In sales we live and die by our pipelines. But – is it the pipeline that is actually killing us?

My answer would be yes.Why? I have found that the typical pipeline is bloated with unqualified prospects. Sales people have been trained to keep adding prospects to the pipeline all with the hope that the more people in the pipeline the better their chances of closing morebusiness. Actually I think it is the furthest thing from the truth.

I have found at least ½ of all prospects in a typical pipeline don’t belong. I will examine my clients’ pipelines and often think to my self – “Are you kidding?”The average sales person is wasting insane amounts of time with phone calls, emails and meetings with people that will never buy!

Personally I don’t have a pipeline for my own prospects – I have a table.That’s right. I like the idea of a table verse that of a pipeline. Tables have a limited number of seats whereas a pipeline just goes on and on – inviting sales people to keep adding more and more people to the pipeline.

At my table there are a limited number of seats. Tim – why would you possibly want to limit the seats at your table?

Because I know I can only help so many clients at one time. That is true of most of us. So it is my job to focus on the people who really need my help.

I strongly qualify all of my prospects from the beginning. If I can’t help you then I can’t offer you a seat. It is that simple.

So try to think of your “pipeline” as a table with a limited number of seats. It will force you to do a real good job of qualifying all prospects from the beginning.The result will be less wasted time, more posture and confidence all on the way to closing more deals!!!

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Tim Healy is the President and Owner of Healy Success Solutions Inc. He has helped the Long Island business community create selling success for over a decade with his Sales Team Training and Sales Performance Coaching. You can reach Tim at 631-244-6090 or thealy@healysolutions.com.

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• Starting off 2010… by Kristie Galvani (hilarytopper.com)

When I heard that the cruise ship I was taking was going to Haiti, I felt uncomfortable. There’s something wrong with a picture of people laughing, drinking and having a great time when the poor people of Haiti have no home, no food and no clothing.

But when I first got on the Royal Caribbean cruise to Haiti and Jamaica, I realized that it is important for cruise ships to keep on going to Haiti.

Royal Caribbean does something special. Every time they dock in Labadee, Haiti, they bring food and supplies to the people of Haiti. In addition to that, they have a donation form in every cabin that encourages people on the cruise to give to the Haitian people through a charitable donation.

When we arrived in Labadie and I saw all the supplies and Quaker Oats cereal and water that was being brought over to the other side of the island, which was devastated from an earthquake that happened in January, I felt proud. I felt proud to be patronizing the ship and I felt proud that the cruise line didn’t only care about making money, that giving back was just as important to them as it is to me and my company.

In addition to giving back to Haiti, Royal Caribbean also had a program for children with Autism, which I found really interesting. There were several children with their families on the ship with Autism and they had special programs specifically geared for them.

If they didn’t win me over with what they did for Haiti, they certainly won me over for their Autism at Sea program. The one program that sealed the deal and made me a Royal Caribbean patron for life was when I learned that they had a fundraiser for the “Make a Wish” Foundation. They were collecting money from T=shirt sales and donations for the foundation and they held a walk for passengers to help raise money for the cause.

Wow, I was totally impressed! Are you?

When a company gives back to the community, it says a lot. Many companies and corporations try to give back but sometimes, it seems as if they are doing it for the PR value and not to really make a difference in the community.

One company that does make a difference is Enterprise Rent-A-Car (ERAC), headquartered in Wayne, New Jersey. The company goes above and beyond to improve the lives of people in low-income areas around the area. Each region focuses on giving back. For example on Martin Luther King Day:

• ERAC employees in Hackensack collected non-perishable food items for St. Paul’s Community Development in Patterson;
• ERAC employees in Wayne, NJ visited the Center of United Methodist Aid to the Community (CUMAC) food pantry in Patterson to help package, sort and prepare food for the more than 2,500 people in need;
• ERAC employees in Clifton Park joined forces with MetLife to donate blood to help support victims of the disastrous earthquake in Haiti;
• ERAC employees in the Bronx teamed up with the City of New York to improve the Hunts Point and Longwood communities by participating in a beautification project in the local MS 424 school

I love the magic eight ball.  I had one when I was a young girl. I had one as a teen and I have one as an adult.  Although I know it’s just for fun, I still love to ask questions and shake it hard and get my answer.

Silver Lining Ideas released Lucky Day, an iPhone/iPod Touch application, this month.  The app is supposed to resemble the magic eight ball.  Instead, it’s a happy panda sitting in a Japanese garden.  The panda and his surroundings are bright cheerful colors, probably a great attraction for a little one.  When you turn on the app, you see “Make A Wish or Ask a Question and Shake!”

Like the Magic Eight Ball, you ask your iPhone or iPod Touch a question, shake the iPhone or iPod Touch, and within moments, you see gold coins falling from the sky which fall gently into a Japanese pouch.

My staff and I asked Lucky Day several questions:

“Will I close three accounts tomorrow?” I asked.

I got back, “too hard to tell right now…”

One of my staff members asked if she will meet a boyfriend tonight.

Lucky day told her “probably not.”

“Will I eat a hot dog at the Ranger’s game?” I asked.

Lucky Day told me, “Today is the day.”

Well, for one thing, I can say that I probably will be eating a hot dog tonight at the Ranger game because there really isn’t that much of a variety at Madison Square Garden, but how did Lucky Day know that?

It’s a cute app.  I don’t know if I would spend the $1.99 for it, but it gave me a momentary giggle and I guess you can say it was my Lucky Day.  I couldn’t figure out how to enter the hidden room but I figure if I really tried, I could enter it and get a look at a birthday panda.

What’s nice about the app is that a portion of the proceeds will go toward helping animal rescue organizations around the country.

I’m a big music lover.  I listen to music in my office with a surround sound system, in my car on my Bose speakers and I listen to my iPod when I go to the gym.

So, when I received a press release through BlogCritics.org about reviewing new headphones, I jumped at the opportunity.

Originally, I wanted to review the first product featured in their release, the MX-980.  However, when I requested a review copy, I was told that those products weren’t available for review.  I was also told that Sennheiser, one of the premier headphone makers, established in 1945 in Germany and now a global brand in 60 countries, introduced 22 lines of new stereo headphones.  (Could you imagine introducing so many lines?  To someone like me who isn’t a technical person, is there really a difference in the sound quality?)

The spokesperson sent me the new “woman’s” headphones by Sennheiser, the CX281.  He said they were designed for people who had smaller ears. I assumed they came in the new funky colors like Apple’s iPod.

I anxiously waited.  In the meantime, I purchased an iPod Shuffle for running.  I have the iPod Touch but I felt that it was too big to carry during a long run so I decided to buy the shuffle.  The shuffle came with a set of headphones but they kept falling out of my ears!  They were big and cumbersome and didn’t properly fit in my ear canal.

I complained to my husband about headphones and he did his research and purchased a pair of Sennheiser CX500 for me.

The Sennheiser CX281’s finally came after nearly a month afterof the my request and got to my office before the CX500’s.  I opened the package and noticed that the color wasn’t that appealing to me, especially attached to my sky blue shuffle. The CX281’s are a dull maroon color. And frankly, I saw them as a man’s product not a woman’s product.  However, they were well made, well constructed.  By looking at them you can tell that they are a good pair of headphones.  The nice thing is, they come in an attractive pouch so that you can keep them and your shuffle together.  It also comes with a dual adapter for sharing purposes.

The sound on the CX281’s offers a well mix of both treble and bass.  The headphones have an adjustable volume control and fit comfortably in my ears.  I switched the buds to the smaller ones and wasere offered a snugger fit.

In the meantime, my CX500’s arrived at my door.  Although these are not specifically designed for women, I immediately got more attracted to the white color then the maroon color.  And, interestingly, the CX500’s had a clearer sound.  The bass and tremble had a good mix and the headphones also came with a volume control and a small compact little white pouch for both headphones and shuffle.  In addition to the three sizes of ear buds, it also came with a cable clip so that the cord doesn’t distract you when you are active.  Further, it comes with a small cable winder to keep the cord organized and stored properly.

Both products are sold on Amazon.com.  The CX281’s sell for $39.90 (retails for $69.95) and the CX500’s sell for $39.95 (retails for $129.95).

The bottom line, there wasn’t that much of a difference in terms of sound quality and I wonder if the more expensive models are significantly better than the less expensive ones.  Since I didn’t get the opportunity to review the MX980’s which retail for $259.95, I guess I’ll never know.