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David Shear

Recent Articles Published by David Shear

managing

The Traveling Tribe: Planes, Trains and Automobiles

I think my friends are a little envious of my schedule. They shouldn’t be. There are many days when I would love to trade, but from a distance traveling can look fun. When I was in business school, the thought of flying across the country for business meetings seemed exciting. When I started my career,... Read more »

managing

Where do your customers shop and what do they want?

The thing I love about sales is that success is easy to spot and very difficult to fake. Every sales team I have ever worked with has consisted of successful sales reps who delivered results and unsuccessful reps who delivered excuses. Somehow the successful sales people produce month in, month out, completely unaffected by the... Read more »

managing

Do you know a guy who knows a guy?

David Shear continues his series on the state of retail. Very mafia, right? Well, I don’t think the comparison is very far off. Retail sales require that you know the right people, and that everyone gets their share of the revenue. The people who sit on the top of the retail food chain are the... Read more »

managing

The Retail Landscape

David Shear continues his series on the state of retail. Success in retail depends on your company’s current understanding of the overall retail landscape. You may have understood where retail was two years ago, you may have had your finger on the pulse in 2007, but the market isn’t what it was two years ago.... Read more »

managing

Retail is Not Dead

Circuit City shut its doors, office supply stores are reporting slow quarters, and consumers are staying home. The slow economy has reduced sales in just about every retail store. If your company is selling in the retail channel (or thinking about it), the news can be frightening. One year ago I could read the writing... Read more »