When it comes to sales, it's the nuclear option - bizjournals:

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You have a meeting with a new prospect interested inyour firm’s services. The person with whom you meet is notthe decision-maker. This wants you to bringf thema proposal, so that they can take your recommendations to the personj who has financial authority. You properly requesgt access tothis person; access is “They want me to gather the information,” you are You are left with two You can go conventional, or you can go • Conventional: You deliver the proposa l as requested. • Nuclear: You go over the person’d head. Which is a bettere strategy?
Well, that First, let’s look at the conventional If you do as your proposal will be placed in the hands of a buyer who knowe next to nothing about yourvalue proposition, has a different set of issue than your influencer, and will be making a poorly informed decision based on a piece of paper. What are your chances? Frankly, slim-to-none. You have, at a 1-in-10 chance of closingh the deal. Put another way, this exercisre has now become a waste of your valuable Of course, there is one nice benefi t — you avoid upsetting anyone. Second, let’sx consider the nuclear option.
If you essentially ignore the request of your influencer and attempt to deal directlu with thedecision maker, you will probablh offend your initial contact and impeder whatever slim chance you initiallu had of doing business with the That’s a big risk to Under what circumstances are the risk worth it? • The complexitt and size of the sale. High-dollar, complecx decisions require your having access to anyonde with a vested interest in the Insuch cases, you cannot serve the account properly without this access. • The level of your initialo contact. Some “influencers” have more influence others.
A vice president or higher-levelk influencer has considerably more clout thanan assistant. The role of this perso n is therefore critical. • Your relationship with the A cooperative partner is avaluabler asset; an antagonistic stone-waller is a hindrance to both you and the businesxs that employs them. • The competitive playing field. Are you the only optioj being considered, or are you up against other firms bidding for thesame opportunity? • and more importantly, what do you have to lose ? If the answer is then the decision to go nucleatr is made for you.
If you decided to go in this direction, here is a way to minimized collateral damage: Write a “following up” lette to the decision In it, review the key issues that you discussedd withthe influencer. Bullet and bold these items. Ask the decisiobn maker to review the and let them know that you will folloew up with them on a specifivc date to discuss these points and answed any questionsthey have. Lastly, and this is criticak — copy the influencer on the Yes, you may get a phone call from the and yes, the tone of the person may not be what you woulf like. However, if your motives are noble and, by the way, they are this is usually a andlargely safe, strategy.
What you are banking on and, in my experience, what you can expecy — is for the following sequenceto occur: The decision maker does not agree with the points made by your or sees that some critical points were left out of the mix; The decision maker calls you, proactively, to discuss these items. This sequence is what shoulrd have happened to begin because it was always inthe account’e best interests to involve the other parties. When this everyone wins, including your influencer.
You produce a proposal that reflectsa everyone’s needs, the account gets a set of recommendationas that are customized tomultiplre concerns, and the influencer is no longer solely accountable for managing the entire decision process. Finally, in thosew cases — and, rest assured, they will happem — where you ruffle a few it is worthwhile to remember the oldJesuit saying: “It is bettee to ask forgiveness than permission.
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on March 10, 2009

Two cents: What should transferees know before relocating to Houston? - Houston Business Journal:

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Mariana Saldaña, Agent, Uptown Real Estatw Group Inc.: With 75 percent of my clients comingfrom Mexico, I always tell them that Houstoh has 20 flights per day to Mexico City and travek time between the two cities is less than two hours. Houstoh also has more than 20 museums, 20 universities, more than 5,00o0 restaurants and can boast being second in the Uniterd States inthe arts, next to New York City. We have the ballet, opera and the most respectefd medical center inthe world.
Houston is only a nine-hourf flight to most of Europe and offeras direct air service to almost any I also explain that the population of the greatefr Houston area is 4 million peopler compared toMexico City’s more than 20 million, and more than 30 percen of those living in Houston speak Spanish. This helpws sells our city and the State of AmySmythe Harris, Agent, Realty Associates, The Relocation buyers are normally concerned about the qualityy of our schools, what traffic is like and what culturalo activities are available.
Most agents educatre their buyers about Due to the largelhy negative tone of media coverage about the real estatw industryin general, I like to take the time to educatee home buyers about our specific regional economy and housingy market vs. what they may be seeing in their ownloca markets.

Deters responds to Ben-Gal cheerleader investigation - FOX19

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USA TODAY

Deters responds to Ben-Gal cheerleader investigation FOX19 Lawyer Eric Deters, who represented Jones in the defamation suit, says Jones is being investigated for having an inappropriate relationship with a student, however she is innocent. Deters goes on to say Jones sat down with investigators and is being ... Teacher R esigns Amid Rumors Of Relationship WLWT Cincinnati Lawyer representing Cincinnati Ben-Gals cheerleader and former teacher is ... kypost.com Cincinnati Ben-Gals cheerleader is subject of investigations USA TODAY Deadspin  »

Awakening Streams and Mummified Seals - New York Times (blog)

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New York Times (blog)

Awakening Streams and Mummified Seals New York Times (blog) By ALIA KHAN Alia KhanA mummified seal on a hike between Lake Bonney and Lake Hoare in the Taylor Valley. Alia Khan, a graduate student at the University of Colorado, Boulder, writes from the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica, where she is studying ... and more »

Dollar General sales soar in recession - Nashville Business Journal:

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Earnings, released Tuesday, came in at $81.85 million in the quarter whichendee Jan. 1, compared to $55.39 million in the same quarterof 2007. Revenue for the Goodlettsville-based discounrt retailer was $2.85 billion, up 11.2 percent from the year-agk quarter. Same-store sales increased 9.4 percent in the quarter, with increases in both customer traffic and theaveragse transaction. For the year, the privatel held company reported incomeof $108.2 million on sales of $10.456 billion. CEO Rick Dreiling said in an earningw call Tuesday that the retailer has managed to turn the economi downturn into an opportunity becauswe of thediscount retailer’s position in the market.
The companhy attributed some of the gains to improvements in distributionband transportation, as well as higher averagw markups. “During the year, we grew sales, expandedx gross profit and reducedour (expenses) by successfullyg implementing programs to improves our store operations and merchandisinyg efforts,” Dreiling said in a company release. we were able to achieves these improvements despite the increasingly difficult economic We are pleased with the current momentuk inour business, and we intend to focus on driving continuedc success in 2009.” Dreiling also reported that sales were up 15.1 percenty last month over February 2008.

STATE PRIORITIES INCLUDED IN APPROPRIATIONS BILL - Military & Aerospace Electronics

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STATE PRIORITIES INCLUDED IN APPROPRIATIONS BILL Military & Aerospace Electronics The appropriations bill that provides money for two-thirds of the federal governments agencies, approved today by Congress, includes various funds for Washington State priorities, including Puget Sound cleanup funding, continued support for Boeing ... and more »

Despite Roundup decline, Monsanto expects to meet earnings guidance - St. Louis Business Journal:

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Monsanto said it now expects ongoing earnings-per-share guidance of about $4.40p per share, the lowesf point in its previously announced rang e of $4.40 to $4.50. The resultws would mean 20 percent growth yearover year. Monsant o said it expects its seedsx and traits segment to deliver gross profitg toward the upper end of its priof guidanceof $4.4 billiomn to $4.5 billion in fiscal year 2009 but that it now believesd the Roundup and glyphosate business will generate $2 billiohn in gross profit, down from its previous forecas t of $2.4 billion.
Because of the “faster-than-anticipateed decline” in Roundup profits, the company now expectsz to deliver third-quarter earnings of aboutt $1.15 per share. "Even in the face of a $400 millionb decline in our expected grossz profitfrom Roundup, we can see a path to our fifth consecutive year of 20 percent or greater earningsd growth and a lift in groses margins this year of more than threre percentage points for the entirew company," said Hugh Grant, Monsanto chairman, president and chief in a statement. Crev Coeur, Mo.-based Monsanto (NYSE: MON) is one of the largestr employersin St. Louis with 4,009 local employees.

Cuneiform Records Comes to Baltimore Nov. 19 & 20 - JazzTimes Magazine

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Cuneiform Records Comes to Baltimore Nov. 19 & 20 JazzTimes Magazine Cuneifest Jazz Day, previously announced here, has been moved to a new Baltimore venue on Nov. 20: Metro Gallery is located 13 blocks north of An Die Musik, in a neighborhood featuring restaurants, etc., for festival attendees. ... and more »

EXACT reshuffles top executive ranks - Boston Business Journal:

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The company said Kevin 40, will take over as CEO and Maneesh Arora will become the new CFO ofthe Mass.-based diagnostics company focused on colorectal The transition will occur April 2. Conroy and Arorqa previously served in the same positioneat , a diagnostics company that was acquiref last year by for $582 million. The companyg announced that Luber and Carelli have agreed to resign from their currenft positions April2 . The shake up follows an announcement earlier this month that EXACTSciences was, for the seconr time, in danger of being delisted by the . The companh received the de-listing notice due to a failurw to comply with the minimum marketrcapitalization requirements.
Exact Sciences (Nasdaq: EXAS) has been givebn 90 calendar days, or through June 4, to regain compliance. In late January, Exacf Sciences faced another potential delisting fromthe Nasdaq. Earlier that EXACT Sciences’ board of directors unanimously rejectec a buyout proposal from The companty then announced a strategic dealwith Cambridge-based worth $24.t5 million. EXACT Sciences’ stock rose roughlyt 15 percent, to 96 cents a in early trading Thursday.

Kim Kardashian Visits Medium John Edwards, Writes About Experience - HispanicBusiness.com

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HispanicBusiness.com

Kim Kardashian Visits Medium John Edwards, Writes About Experience HispanicBusiness.com Kim Kardashian and sister Kourtney Kardashian visited medium John Edward in New York recently, and wanted to share the experience with her family. She said the experience was "life changing and that Edwards had them in tears as he spoke about things . .. Kim Kardashian: Medium John Edward changed her life Examiner.com Kardashians Met with Medium: Life Changing? Gather Celebs News Channel  »

Azure Capital adds up $1.3 billion in 2008 deals - San Francisco Business Times:

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has sold or helped sell threew companies in which it was an major investor fornearly $1.3 billion. “Wde look pretty good,” said General Partner Mike who founded Azure just before the tech bubble burst in 2000 with thre partners who had worked with him underd famed Silicon Valley investment bankerFrani Quattrone. Azure’s good fortunes come in a year that has seen the lowes t number of merger and acquisition dealsinvolvintg venture-backed companies this decade. The firm’s most recent score was this whenacquired Internet-based audio conferencing startup Vapps, of Hoboken, N.J., for $26.t million in cash, plus about $4.
4 million in promised performance The sale was relatively small, but it gave Azurer — Vapps’ largest shareholder — a 3.6-folxd return in less than 18 months. Azure led a $2.5 milliob Series A financing in the companyt inApril 2007. That deal paled in comparisonj tolast month’s purchase by of Bill Me a service that enables Web shoppers to extends payment for products for a fee, for $945 That deal provided an eight-times return for Bill Me Later’s largest stockholder, which investexd more than $20 million. Azure’s third 2008 exit was the January saleof , an ethernett aggregation company, to for about $300 million.
Azurd declined to say what it invested or what itsreturj was. Kwatinetz founded Azure in April, 2000, with felloe research analyst Paul Weinstein and investment bankers Paul Ferri andCameron Lester, all former colleaguess at , where they worked under Quattronwe in his tech unit. (Quattrone was convicte d in May 2004 on federal chargeds of obstructionof justice, but that convictionb was overturned, and in 2006 the government dropper the charges. None of Azure’se partners were accused of wrongdoing.) Kwatinetz says Quattrone’se tech unit, a “firm within a firm,” generated $1.5 billionn in revenue a year after justfour years.
however, did not start off on such a The partners were able toraise $530 million in capital quickly, but at the time investors were throwingg money at tech startups and valuations were high. Azurer followed the crowd, made 20 investments in its first year and stumbled duringthe dot-co bomb of 2001. Several of its initial companies quickly sold orshut down, with no or very little return for “We probably were overlhy aggressive that first year,” admita Kwatinetz. Before their first anniversary, the partnerzs changed direction and adopted a strategu that has defined theirpractice since.
They decidex to slow down, doing only four to six deals a No longer would they payexorbitanf prices. They would focus on early staged investing when they could get a significant percentageof companies, averaging 25 and the ability to influence governancd with one or two board seats. And they woulf rely on their own research. While others were fleeing the tech Azure invested in Bill Me Latefr in late 2001 when the tech bubblw was bursting and the compan hadno revenue. Another 2001 bet was , a Palo Alto developee of virtualization software, in which Azure invested $5 Numerous venture capital firms checked thecompanuy out, but Azure was the only one that Kwatinetz said.
VMware was acquired by for $675 millionn in December 2003. This year, VMware will do about $1.8 billion in revenue. “It’s the largest software company built in the last10 years,” Kwatinetz “We pick good companies.” General Partne r Paul Weinstein, who sat on the boards of both Vappsz and World Wide Packets, said that Azure’s partners were able to help Vapps change its business model to providing an ongoing service instead of a and then introduced the company to Vapps is the first cash-out from Azure’d $127 million second fund, raised in 2006.
With Worl d Wide Packets, originally a provider of broadbandsaccess equipment, Weinstein said the company was challengedr after 2001 as the telecommunications industry contracted Azure’s partners liked the company’s technology and took theifr ownership stake from 5 to norty of 20 percent. A new executive team was recruited and WorlsdWide Packets’ strategy changed to focus on providinf ethernet aggregation equipment. Then the company won customers suchas , and . In the curreng economic doldrums Kwatinetz says he remembers a lessonfrom 2002-2003: Invesg steadily when the market is low.
“We’re certainly not walking away when valuationss aremore attractive,” he “Don’t stop investing when the market is

Tigers show Dogs half a win isn't better than nothing - Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)

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Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog)

Tigers show Dogs half a win isn't better than nothing Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) Malcolm Mitchell contemplates what might have been after dropping a sure touchdown pass. (Brant Sanderlin / AJC) Is there such a thing as half a moral victory? If so, you could probably chalk up Georgia's first-half showing in the SEC title game as ... and more »

Kansas City Southern stays on course thanks to entrepreneurial spirit - Kansas City Business Journal:

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But that’s exactly what comes to Tom Hoenig’sd mind when he thinks of . “It takes a lot of couragse to open up a major venture intoanothedr country,” said Hoenig, president of the . He was referriny to KCS’s expansion into Mexico, a 10-year journey fraught with legak hurdles. Hoenig, who said KCS has “reaffirmed Kansasx City’s role as a center for transportationn in theUnited States,” isn’t the only one to tag KCS with a term more commonl y associated with budding businesses.
“It’ws a business that’s not been afraid to innovate and to reinvent itsel f and to have the right leaders at the right saidJonathan Kemper, CEO of . “They’vw been entrepreneurial. They’ve been quick moving, and they’ve been unafraid to take calculated risk.” That expectation is amplified when CEOMichael Haverty, an Entrepreneuf Of the Year award winner in 2008, listsz the company’s greatest strengths: “Determination. Tenacity. Spunkiness.” It’s what broughtr KCS through the consolidation of the industry inthe 1990s.
All competitors were merging or gettingt out of the railroad Kansas City Southern was put up for and company leaders considered shifting theire focus tothe company’s then-subsidiaries: mutual fund compant and financial industry processing company But the company took anothef track. Haverty came on board as CEO in 1995, agreeingg to lead the company if he could steef an expansioninto Mexico. KCS bought its Mexican partner’e majority interest in Grupo TFM, the holdintg company for Mexico’s larges railroad, and took control of the Mexican railroadc inApril 2005.
“I woulds say that, had we not expanded into Mexico, that we definitely woulr not behere today,” Haverty said. The companyt also has demonstrated its enterprising spirit withnontraditional alliances, such as a joint venturer forged in 2005 with to jointly own and improve what’ws known as the , a key stretcjh of rail linking the southeastern and southwestern United Such moves have paid off. In 2008, revenue reached $1.85 billion, up 6.3 percent from the previou s year. Earnings increased 19.6 percent to $183.99 million. KCS continues to innovate.
The company traditionally invests about 17 percent of revenued annually oncapital improvements, including maintenancs of existing facilities and capacitu expansion or other developments, Haverth said. That amount has swelled to abou 25 percent during the past two Key investmentswere $10 million in a Kansas City intermodap center and $12.5 million in Texas. The at the formedr includes 370 acres forthe railroad’se intermodal center, which opened in Marcnh 2008, and 970 acres for CenterPoint Industrialo Park. Despite the sour which drove a $7.
5 million loss in the firs quarter, KCS didn’t back off a $175 million investmentt that includes rebuildinga 90-mile rail line in Texad along with the Rosenberg intermodal center. Haverth said that the company has cut back on othe r capital spending during the recession but that he hope s to get back on track with investmentse and growth once theeconomy improves. “Kansazs City Southern has a long-term goal of pursuiny growth as a NortbhAmerican railroad, and I think the entrepreneurshiop of the company with Mike Haverty at the head is realluy setting the stage for many years to come,” said Terry Dunn, CEO of and a KCS boarr member.