The Weekend Digest: Would You Pay For A Sales Call?

For our weekend business and political readers:

WOULD YOU PAY FOR A SALES CALL?
Super salesman Scott Edinger says a great way to judge how effective your sales team is would be by asking our headline question: would you pay for a sales call?

Selling value means creating some benefit through the sales process beyond that provided by the product or service itself.

In a post for Harvard Business Review, Edinger follows up on his formula for sales success with sound advice for creating that benefit.

That is, did your salespeople do something on the call valuable enough for your customers to pay you for it?

What might something that valuable be to your customers? Click here to learn Edinger’s keys to make sales teams more effective by focusing “on increasing not just the value of the offering but the value of the sales call itself.”

FED SAYS BANKS COULD LOSE BIG AND STILL SURVIVE
If the economy were to tank again, the Federal Reserve in its annual “stress test” estimates that 17 of 18 of the nation’s largest banks would lose $462 billion but could survive the meltdown.

Of the 18 banks tested by the Fed, only Ally Financial, the former finance arm of General Motors, would sustain big enough losses to potentially put it out of business. All of the other banks would have enough capital to make it through.

According to CNN Money what formulas does the Federal Reserve use to conduct its stress test, and which bank would come out “surprisingly strong” during another economic turndown? Click here for the results.

WHAT TEMP JOBS ARE THE FASTEST-GROWING?
If you can’t find that full-time job, Forbes suggest you try temporary work.

When companies need short-term workers–or if they just want to “try before they buy” – they’ll hire temporary employees. And if you play your cards right, the temp gig can parlay into a permanent, full-time position.

Forbes says “40% of employers plan to hire temporary and contract workers in 2013, up from 36% last year. Almost half of these employers (42%) plan to transition some temporary workers into full-time, permanent staffers.”

Go to this link to learn the 17 fastest-growing temp jobs.

SOCIAL AND TRADITIONAL MEDIA NOW ‘IRREVOCABLY INTERTWINED’
That’s according to the fourth State of the Media report issued by Vocus.

What was once viewed as an “either or” choice is now irrevocably intertwined as a powerful synergy of content and fan engagement.

Traditional media outlets from newspapers and magazine to broadcast use social media to distribute news and engage their readers.

To get the complete analysis and a look at that State of the Media report go to this link.

HOW DO ALL THE STATES STAND ON ABORTION?
Now that the Arkansas legislature has passed the most restrictive abortion law in the country, The Fix takes a look at how all 50 states stand on abortion.

So how does Arkansas’s new law stack up against restrictions in the other 49 states?

The Fix has posted two charts for comparison. One is an overview of state abortion laws, and the other is the number of abortion restrictions by state and the category of restriction.

Click here for the results.

RAND PAUL’S EPIC FILIBUSTER
After almost 13 hours, and in “uncomfortable shoes,” Republican Rand Paul made his point this past week on the Senate floor. He decided at the last minute a filibuster was the best way to get an answer from the president regarding attacking Americans on American soil with drones.

It only occurred to him shortly before his speech to try and do something big, but Paul admitted he had no idea how big it would become. Driving to the Senate Wednesday morning, Paul said he turned to a staffer and they decided they would try to take control of the floor to make a point.

“Well the weird thing is that we didn’t really have a plan,” he told reporters after his filibuster ended. “I hadn’t planned on it. I didn’t wear my most comfortable shoes or anything, I would have worn different shoes.”

Click on this link from Politico to learn more about the Kentucky Senator’s filibuster and whether he finally got an answer from the president.

NEW POLL IN CONNECTICUT REGARDING PROPOSED GUN LAWS
After the horrible massacre at Sandy Hook, a new poll shows residents in Connecticut overwhelmingly favoring new gun laws, reports Politico.

Nearly four months after 20 children were massacred in their state, Connecticut voters support, by broad margins, a wide swath of gun control measures, according to a poll released Wednesday.

A Quinnipiac University poll asked about ten different gun control proposals. A majority of voters backed all but one.

Among those ten proposals voters were asked whether they would favor armed guards in schools.

Go to this link to find out the poll results and if Connecticut voters believe the two major will be able to work together on gun violence issues.

REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS COMING AROUND ON ‘OBAMACARE’
They despised it and campaigned against it, and now that the Supreme Court has upheld the president’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, The Economist reports some Republican governors are becoming more luke-warm to it.

Eight now say they will accept Obamacare’s money to expand Medicaid, the federal-state program for the poor. This includes two particularly prominent governors: Florida’s Rick Scott and, as of February 26th, New Jersey’s Chris Christie. More governors may follow suit. For Democrats, the shift is a political victory. To many conservatives, it is a betrayal.

The Supreme Court deemed states should be allowed to make a free choice whether to expand Medicaid or not. Many Republicans said they wouldn’t. But since Mr Obama’s re-election, some have changed their minds.

Go inside the Economist story at this link for a full analysis on the dilemma of medicaid expansion, what costs are involved, and why those governors are changing their minds.

THREE OF A KIND
It can go from 0-60 in 2.8 seconds and reach a speed of 220 miles an hour. It has 750-horsepower and the prototype coincides with its maker’s 50th anniversary. It cost $3.9 million and is made by Lamborghini. It’s named “Veneno” for a Spanish fighting bull.

Veneno has a V12 engine and seven-speed “automated manual” transmission with permanent all-wheel drive and five (5!) drive modes. Its rear wing is adjustable; the alloy wheels are rimmed with a carbon-fiber ring that works like a turbine to deliver additional cooling air to the carbon-ceramic brakes. Most of the car consists of carbon fiber and carbon skin composites.

For the fantasy driver in many of us, click here to learn more about its specs and expectations from Forbes.

THE APP APPROACH TO PARENTING
Can technology cure a kid that has a case of the ‘gimmes’? An app approach is underway to find out.

Apps are working to buck the trend, teaching kids to work for their incomes, save and invest, take up some chores, and even get their homework in order. Most of these techniques have been around as long as there have been parents and many of them have a Skinnerian approach to behavior modification at their core. Since kids love their tech, these apps will give parents a systematic approach to keeping track of and managing the “inner brat.”

Mashable has posted apps for chores, apps for better behavior, and even apps for managing money.

Give them a look-over at this link.