John, a seasoned manager, is growing weary of receiving 2-3 daily email complaints from his employees, the employees of another manager, and occasionally a customer. They are not ordinary complaints. John is not a customer service manager and does not interact with customers. Frustrated and battle-weary, John has to deal with an employee who meets the expectations of the job but is described as “bullying,” “intimidating,” “inappropriate,” and even “terrorizing.”

The development of high Emotional Intelligence (EQ) by better tracking how emotions affect others and yourself can establish an advantage in all aspects of life, including sales.

Some of the most valuable insights often come from unusual and unexpected encounters. In her chairman’s remarks at National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies’ (NAILBA) 2011 annual meeting, Christi M. Daughenbaugh told of talking to her hairdresser, a 24-year-old mother-to-be, about life insurance.

The careful and effective integration of humor into a sales presentation can provide the presenter with much more than a few laughs — it can build sales.

With the advent of the Supreme Court argument, all parties involved in the health insurance business are waiting. This is particularly true of health insurance carriers. Each insurance carrier to date has made adjustments to their business based on their best interpretation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the federal health reform law.

Seldom does anyone have a perfect day. On the manufacturing floor it’s discovered that a vital part doesn’t fit or a customer calls at the last minute with a design change. You worked hard to put together a project status meeting and at the last minute two critical participants call to say they aren’t coming. A financial planner faces a market crash leading to panicky investor calls, while a writer faces a computer crash, leading to the complete loss of last week’s work.

What distinguishes the mediocre leader with so-so results from the effective leader who makes a big impact every time? The answer is the ability to take effective action.

If you look back over your career, chances are you can identify one or two people who stand out as memorable leaders. Even if these people didn’t hold an official leadership role, their actions and words rallied people together to achieve a common goal. And whether that goal was large or small, far reaching or contained, you remember these leaders for a long time.

Do you believe in having it all? A lot of people have given up on this idea. They act as if their lives are limited to a series of trade-offs, and they end up making difficult choices they really don’t want to make.

A traveler attempting to book a ticket by phone became frustrated after choosing from a menu of endless options then waiting on hold for twenty minutes before eventually being transferred twice, with the second time to a dial tone. When she called back, the first live person she connected with got an earful of her frustration about what had transpired and how poor the customer service was.