General Motors stock closed at an all-time high on Tuesday following a virtual presentation during CES that laid out an extensive look at its electric, autonomous future and even included a flying car. READ MORE
Employers deciding if they’ll require COVID-19 vaccines
Employers are in the midst of discussing and deciding if they’ll require their workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available.
A new survey of 211 business and talent leaders from human capital research firm i4cp finds that most organizations (41%) say they are still deciding whether they will mandate COVID-19 vaccination for their employees. Just 5% say they will require employees to get the vaccine, while 39% say they won’t. Another 11% say they don’t know yet. READ MORE
How Women Leaders Can Create Positive Change
The newly appointed CEO of Citi, Jane Fraser, told Bloomberg in a recent interview (subscription required), "So it's digital. It's about humanity. There's obviously the [environmental, social and governance] agenda, but in a real way — not a plaque on the wall or just nice statements." READ MORE
She helps Google workers be productive. Here are her pro tips
We can all use a little help when it comes to being more productive, especially these days.
Whether we're working from home or still going into the workplace, many of us have struggled to stay as productive as we were before the pandemic.
Google said last month that its employees won't be returning to the office until September. That means the company will have to make a concerted effort to keep its workforce motivated and effective. READ MORE
Low on workers, manufacturers recruit their executives for the factory floor
Wendy Marcus was midway through a recent meeting with senior leaders at Newell Brands Inc. when word came that she needed to leave immediately.
The Newell-owned factory that makes Yankee Candles was once again short on workers, and the plant needed Ms. Marcus, an R&D manager, on the assembly line to help pack the famously scented knickknacks into gift baskets.
“I told them, ‘I have to work the overtime shift,’ and they just said, ‘OK, thank you and go ahead,’” recalled Ms. Marcus. READ MORE
Businesses pausing political donations after Capitol riots
The corporate floodgates opened Monday as more Fortune 500 companies shared their stance on political contributions in response to opposition to the certification of the Electoral College for President-elect Joe Biden and the Capitol riot by Trump supporters last week. READ MORE
PreSales: The Secret Weapon In Customer Experience
PreSales is a pretty hot buzzword in the B2B tech industry right now. Unfortunately, not enough people actually understand what it is, what it does, and why it’s the key to creating a customer experience that keeps your customers coming back over and over again.
Because of the increasing complexity of SaaS products and the larger demand for demos and free trials before a sale is made, PreSales is becoming more vital to a successful sales process. READ MORE
What to expect at the first ever all-digital CES 2021
Disinfectant gadgets, next-generation fitness equipment and robots that help you cook dinner.
Those are a few of the countless new products expected to be unveiled next week at the Consumer Electronics Show, the annual splashy tech conference that typically sets the tone for the biggest trends of the year. Home automation, health and 5G will once again be buzzy topics, but many companies will also introduce pandemic-specific features to reflect our increased time at home. READ MORE
Amazon vendors hiked prices on 'essential' products amid coronavirus pandemic, report suggests
Amazon sellers raised prices on 136 items deemed essential, including some personal protective equipment, during the coronavirus pandemic, a new report suggests.
A report by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund released Thursday analyzed prices of “essential” products such as face masks, pulse oximeters, surgical gloves, hand sanitizer and toilet paper and found the sellers of 409 items raised the prices by more than 20% in the last year. READ MORE
A 25-Year-Old Bet Comes Due: Has Tech Destroyed Society?
On March 6, 1995, WIRED’s executive editor and resident techno-optimist Kevin Kelly went to the Greenwich Village apartment of the author Kirkpatrick Sale. Kelly had asked Sale for an interview. But he planned an ambush.
Kelly had just read an early copy of Sale’s upcoming book, called Rebels Against the Future. It told the story of the 19th-century Luddites, a movement of workers opposed to the machinery of the Industrial Revolution. Before their rebellion was squashed and their leaders hanged, they literally destroyed some of the mechanized looms that, they believed, reduced them to cogs in a dehumanizing engine of mass production. READ MORE
How To Creatively Re-engage Cold Prospects
People talk about “current” trends, but the best trends are timeless. In sales, creativity is the only way to stand out from your peers and competitors who are all doing the same thing. It is the single thing that can get you noticed in increasingly saturated markets. READ MORE
How To Make Marketing An Invaluable Function
In its landmark 2018 Pulse Survey of 220 Chief Marketing Officers, the executive recruiting firm Korn Ferry reported that, although financial results were the most important factor in their performance-based compensation, "52% of CMOs say they cannot make a direct and obvious correlation between marketing efforts and company performance." READ MORE
What is a Sales Trigger Event and Why It’s Important to Close More Deals
No, it’s not another buzzword. A sales trigger event is crucial because it distinguishes hot leads from cold ones. It gives you the opportunity to maximize the effectiveness of your sales pitch and help you close a deal.
As a salesperson, timing is everything. Selling your product or service at the optimal time can be the difference between making a minor profit or major bank. In a competitive market, it’s paramount that you incorporate trigger events in your sales process to keep the upper hand and make your sales pitch at the best possible moment. Trigger events help with sales prospecting by indicating the best time to sell your product or service, and can help you customize your outreach. READ MORE
Elon Musk responds to Capitol riots with dig at Facebook
Tesla CEO Elon Musk took a swipe at Mark Zuckerberg Wednesday evening in a tweet that appeared to blame the founding of Facebook for the violence that ensued at the U.S. Capitol.
"This is called the domino effect," Musk wrote alongside a meme that seemingly tied the origins of Zuckerberg's Facebook to the mob that proceeded to storm the Capitol building to protest the results of the presidential election. READ MORE
Donald Trump should be removed from office to preserve democracy, business leaders say
The National Association of Manufacturers, one of the most influential business groups in the US, called on Vice President Mike Pence Wednesday to consider removing President Donald Trump from office.
The statement from Republican-leaning NAM, the nation's largest manufacturing association, marks perhaps the strongest political statement by a major business group in modern history. And it puts an exclamation point on the breakup between the business community and the self-styled CEO president. READ MORE
CEOs, business groups condemn Capitol Hill protests
Business leaders from Wall Street to Silicon Valley joined trade groups across the nation in calling for an end to the protests and violence on Capitol Hill in response to Congress' certification process of Electoral College votes. READ MORE
Twitter, Facebook under pressure from both sides after locking Trump accounts
Facebook and Twitter are under pressure from users on both sides of the political aisle after locking President Trump out of his social media accounts for nearly 12 hours as of Thursday morning. READ MORE
Two former Apple insiders are building a laser technology startup to fuel the electric car boom
Aeva co-founder and CEO Soroush Salehian — who spent several years at Apple developing the iPhone, Apple Watch and iPod — won’t say if the tech giant is working on an electric car with autonomous technology as many have speculated in recent weeks. READ MORE
Six ways your office will be different in 2021, assuming you ever go back to it
After a year in which the coronavirus pandemic upended the very concept of the workplace — one in which millions of white-collar workers traded office attire, business travel and lengthy commutes for comfy pants, webcams and virtual school with their kids — predicting 2021 office trends might be a perilous exercise. READ MORE
The Entrepreneurial Balancing Act: Pricing, Customer Service and Go-To-Market Considerations
Corporations must navigate their ship one way or another toward continued success. Early-stage entrepreneurs need to decide if they are building a ship, an aircraft or a warehouse.
What kind of company are we building? Who is the ideal customer? What is the real pain point? What will our business model be? What geography will we tackle first, and will it be direct sales or via channels? How will the product look and feel? will it be a pure SaaS play or will it also include professional services? Will it be a vertical SaaS or horizontal Saas? READ MORE