacent. Nothing great comes of it. Yes. They do their job. They are assigned some form of measurement for output from their team, they achieve that measurement and go home for the day.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

Why Businesses Fail

To be able to start a business from thin air is quite a hard thing to do. Some can, some cannot. There are a lot variables when it comes to a business succeeding or failing. Below, you will find a list containing the reasons as to why some small businesses fail and what you, the business owner can do to prevent the situations from becoming a problem in the first place. No Leadership, Employees Get Lazy and Sometimes Insubordinate

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

Is It Your Sales Force or the Economy?

With poor economic news coming in daily, how can management determine whether a dip in sales is due to a sales force that just isn't doing its job or whether there are outside economic factors at play that are nearly impossible to overcome? Answering this question is not always easy, however it is always important when determining how successful your company is now and the future potential of the organization.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

Why Some of the Best Entrepreneurs Are So Bad At Recruiting Employees

An entrepreneur can be only so entrepreneurial without a competitive, intelligent and dedicated team behind him or her. Though, where the entrepreneur will succeed in 50 other places, he or she will often fall short when it comes to recruiting the employees that are going to take his or her company to the next level.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

4 Steps to Begin Your Own Business Via Online Marketing Success

Many people have a big misconception that they have to quit their job to start their own business. In reality, it is perfectly doable to start a new business while you are still working. I highly recommend that anybody starting their own business gives themselves a year to start getting online exposure before leaping into anything. Laying down the foundation for online marketing success is most important. These days, if you are not online, you will struggle to be truly successful.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

If You Want To Own A Small Business, Put These 4 On Your To-Do List

Learn Jack Welch's business theories. My iPad has downloaded many miserable books by Ivy League professors who opened software companies in 1997 and sold them for a million dollars. Over the past two years I've read upwards of fifty business books. Of those, perhaps two were Welch books, and a third was an outline of those other two. I have yet to find a single other business book that attains the standards of the Welch books - or even the book about the Welch books.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

Is Graduating College Absolutely Necessary?

1) Is Graduating College Absolutely Necessary? a) AOL ran an article about Richard Branson, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates this year which was geared to help motivate the college dropout or near dropout to make a really poor decision....little did they know they already making an innocent slip by reading AOL as a credible business source. b) I don't know the person as an individual, but I would venture to guess that the person makes less than $40,000 a year without benefits. 2) Regardless of How Bad College May Be to You:

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

3 Ways to Tell if You're Interviewing with a Good Company

It’s simple – if you work for a good company, you’re going to be worth more on the market than those who gain employment with “so-so” firms. This is not to mention that you will learn a tremendous more working under intelligent, engaging and dedicated individuals. Though, if you’re a younger job seeker, your perception is inevitably going to be skewed when it comes to deciphering a good company from that of an average firm. This is mainly because every company out there tells the interviewee how great they are even when the sky is not the limit.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

Tips How To Negotiate A Raise In Today's Economy

With this unemployment rate, people may read this article and think that negotiating a raise seems like the most irrational thing one can do. Walking into your boss's office with the simple intent to discuss a compensation increase can swiftly place you in the black hole that is today's unemployment pool. In most scenarios, the people who have these employment and salary convictions are correct. Though, they are not 100% on point.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

What Is B2B And Why Choose This Business Model For Your Startup? Part 3

What Is "B2B"? "B2B" - means that you are selling a product or service to other businesses. A few examples of "B2B" product based companies would be: Ex 1: Selling CRM Software "Customer relationship management" to organizations so they can keep track of their sales leads, manage their sales cycles and determine a cold-calling schedule. Ex 2: Selling office equipment to companies who wish to upgrade their existing furniture. Ex 3: Selling security and access control hardware and systems to building management companies, universities and municipalities.r

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

The 5 Most Important Entrepreneurial Lessons I Learned In My 20's

Being a young business owner has its ups and downs, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. However, after turning 30 and continually learning, maturing and correcting mistakes, I've learned that there are a few small business lessons that both young and old aspiring entrepreneurs should pay attention to: 1. If You're Not Setting Goals and Relentlessly Pursuing Them, You're Not Moving Forward - I've been lucky to achieve a great deal in my early professional life. Part of the reason is that I continuously set goals for myself, each harder to reach and more complex than the last.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

Differentiating Factors in Sales and Marketing Jobs At Large Companies

Although not many think there is an exceedingly wide gap, taking a sales or marketing job at a smaller company is just about as far as you can get from taking one at a larger organization. First, sales and marketing employees who have large companies backing them will typically have an easier time selling. They are behind a name brand have a lavishly budgeted marketing department dedicated to improving their image and competitive status within the industry vertical landscape.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

A Promotion Is Not As Hard As You Think

With today's economy and continued job scarcity, getting a promotion is still very possible. However, it is not easy. Due to the continued high unemployment rate, to achieve the career goals that you desire, certain changes must occur in both your life and daily work routine. It is imperative that these start today. Putting these changes off will only hinder your goals. To guide you along the right career path, below, you will find four very easy, quick changes you can make at work that will greatly increase your odds of getting the promotion and obtaining the salary that you desire.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

Irrational Career Decisions Some Recent Graduates Make

Irrational Career Moves Some College Graduates Are Making Due to the Economy A significant mistake that some recent college graduates make is letting the current economy control their career path rather than letting current circumstance dictate only the first job or two they take after graduation. For instance, some recent graduates get a MBA purely to avoid the possibility of unemployment or an hourly job for a year or two is costly and often shows little to no ROI.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

Excelling in Sales by Thinking as An Entrepreneur

There is little difference between a sales professional and a small business entrepreneur. For the most part, the two share similar goals, strengths and personality traits. They also must implement the same types of business plans to increase sales and allow their business to flourish. I have come to learn that networking will only raise your sales numbers so much and will only get an entrepreneur's business so many incoming inquiries.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

A Career in Sales - What to Expect

Since it is my job to recruit sales professionals on a daily basis, I have a very firm grasp as to what a sales career consists of including: The daily tasks of a business development professional, what it takes to be successful in sales, the misconceptions that young people have about sales, the industries you want to get into, which industries you want to avoid, base compensation for entry level candidates, expected earnings or OTE after sales commissions, future earnings if you succeed in business development, how to properly interview for a career in sales and much more.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

2 Start-Up Myths The Young Entrepreneur Should Be Cognizant Of

The Lie: Working From Home Is The Best Way To Do It The Truth: Take it from someone who had to work out of his apartment for nearly 3 years because one if New York City rent is a tension headache, two New York City rents are a migraine. Though, the return on investment on having an office is tremendous. As a young entrepreneur, it gave me a second wind. Not only does a real office allow you to get out of the house, it makes things more "official." It allows the entrepreneur to create a company culture and finally separate their home from their business life.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

2 Key Start-Up Steps One Could Implement From A Cell Phone

2 Key Start-up Steps to Take From Your iPhone Starting a business in the year 2011 is exponentially easier than it was in 1911. Competing is a different story. The Internet will register your company, but thanks to game-changing globalization, the internet will take away much of the “Good ol’ Boy” factor that American small business once relied on. Global competitors are logging on, and they’re competing. What’s more, they’re doing it with a lot more tenacity that leaves American businesses scrambling for bandwidth.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

How to Prevent Friction Amongst Sales Representatives

- Proper Delegation, Remember That Sales Teams Will Fight Internally Due to inept management, many sales employees (along with the company's bottom line) suffer from inappropriate delegation of accounts and / or territories. This failure to designate could happen for a number of reasons. One big threat to sales team organization is the members of management being unwilling to be the "bad guy" and failing to appropriately step in when there is internal argument between the reps.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

How to Write an Must-Read Cover letter

After posting an open internship at my organization, we received about one hundred different resumes from students all around the New York City area. Accompanied with the majority of these documents was, of course, a cover letter. However, about 9 out of 10 of the cover letters sent by college students to our agency, with minimal work, could have been drastically improved and could have significantly raised their odds of being called by one of the executives at our firm. Instead, as an employer, they had the opposite effect on us.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

How To Get the Highest Job Offer Possible

How To Get the Highest Compensation Package Possible 1. Focus on a few industries Why is this so beneficial? a) Expertise - Allows the job seeker to gain specific expertise within a niche space in any given industry. Not only do companies pay more for applicants who require less training - because they have experience, some firms perceive these individuals to be less of a turnover risk. An applicant who seems to promise stability is always in higher demand than an applicant who is essentially a question mark.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

Create a Positive Atmosphere in Your Office

All business owners have what seems to be a grandiose vision of an office full of having happy, loyal and productive employees. They think of it as Santa's Workshop - magical and could only be done in the movies. Chasing this dream, these small and mid-size executives waste tons of money on consultants who have no real track record because they are desperate for more production from each worker.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

Your Own First Boss: What You Must Know

Becoming your own boss is not as glamorous as it may first seem. It takes an unstoppable work ethic, an incredible drive, and requires a combination of intelligence, tenacity, and creativity. Intelligence is necessary, but in today's world, it is not enough. Anyone can google a concept, but an entrepreneur should have the tenacity and creativity to think outside the box, synthesize ideas, and create a new product that people will want to buy. Put short, an entrepreneur must embody innovation.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

5 Questions to Ask on a 1st Interview

1. Let’s Say I Execute All the Set Duties of My Position For A Long Time….? You should always find out where the job is taking you in the next few years, however you must phrase this question properly. If you come out and say that you want to know exactly where you’ll be in 3 years, the interviewer is going to perceive that you are not into this job and feel as if you are above it. Once this happens, all hopes of obtaining an offer letter are over.

Primary topic: Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

Learn from A Coffee Commercial

I am yet to tu 30 (I'm not too old), but when I was growing up, I vividly remember a few commercials for a well-known coffee company that essentially depicted people with messy morning hair and no smile suddenly transition into happy, ambitious, ready-for-work people after they drank a cup of joe. Within seconds they were happy.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

Entrepreneurship: The Million Dollar Answer to the “Why Should We Go With You?” Question

The Million Dollar Answer to the “Why Should We Go With You?” Question If you own a business, than most likely, you’ve been asked this question an abundance of times. The answer is simple, “You cannot afford not to use my services,” or “You cannot afford not to buy my product.”

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

6 Rules of Young Entrepreneurship

As I grow and become more mature, I learn both as a person and as an entrepreneur. There are mistakes of which I've avoided the severest consequences by chance, though I have always been smart enough to analyze the experience, determine where I went wrong and correct it. Out of all that I have learned thus far, the below 6 rules of entrepreneurship have held the truest, and can be helpful knowledge for all aspiring business owners both young and old. 1 - Entrepreneurship Is Harder Than Corporate Life, Though It Is Easier to Make Money

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

The First Step of Being A Successful Sales Manager

The problem starts day one and the situation is nearly always the same. A new sales manager, fresh from the sales pit, takes over a business development team and, instinctively they begin to coach and mentor the sales representatives in the same way that their old sales manager taught them - to become better sales people. The aforementioned "status quo" management and teaching method sometimes leads to higher numbers. Regardless, sometimes the numbers unexpectedly fall.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

How to Become Richer Than Your Friend Who Tweets All Day

A look into how social media has and will continue to negatively affect most young entrepreneurs. I'm always amazed that interns at my company can do so much with the web, but am even more amazed as to the limitations social media has put on young aspiring entrepreneurs and hindered the necessary fundamentals to start a business. When Is and When Is Social Media Not Necessary for Young Entrepreneurs? If you want to open a B2C (business to consumer) company, than, yes social media is necessary.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

Job Seekers - Industries To Avoid For 2011

Despite the fact that the unemployment rate is exceedingly high and that you may need a job in the interim, if you have any choice at all (nowadays a luxury), there are certain industries to avoid becoming situated with as there is no more money to be made and they are proving to be a waste of time. These industries and, subsequently the majority of the firms in the verticals are a dying breed.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

When and When Not Your Business Should Hire a Recruiter

As recruiters, we get a lot of calls from companies who are unsure whether or not they need to use a recruiting service. Here are some guidelines to help you determine when you should look into using a recruiting service and when it just isn't worth your time and money. Here are some points you should consider before contacting a recruiting firm:

Primary topic: Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

The Mentality of the Young Entrepreneur

If you think successful entrepreneurship does not come with a price tag, think once again. Then, another time after that. At an early age, I feel hardened. I joke a lot with my friends. However, when it comes to business, I feel that I don't smile as much as I would if I were an employee. Being successful is arduous. Being successful is stressful. If you want to be successful at a young age not only read, but come to terms that this is the mentality that a young entrepreneur needs. - If You're A Rattlesnake, Nobody Pokes You With A Stick

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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The Foundation of an Entrepreneurial Company That Works

Upon meeting some individuals who come to my firm to either interview for a position or to interview us as a recruiting firm, I am asked about my background. That is fine, but the question typically translates into how I successfully started my company. The formula for starting a business that works is quite simple on paper, yet very hard and sometimes tiresome and requiring of luck to execute. To start and run a successful company, the business owner must have a few things in place, none of which come easily, but all of which become easier with hard work, dedication and passion.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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The Relationship Between the Sales and Marketing Divisions of a Company

The Symbiotic Relationship Between Sales and Marketing Sales and marketing need each other; they are married. Though, in this case, a divorce wouldn't mean a 50/50 split, it would probably mean a business. However, I have always found it ironic that marketing and sales are two totally separate divisions; this is most prominent in some mid-size and larger companies. One would have to ask themselves, why? This is an important question which often needs answering.

Primary topic: Career Development
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By Ken SundheimRecently published1 topic

Education Requirements For A Sales Career

Few reputable firms in any industry accept anything less than a four-year degree from an accredited university. It is rare to find a business-to-business (B2B) sales position with a GPA below 3.1. For some business-to-consumer (B2C) sales jobs, an accredited degree is not required. Still, sometimes industry regulations, such as those in insurance, real estate and finance, require standardized tests such as the Series 63. B2B sales is substantially different than selling directly to the consumer.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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Five Mistakes Entrepreneurs Starting Out

Below-Market Pricing Many first-time entrepreneurs are looking for any and every way to become competitive. Some think they will get a competitive advantage by lowering their prices below market rate. However, what many entrepreneurs fail to see is that most potential customers know little-to-nothing about their business. When this is the case, a potential customer will immediately associate price with quality.

Primary topic: Career Development
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3 Rules the Young Entrepreneur Should Adhere To

Since entrepreneurship is a somewhat of an intangible word with many varying definitions, it is hard to pinpoint what facets of small business are more important than others. However, below are three additional considerations for any level of entrepreneur either small business or corporate: 1 - Creativity Is Not Only Important, It Is One of Your Best Friends Creativity is a big driver for entrepreneurs to open their own business. Where others see problems, entrepreneurs come up with solutions.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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Defining Entrepreneurial Sales Professionals

More or less, just about all sales professionals are, by self-definition, "hunters" who claim to only want to effectively sell their respective product or service and, thus make money for both their company and themselves. Even though just about all claim to be hunters, not all sales professionals are well fed. Comparatively speaking, deciphering how to effectively close a sales deal is not all that different from having to figure out a relatively complex and hard to teach two prong-puzzle.

Primary topic: Career Development
Career Development
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