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A reader writes: We recently had an interview with a candidate who seemed very promising on paper. She had years of relevant experience and good recommendations from previous employers. Our team is remote, so this was a Teams interview and we expect everyone to be on camera. During the first few minutes, she claimed to have technical difficulties and couldn’t get her camera working. After a few minutes of trying, we decided to move forward with the interview anyway and it very quickly became apparent that the candidate was using AI to answer our questions. Her answers restated the question, they were filled with buzzwords but had no substance whatsoever, and her speaking cadence was exactly like someone reading from a script. We tried to ask her questions such as, “How did you feel about that?” and “Do you have any questions for us?” but even her answers to those questions were AI. We went through the motions, sped through the interview in about 15 minutes, and let the recruiting company know afterwards. Now I’m just wondering if we should have said or done something in the moment. She no longer had a chance at the position as soon as she read off her first answer, so should we have just stopped the interview then? This was a frankly bizarre experience and I didn’t know how to react. Given the prevalence of AI though, I want to be prepared for the next time this happens. I’m a fan of calling it out right in the moment — not just with AI, but with anything that’s off, the same as if someone were clearly reading off a written script they’d prepared or, I don’t know, seemed to be getting answers through an earpiece. So when you first started realizing what was happening, one option was to say: “It sounds like you may be looking up answers and reading them. We’re really looking for your thoughts on these questions.” If she course-corrected at that point, well … it’s still a pretty big strike against her and I’m skeptical someone would be able to come back from it, but it would be interesting to see how the interview went after that. And if she kept doing it even after you called it out, it would be reasonable to say, “As I said, we’re really looking for your thoughts here, not what you’re looking up, so it doesn’t make sense to continue this interview. We’ll wrap up here, and best of luck of to you.” (And part of the advantage of the first call-out is that it makes it possible for you to do this next.) The post what to do when a candidate is using AI during an interview appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

President The President has nominated Stuart Levenbach, Associate Director of the Office of Management and Budget, to be the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. His selection allows acting CFPB Director Russell Vought to remain in place for another 210 days. View the full article

FCA says ‘consolidated tape’ for equities will bring benefits worth £100mn over next decadeView the full article

When you’re considering buying into a business, it’s essential to approach the process methodically. Start by identifying your interests and skills to find a business that suits you. Then, conduct thorough research to discover available opportunities and understand the seller’s motivations. As you progress, assess the financial health of the business and explore financing options. Each step is important, and knowing how to navigate them can set you up for success. What comes next may surprise you. Key Takeaways Identify your skills and interests to align with the type of business you want to acquire. Conduct thorough research on available businesses for sale through online listings and personal networks. Assess financial health and valuation of the business using appropriate methods like EBITDA or market approach. Perform detailed due diligence to uncover potential risks, liabilities, and operational challenges. Secure financing through options like SBA loans or seller financing to support your acquisition. Determine Your Business Type and Interests How do you determine the right business type and interests before making a purchase? Start by identifying your skills and experience, as aligning these with the business you want increases your chances of success. Consider your previous roles and industries; if you’ve been a long-term employee, you might be well-positioned to buy that business or a competitor. Narrow your focus to specific sectors, like retail or services, which helps streamline your search. Understand market demand for different business types to identify opportunities with growth potential. Engaging with your personal networks can likewise reveal insights into what’s available and in demand. Search for Available Businesses for Sale When you’re ready to search for available businesses for sale, start by exploring online listings on platforms like BizBuySell and BizQuest, which showcase a variety of options across different industries. Don’t overlook local newspapers and industry publications, as they often feature listings that aren’t available online, presenting unique opportunities. Furthermore, tapping into your personal and professional networks can reveal unlisted businesses or sellers looking to exit, as you engage a business broker can help you navigate the process more effectively. Online Business Listings Many potential buyers find online business listings to be a valuable resource when searching for available businesses for sale. Websites like BizBuySell.com and BizQuest.com offer a variety of options categorized by industry, location, and price. When pondering if buying a business is a good idea, these platforms can help you understand how to purchase a business effectively. Filter your search based on criteria like budget and growth potential to streamline your options. Furthermore, consider engaging a business broker for expert guidance. Although online listings are essential, remember to check local newspapers for hidden opportunities. In the end, thorough research will improve your chances of successfully buying into an existing business as a partner or owner. Local Networking Opportunities Have you considered how local networking opportunities can improve your search for available businesses for sale? Engaging in industry conferences or local meetups can connect you with current owners and professionals, revealing hidden business sale opportunities. Local newspapers and industry publications often list businesses for sale, making them crucial resources for potential buyers. Furthermore, tapping into your personal networks—friends, family, and colleagues—might uncover businesses not publicly listed. Although business brokers can assist in guiding the acquisition process, online business-for-sale platforms like BizBuySell.com provide searchable databases that help you filter by location and price. Engaging Business Brokers Engaging a business broker can greatly streamline your search for available businesses for sale, especially if you’re looking for exclusive opportunities that mightn’t be publicly advertised. Business brokers can leverage their extensive networks and industry knowledge to help you in buying an established business. They provide access to business-for-sale listings and assist in business acquisition financing. When you engage a business broker, they can help you negotiate business purchases, ensuring that your interests are represented. Remember, selecting a business broker with a good reputation and experience in your specific industry is essential for finding a suitable business. Be aware that brokers typically charge a business sale commission ranging from 5% to 10%, depending on the transaction’s complexity. Understand the Reasons Behind the Sale When considering a business purchase, it’s essential to understand the seller’s motivations, as these can greatly influence your decision. Sellers often have various reasons for selling, such as retirement or health issues, which mightn’t showcase the business’s true condition. Common Seller Motivations Comprehending the common motivations behind a business sale is crucial for any prospective buyer, as these reasons often reflect the underlying health and potential of the business. Many sellers face financial difficulties, prompting roughly 30% to list their companies because of cash flow issues or mounting debts. Others might be influenced by personal circumstances, such as health problems or family commitments, with about 20% citing these as primary factors. Furthermore, burnout from operational demands can lead to a decision to sell, as nearly half of business owners feel overwhelmed. Retirement is another significant motivator, especially with 10,000 baby boomers exiting the workforce daily. Finally, market demand changes or industry trends can force owners to reflect on business shifts. Assessing Business Challenges How can you effectively assess the challenges a business faces before buying in? Start by investigating the reasons for the sale, as they often reveal underlying issues. Look for signs like declining sales and negative cash flow, which indicate operational challenges. Assess existing debts and liabilities to understand financial struggles. Gather customer insights to evaluate the business reputation and market demands. Determine if the current owner has a clear growth strategy or if they’re relying too much on personal relationships. Consider how market changes may have affected the business’s stability. Align Your Goals and Budget With Potential Businesses Aligning your goals and budget with potential businesses is crucial for making a successful investment. Start by clearly defining your personal and financial goals, confirming they match the type, size, and industry of the business you want. Next, assess your budget to determine a realistic price range, factoring in not just the purchase price but also additional costs for improvements and operational expenses. Research the financial health of prospective businesses, focusing on revenue, profit margins, and cash flow trends to guarantee they meet your expectations. Investigate the reasons behind the sale, as this can provide insights into challenges and growth potential. Utilize business-for-sale websites, engage with brokers, and leverage your network to find suitable businesses that align with your goals. Conduct Thorough Due Diligence After you’ve aligned your goals and budget with potential businesses, the next step involves conducting thorough due diligence. This process typically requires around 500 hours of review, covering legal, financial, operational, and reputational aspects. Using an extensive due diligence checklist is crucial, as it helps you analyze past financials and verify profitability. Collaborating with experienced professionals like attorneys and CPAs can likewise aid in evaluating the risk/return profile and uncovering hidden issues. Identify pending litigation that could impact the business. Look for undisclosed liabilities that may affect finances. Investigate operational challenges that could hinder growth. Confirm financial due diligence by reviewing tax returns and income streams. Being thorough now can save you from potential pitfalls later. Evaluate Business Valuation Approaches Comprehending the various methods of business valuation is essential for making informed investment decisions. You’ll typically encounter three primary approaches: the income approach, asset approach, and market approach. The income approach focuses on profit figures, often utilizing EBITDA to determine fair market value through a capitalization rate. The asset approach measures a business’s net asset value by subtracting total liabilities from total assets, making it ideal for asset-heavy companies. Meanwhile, the market approach assesses business worth based on recent sales of comparable businesses, employing industry-standard multiples that can range from 2x to 4x annual net profit. Always verify financial records, as discrepancies can greatly misrepresent the true value of the business you’re considering. Secure Financing and Close the Deal Securing financing is a critical step in the business acquisition process, as it directly impacts your ability to complete the deal and manage future operations. You can explore various options, like SBA loans, which offer up to 90% financing, or seller financing, allowing flexible payment structures. It’s crucial to understand your capital structure to handle operational costs post-acquisition. Draft a purchase agreement detailing transaction terms. Complete an asset acquisition statement (IRS Form 8594) for tax purposes. Confirm compliance with local bulk sale laws to avoid legal issues. Seek business finance advice to navigate the financing environment effectively. Frequently Asked Questions How to Buy a Business Step by Step? To buy a business, start by identifying your strengths and interests to guarantee the venture aligns with your goals. Research available businesses through online marketplaces and personal networks. Conduct thorough due diligence, reviewing financials and evaluating risks, which can take about 500 hours. Negotiate key terms and draft a purchase agreement. Finally, secure financing through options like SBA loans, and make certain all legal documents are prepared and compliant before finalizing the transaction. How Much Down Payment for a $500,000 Business Loan? For a $500,000 business loan, your down payment typically ranges from 10% to 30%. This means you’ll need between $50,000 and $150,000 upfront, depending on the lender’s criteria and your financial situation. If you opt for an SBA loan, expect a minimum down payment of 10% to 20%, translating to $50,000 to $100,000. Seller financing may offer lower down payments, sometimes under 10%, reducing your initial cash requirement to $50,000 or less. What Are the 7 Steps in Buying an Existing Business? To buy an existing business, you’ll follow seven vital steps. First, find opportunities that match your goals. Next, negotiate terms through a letter of intent. Third, conduct thorough due diligence, examining financials and legal matters. Then, document your agreement accurately. After that, secure financing through options like SBA loans or seller financing. Once you’ve acquired the business, focus on operations. Finally, plan your exit strategy to guarantee a smooth changeover in the future. Is $5000 Enough to Start a Business? Yes, $5,000 can be enough to start a business, particularly in service-oriented fields like consulting or freelancing. You’ll likely spend this capital on crucial expenses such as website development, marketing, and operational costs. Nevertheless, if your venture requires physical inventory or a storefront, you’ll probably need a larger budget. Success often depends on utilizing low-cost marketing strategies, like social media, to grow your business without significant upfront investments. Conclusion In conclusion, buying into a business requires careful planning and execution. Start by identifying your interests, researching available options, and comprehending the seller’s motivations. Align your financial capacity with potential businesses and conduct thorough due diligence to assess their value and operational health. Finally, secure financing and prepare for a smooth shift. By following these steps, you can make informed decisions that improve your chances of a successful acquisition and encourage future growth. Image via Google Gemini This article, "A Step-by-Step Guide to Buying Into a Business" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

When you’re considering buying into a business, it’s essential to approach the process methodically. Start by identifying your interests and skills to find a business that suits you. Then, conduct thorough research to discover available opportunities and understand the seller’s motivations. As you progress, assess the financial health of the business and explore financing options. Each step is important, and knowing how to navigate them can set you up for success. What comes next may surprise you. Key Takeaways Identify your skills and interests to align with the type of business you want to acquire. Conduct thorough research on available businesses for sale through online listings and personal networks. Assess financial health and valuation of the business using appropriate methods like EBITDA or market approach. Perform detailed due diligence to uncover potential risks, liabilities, and operational challenges. Secure financing through options like SBA loans or seller financing to support your acquisition. Determine Your Business Type and Interests How do you determine the right business type and interests before making a purchase? Start by identifying your skills and experience, as aligning these with the business you want increases your chances of success. Consider your previous roles and industries; if you’ve been a long-term employee, you might be well-positioned to buy that business or a competitor. Narrow your focus to specific sectors, like retail or services, which helps streamline your search. Understand market demand for different business types to identify opportunities with growth potential. Engaging with your personal networks can likewise reveal insights into what’s available and in demand. Search for Available Businesses for Sale When you’re ready to search for available businesses for sale, start by exploring online listings on platforms like BizBuySell and BizQuest, which showcase a variety of options across different industries. Don’t overlook local newspapers and industry publications, as they often feature listings that aren’t available online, presenting unique opportunities. Furthermore, tapping into your personal and professional networks can reveal unlisted businesses or sellers looking to exit, as you engage a business broker can help you navigate the process more effectively. Online Business Listings Many potential buyers find online business listings to be a valuable resource when searching for available businesses for sale. Websites like BizBuySell.com and BizQuest.com offer a variety of options categorized by industry, location, and price. When pondering if buying a business is a good idea, these platforms can help you understand how to purchase a business effectively. Filter your search based on criteria like budget and growth potential to streamline your options. Furthermore, consider engaging a business broker for expert guidance. Although online listings are essential, remember to check local newspapers for hidden opportunities. In the end, thorough research will improve your chances of successfully buying into an existing business as a partner or owner. Local Networking Opportunities Have you considered how local networking opportunities can improve your search for available businesses for sale? Engaging in industry conferences or local meetups can connect you with current owners and professionals, revealing hidden business sale opportunities. Local newspapers and industry publications often list businesses for sale, making them crucial resources for potential buyers. Furthermore, tapping into your personal networks—friends, family, and colleagues—might uncover businesses not publicly listed. Although business brokers can assist in guiding the acquisition process, online business-for-sale platforms like BizBuySell.com provide searchable databases that help you filter by location and price. Engaging Business Brokers Engaging a business broker can greatly streamline your search for available businesses for sale, especially if you’re looking for exclusive opportunities that mightn’t be publicly advertised. Business brokers can leverage their extensive networks and industry knowledge to help you in buying an established business. They provide access to business-for-sale listings and assist in business acquisition financing. When you engage a business broker, they can help you negotiate business purchases, ensuring that your interests are represented. Remember, selecting a business broker with a good reputation and experience in your specific industry is essential for finding a suitable business. Be aware that brokers typically charge a business sale commission ranging from 5% to 10%, depending on the transaction’s complexity. Understand the Reasons Behind the Sale When considering a business purchase, it’s essential to understand the seller’s motivations, as these can greatly influence your decision. Sellers often have various reasons for selling, such as retirement or health issues, which mightn’t showcase the business’s true condition. Common Seller Motivations Comprehending the common motivations behind a business sale is crucial for any prospective buyer, as these reasons often reflect the underlying health and potential of the business. Many sellers face financial difficulties, prompting roughly 30% to list their companies because of cash flow issues or mounting debts. Others might be influenced by personal circumstances, such as health problems or family commitments, with about 20% citing these as primary factors. Furthermore, burnout from operational demands can lead to a decision to sell, as nearly half of business owners feel overwhelmed. Retirement is another significant motivator, especially with 10,000 baby boomers exiting the workforce daily. Finally, market demand changes or industry trends can force owners to reflect on business shifts. Assessing Business Challenges How can you effectively assess the challenges a business faces before buying in? Start by investigating the reasons for the sale, as they often reveal underlying issues. Look for signs like declining sales and negative cash flow, which indicate operational challenges. Assess existing debts and liabilities to understand financial struggles. Gather customer insights to evaluate the business reputation and market demands. Determine if the current owner has a clear growth strategy or if they’re relying too much on personal relationships. Consider how market changes may have affected the business’s stability. Align Your Goals and Budget With Potential Businesses Aligning your goals and budget with potential businesses is crucial for making a successful investment. Start by clearly defining your personal and financial goals, confirming they match the type, size, and industry of the business you want. Next, assess your budget to determine a realistic price range, factoring in not just the purchase price but also additional costs for improvements and operational expenses. Research the financial health of prospective businesses, focusing on revenue, profit margins, and cash flow trends to guarantee they meet your expectations. Investigate the reasons behind the sale, as this can provide insights into challenges and growth potential. Utilize business-for-sale websites, engage with brokers, and leverage your network to find suitable businesses that align with your goals. Conduct Thorough Due Diligence After you’ve aligned your goals and budget with potential businesses, the next step involves conducting thorough due diligence. This process typically requires around 500 hours of review, covering legal, financial, operational, and reputational aspects. Using an extensive due diligence checklist is crucial, as it helps you analyze past financials and verify profitability. Collaborating with experienced professionals like attorneys and CPAs can likewise aid in evaluating the risk/return profile and uncovering hidden issues. Identify pending litigation that could impact the business. Look for undisclosed liabilities that may affect finances. Investigate operational challenges that could hinder growth. Confirm financial due diligence by reviewing tax returns and income streams. Being thorough now can save you from potential pitfalls later. Evaluate Business Valuation Approaches Comprehending the various methods of business valuation is essential for making informed investment decisions. You’ll typically encounter three primary approaches: the income approach, asset approach, and market approach. The income approach focuses on profit figures, often utilizing EBITDA to determine fair market value through a capitalization rate. The asset approach measures a business’s net asset value by subtracting total liabilities from total assets, making it ideal for asset-heavy companies. Meanwhile, the market approach assesses business worth based on recent sales of comparable businesses, employing industry-standard multiples that can range from 2x to 4x annual net profit. Always verify financial records, as discrepancies can greatly misrepresent the true value of the business you’re considering. Secure Financing and Close the Deal Securing financing is a critical step in the business acquisition process, as it directly impacts your ability to complete the deal and manage future operations. You can explore various options, like SBA loans, which offer up to 90% financing, or seller financing, allowing flexible payment structures. It’s crucial to understand your capital structure to handle operational costs post-acquisition. Draft a purchase agreement detailing transaction terms. Complete an asset acquisition statement (IRS Form 8594) for tax purposes. Confirm compliance with local bulk sale laws to avoid legal issues. Seek business finance advice to navigate the financing environment effectively. Frequently Asked Questions How to Buy a Business Step by Step? To buy a business, start by identifying your strengths and interests to guarantee the venture aligns with your goals. Research available businesses through online marketplaces and personal networks. Conduct thorough due diligence, reviewing financials and evaluating risks, which can take about 500 hours. Negotiate key terms and draft a purchase agreement. Finally, secure financing through options like SBA loans, and make certain all legal documents are prepared and compliant before finalizing the transaction. How Much Down Payment for a $500,000 Business Loan? For a $500,000 business loan, your down payment typically ranges from 10% to 30%. This means you’ll need between $50,000 and $150,000 upfront, depending on the lender’s criteria and your financial situation. If you opt for an SBA loan, expect a minimum down payment of 10% to 20%, translating to $50,000 to $100,000. Seller financing may offer lower down payments, sometimes under 10%, reducing your initial cash requirement to $50,000 or less. What Are the 7 Steps in Buying an Existing Business? To buy an existing business, you’ll follow seven vital steps. First, find opportunities that match your goals. Next, negotiate terms through a letter of intent. Third, conduct thorough due diligence, examining financials and legal matters. Then, document your agreement accurately. After that, secure financing through options like SBA loans or seller financing. Once you’ve acquired the business, focus on operations. Finally, plan your exit strategy to guarantee a smooth changeover in the future. Is $5000 Enough to Start a Business? Yes, $5,000 can be enough to start a business, particularly in service-oriented fields like consulting or freelancing. You’ll likely spend this capital on crucial expenses such as website development, marketing, and operational costs. Nevertheless, if your venture requires physical inventory or a storefront, you’ll probably need a larger budget. Success often depends on utilizing low-cost marketing strategies, like social media, to grow your business without significant upfront investments. Conclusion In conclusion, buying into a business requires careful planning and execution. Start by identifying your interests, researching available options, and comprehending the seller’s motivations. Align your financial capacity with potential businesses and conduct thorough due diligence to assess their value and operational health. Finally, secure financing and prepare for a smooth shift. By following these steps, you can make informed decisions that improve your chances of a successful acquisition and encourage future growth. Image via Google Gemini This article, "A Step-by-Step Guide to Buying Into a Business" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

The flight disruptions during the record government shutdown that ended last week inspired a rare act of bipartisanship in Washington on Tuesday, when congressional representatives from both parties introduced legislation that would allow air traffic controllers to get paid during future shutdowns. The bill proposes funding salaries, operating expenses, and other Federal Aviation Administration programs by tapping into a little-used fund with $2.6 billion that was created to reimburse airlines if the government commandeers their planes and they are damaged. The bill’s sponsors, which include four of the top Republicans and Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, hope that relying on the fund might make their bill more attractive than other proposals because it would limit the potential cost of doling out paychecks. U.S. Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri, the GOP chairman of the committee, said in a statement that the bill would help keep the traveling public safe during future shutdowns. The other sponsors include Democratic U.S. Reps. Rick Larsen of Washington and Andre Carson of Indiana, along with Republican U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas, who leads the aviation subcommittee. “We all saw that the system can be vulnerable when Congress can’t get its job done,” Graves said. “This bill guarantees that controllers, who have one of the most high-pressure jobs in the nation, will get paid during any future funding lapses and that air traffic control, aviation safety, and the traveling public will never again be negatively impacted by shutdowns.” The bill’s introduction comes ahead of a scheduled hearing Wednesday by a Senate subcommittee to examine the impacts of the 43-day shutdown on aviation. But it’s not clear whether this bill — or any similar proposals that have been floating around Congress since the 2019 shutdown — will have a chance to get approved before the next government funding deadline at the end of January. Nearly all the other proposals, including one from U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, would rely on the aviation trust fund that collects money from fees the airlines pay, and the Congressional Budget Office has given those bills a much higher price tag. Fixes have been proposed, but none approved Over the years, lawmakers have tried a handful of fixes for a long-term solution to keep air traffic controllers and other essential aviation workers paid during funding lapses. The proposals often gained bipartisan attention, especially after the 35-day shutdown that ended in 2019 during President Donald The President’s first term, but none made it over the finish line. Moran’s bill, known as the Aviation Funding Stability Act, for example, is a recurring proposal in Congress that would allow the FAA to tap into the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. Lawmakers in both chambers have reintroduced versions of it over the years, including in 2019 and 2021. The legislation resurfaced in March when Moran, the Republican chairman of the Senate subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation, put it forward. It came up again in September, weeks before the shutdown began, when Carson and U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, also a Democrat, introduced it in the House. The new bill introduced Tuesday would cut off the money if the insurance fund dips below $1 billion. But Transportation Committee staffers estimate that would still provide enough funding to keep FAA operating for four to six weeks. Air traffic controllers stretched thin during shutdown The issue gets so much attention because of all the flight delays and cancellations that happen during a shutdown as more air traffic controllers call out of work. The existing shortage of controllers is so severe that just a few absences in an airport tower or other FAA radar facilities can cause problems. The controllers — and the FAA technicians who maintain the equipment they rely on — are expected to continue working without pay during a shutdown to keep flights operating. But as the shutdown dragged on this fall, more controllers began calling out of work, citing the financial pressures and the need to take on side jobs. The delays got so bad during the latest shutdown that the government ordered airlines to cut some of their flights at 40 busy airports nationwide, in what the FAA said was an unprecedented but necessary move to relieve pressure on the system and controllers. Thousands of flights were canceled before the FAA lifted the order entirely and airlines were able to resume normal operations Monday. Why the insurance fund was created The fund that the bill introduced Tuesday would use was created years ago to pay for claims an airline might file if the government uses one of its planes for a military operation or other use. But that’s not common anymore. The last time a claim was made was after America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. The fund has continued to grow as it collects interest. For a time, it was also used for an insurance fund at a time when airlines were having trouble getting any insurance coverage after 9/11. For years, airlines paid into the fund regularly to get coverage from the government. But by the early 2010s, the insurance market for airlines had stabilized. Congress let the insurance program expire at the end of 2014. —Josh Funk and Rio Yamat, AP transportation and airlines writers View the full article

New York City’s incoming mayor, Zohran Mamdani, hasn’t taken office yet. But he’s already the new avatar of evil for conservative media figures. He’s been called “downright sinister” and “incompatible with America.” His labels include commie, Marxist, jihadist sympathizer and “seething leftist.” Fox News’ Laura Ingraham warned her viewers not to be fooled by “smiling socialists who rule like Soviet tyrants.” A New York Post post-election cover that depicted Mamdani holding aloft the Soviet Union’s hammer and sickle symbol sold out on newsstands by noon and was offered on e-Bay for $75. By the end of the day, the Post was selling baby onesies and commemorative plates emblazoned with the cover. Already, conservative outlets see Mamdani joining Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Nancy Pelosi, and Hillary Clinton as someone guaranteed to make their audiences’ blood boil. And by doing so, they can help Republicans in the midterm elections. “It’s very clear that he’s going to be the No. 1 target of right-wing media for the foreseeable future, well into 2026,” said Howard Polskin, publisher of the Righting, a newsletter that follows conservative media. “He’s colorful, controversial and not afraid of a fight.” The new bogeyman for conservative media The head of an outlet that Polskin regularly monitors, the Daily Signal, said Mamdani is likely seen as a threat because his appeal to working-class Americans who feel left behind by the economy is similar to that of President Donald The President, although they have different ideas about how to handle that. “Remember years ago there was Nancy Pelosi who was the bogeyman for Republicans,” said Rob Bluey, president and executive editor of the Daily Signal. “I think Mamdani is probably going to be the new person. I think that’s why you see a lot of emphasis on him in conservative media.” In the Washington Examiner, editor-in-chief Hugo Gurdon saw ominous signs in Mamdani’s election night victory speech. “He was downright sinister, glorying not just in his achievement but in having laid low his vanquished enemies and stuck it to others besides. He took off his smiling campaign mask and revealed his venomous self,” Gurdon wrote. Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt called Mamdani the “mayor for the foreign-born. We have flooded the country with diversity, and diversity delivered us Zohran.” In an interview, Schmitt said he wasn’t quite ready to anoint Mamdani as a deliberate target for the conservative media. “A go-to bogeyman makes it sound like it’s manufactured,” he told The Associated Press, “whereas we are just appropriately concerned about people that are spewing or trying to push an ideology that is destined to not work.” The Post recognized Mamdani as a target of interest well before the election. Between Oct. 27 and Nov. 5, he was the subject of seven of the tabloid’s covers. One, headlined “Mam-Child,” depicted Mamdani in a little boy’s overalls to illustrate a column warning that the city wasn’t a toy to hand to a “baby like Zohran.” Another front page blared “Not Zo Fast” to herald a tightening race in the polls. Election Day’s lead headline was “The President to New York: Keep the Commie Out.” Mamdani reached out to the White House post-election for a meeting with The President and the president said Sunday that “we’ll work something out.” A socialist or a communist? Mamdani’s status as a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and his Muslim background are behind many of the conservative media attacks. Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” this spring whether he was a communist, Mamdani said, “No, I am not.” Webster’s defines socialism as a political theory where the community or government owns and controls the production and distribution of goods. Communism, advanced by revolutionary Karl Marx, is considered a step beyond, where private property and capitalism no longer exist. Many of Mamdani’s critics make no distinction. “Commie takeover in the Big Apple,” one Fox News onscreen headline read. “They elected a communist,” World Net Daily wrote. “Communist, not socialist,” The President said in a “60 Minutes” interview last month. “Communist. He’s far worse than a socialist.” Some Jewish groups have expressed skepticism about Mamdani, who has supported Palestinian rights and criticized Israel’s attack in Gaza as genocide. But he has denounced Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and said he will work to combat antisemitism. Republicans have a clear interest in seeing more American Jews — traditionally a group that leans toward Democrats — switch over. But that doesn’t account for some of the hostility seen in the media. The National Review said Mamdani’s win meant “it’s open season on New York Jews.” Megyn Kelly said the tenets of Islam are inconsistent with American values and Muslims should not be elected mayors or governors. Podcaster Michael Savage called him a “Marxist jihadist sympathizer.” Influencer Laura Loomer predicted Mamdani would encourage Muslims to commit political assassinations to acquire power and silence critics. Mamdani’s staff did not return messages from The Associated Press. In the waning days of his campaign, he spoke out against some of the religious-based attacks on him. “I thought that if I behaved well enough or bit my tongue enough in the face or racist, baseless attacks all while returning back to my central message, it would allow me to be more than just my faith,” he said. “I was wrong. No amount of redirection is ever enough.” Making Mamdani the leader of his party in consumers’ eyes Some of the attacks reflect a common theme in politics and the media — not unique to Mamdani — to associate all members of a political party with the beliefs of one who could be depicted as on the fringe. The Daily Signal wrote after his election that Mamdani “is now the putative leader of his party.” The Victory Girls conservative blog used an illustration of the incoming mayor in a military uniform. “The socialists are coming, and Mamdani is just the beginning,” the blog wrote. “If we ignore them, we will all be in big trouble.” “He’s the new AOC in the sense that they have found someone who is relatively unknown that they get to define and hold up as the example of what it means to be a Democrat,” said Angelo Carusone, president of the liberal media watchdog Media Matters for America. Carusone said he’s not sure if Mamdani will become a villain of the conservative media on the level of a Clinton or Pelosi, but he can understand the urgency. “If you don’t check him now,” Carusone said, “he’s going to capture the young people.” —David Bauder, AP media writer View the full article

As the landscape of remote work continues to evolve, Slack has unveiled a series of updates designed to enhance productivity and streamline workflows for businesses of all sizes. With nearly 20 new features highlighted in their recent press release, Slack aims to transform how teams interact and manage tasks, providing small business owners with tools that could lead to substantial efficiency gains. The latest improvements center around turbocharging user experience, enabling businesses to work smarter, not just faster. One standout feature is the real-time recap function. This tool allows users to refresh their messages easily, eliminating the hassle of sifting through multiple threads. By filtering out already-read messages and providing up-to-the-minute context, it helps teams stay agile and informed—a crucial aspect for small businesses managing tight schedules. “Think of this feature drop as giving your workday a turbo-boost and a deep clean,” Slack emphasizes, indicative of their commitment to user experience and productivity. Another key update involves integrating artificial intelligence with the platform. The inclusion of instant AI summaries for unread messages makes it easier for users to catch up on important information without feeling overwhelmed. For small business owners who may find themselves juggling multiple projects, these summaries streamline decision-making processes, enabling quicker actions on pressing issues. In terms of workflow automation, the introduction of new Salesforce Flow actions allows for deeper integration between Slack and Salesforce. This is particularly beneficial for businesses that rely heavily on customer relationship management. The ability to create Salesforce channels directly within Slack, alongside support for conditional branching in Workflow Builder, introduces powerful automation possibilities. Small businesses can now set up more complex workflows without needing extensive coding knowledge, streamlining operations further. “A streamlined workspace designed to eliminate friction and reduce noise” is another hallmark of this update, as Slack looks to enhance user experience. The new mobile redesign embraces Apple’s innovative Liquid Glass design, making the app feel more modern and intuitive. This is significant for small business owners who often use their mobile devices to stay connected when on the go. Enhancements like the self-cleaning sidebar help in maintaining an organized channel view by removing inactive conversations. This automatic tidying of workspace contributes to a smoother workflow, allowing teams to focus on current projects rather than being bogged down by clutter. However, while these updates present exciting opportunities, small business owners should approach them with an understanding of potential challenges. For instance, integrating new features effectively requires time and training. Teams might need to adapt their habits to fully leverage tools like the enhanced Workflow Builder—which, despite being user-friendly, still requires some learning. Moreover, the additional functionalities come at a cost. Features like real-time recaps, AI summaries, and advanced automation features are only available on higher-tier plans. Small business owners must assess whether the investment in upgraded plans aligns with their current operational needs. Key takeaways from Slack’s recent feature drop include: Real-time Recaps: Quickly catch up on messages and stay informed with minimal effort. AI Summaries: Gain immediate context from unread messages, speeding up decision-making processes. Salesforce Integration: Enhanced features facilitate smoother communication between Salesforce and Slack, allowing for robust automation. Mobile Redesign: A modern user interface improves the mobile experience, crucial for on-the-go professionals. Slack’s focus on making collaboration smarter emphasizes the platform’s adaptability for today’s changing work environments. As small business owners consider integrating these new tools, they have the potential to revolutionize communication, streamline workflows, and enhance overall productivity. To delve deeper into these features and explore how they can benefit your business, visit the original announcement at Slack Blog. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Slack Launches Major Feature Drop to Supercharge Team Productivity" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

As the landscape of remote work continues to evolve, Slack has unveiled a series of updates designed to enhance productivity and streamline workflows for businesses of all sizes. With nearly 20 new features highlighted in their recent press release, Slack aims to transform how teams interact and manage tasks, providing small business owners with tools that could lead to substantial efficiency gains. The latest improvements center around turbocharging user experience, enabling businesses to work smarter, not just faster. One standout feature is the real-time recap function. This tool allows users to refresh their messages easily, eliminating the hassle of sifting through multiple threads. By filtering out already-read messages and providing up-to-the-minute context, it helps teams stay agile and informed—a crucial aspect for small businesses managing tight schedules. “Think of this feature drop as giving your workday a turbo-boost and a deep clean,” Slack emphasizes, indicative of their commitment to user experience and productivity. Another key update involves integrating artificial intelligence with the platform. The inclusion of instant AI summaries for unread messages makes it easier for users to catch up on important information without feeling overwhelmed. For small business owners who may find themselves juggling multiple projects, these summaries streamline decision-making processes, enabling quicker actions on pressing issues. In terms of workflow automation, the introduction of new Salesforce Flow actions allows for deeper integration between Slack and Salesforce. This is particularly beneficial for businesses that rely heavily on customer relationship management. The ability to create Salesforce channels directly within Slack, alongside support for conditional branching in Workflow Builder, introduces powerful automation possibilities. Small businesses can now set up more complex workflows without needing extensive coding knowledge, streamlining operations further. “A streamlined workspace designed to eliminate friction and reduce noise” is another hallmark of this update, as Slack looks to enhance user experience. The new mobile redesign embraces Apple’s innovative Liquid Glass design, making the app feel more modern and intuitive. This is significant for small business owners who often use their mobile devices to stay connected when on the go. Enhancements like the self-cleaning sidebar help in maintaining an organized channel view by removing inactive conversations. This automatic tidying of workspace contributes to a smoother workflow, allowing teams to focus on current projects rather than being bogged down by clutter. However, while these updates present exciting opportunities, small business owners should approach them with an understanding of potential challenges. For instance, integrating new features effectively requires time and training. Teams might need to adapt their habits to fully leverage tools like the enhanced Workflow Builder—which, despite being user-friendly, still requires some learning. Moreover, the additional functionalities come at a cost. Features like real-time recaps, AI summaries, and advanced automation features are only available on higher-tier plans. Small business owners must assess whether the investment in upgraded plans aligns with their current operational needs. Key takeaways from Slack’s recent feature drop include: Real-time Recaps: Quickly catch up on messages and stay informed with minimal effort. AI Summaries: Gain immediate context from unread messages, speeding up decision-making processes. Salesforce Integration: Enhanced features facilitate smoother communication between Salesforce and Slack, allowing for robust automation. Mobile Redesign: A modern user interface improves the mobile experience, crucial for on-the-go professionals. Slack’s focus on making collaboration smarter emphasizes the platform’s adaptability for today’s changing work environments. As small business owners consider integrating these new tools, they have the potential to revolutionize communication, streamline workflows, and enhance overall productivity. To delve deeper into these features and explore how they can benefit your business, visit the original announcement at Slack Blog. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Slack Launches Major Feature Drop to Supercharge Team Productivity" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Move by Clive Lewis reflects increasing discontent with prime minister’s leadershipView the full article

The deduction's previous cap of $10K jumps to $2.5M. Quick Tax Tip With Art Werner Go PRO for members-only access to more Art Werner. View the full article

The deduction's previous cap of $10K jumps to $2.5M. Quick Tax Tip With Art Werner Go PRO for members-only access to more Art Werner. View the full article

Automation has shaped PPC for decades, and the landscape keeps shifting. I’ve seen that evolution firsthand, from helping build the first AdWords Editor to developing early Google Ads scripts and writing about automation layering. Now we’re entering another major transition. As AI changes how we search and get answers, it’s also transforming how automation itself gets built. And this time, the momentum isn’t coming from ad platforms like Google – it’s coming from AI companies like OpenAI. Until recently, AI mostly helped with human language tasks like writing ad copy, summaries, or reports. But the latest generation of LLMs can increasingly generate computer language too, including the software and workflows that streamline how we work. At OpenAI’s DevDay in San Francisco, the company introduced AgentKit, a new way to build AI that can take action. It marks the start of a phase where the automation mindset that powered PPC optimization can extend far beyond campaigns and into entire workflows. Imagine if AI could handle your everyday busywork Picture this: A client sends a CSV with weekly results, and before you’ve even opened the email, the file is saved to the right folder and added to your dashboard. A client asks for a meeting – AI checks your calendar, drafts an agenda, and schedules it. You start writing new ad copy with AI, and the system automatically pulls your brand guidelines and checks for tone and compliance. This is all possible today, and you don’t need an engineering degree to make it happen. If you can define how your work is broken down into distinct tasks, you can create an agent that does those steps for you. Dig deeper: 4 ways to connect your ads data to generative AI for smarter PPC What agents really are An AI agent is a smart helper that can figure out what needs to happen and then take action using connected tools. Software has historically been built around deterministic steps. If X, do Y, else do Z. It’s predictable, but inflexible. And it requires humans to define every possible scenario that should be covered, which makes writing a helpful program time-consuming and difficult. But just like an LLM is flexible in how it answers your questions, it can use that flexibility to automatically figure out a reasonable next step to complete a task. Instead of replying with text, agents can reason through steps, call APIs, and perform tasks. I’ve explained early versions of this before: You ask ChatGPT for restaurant ideas while planning a trip. It suggests a few places. It then uses an app like Resy to book the reservation. That’s what an agent does: it can understand your intent and take a real-world step. This concept builds on earlier OpenAI features, such as GPT Actions and function calling, which gave models controlled access to outside data. Agents are the next evolution – they combine reasoning with execution, meaning they can plan and act in the same flow. Now, think about that in PPC terms. An agent could pull campaign data, summarize results, and even reference brand or policy docs before generating compliant creative. That’s a big step up from traditional “AI writing assistants.” Dig deeper: AI agents in PPC: What to know and build today From coding projects to five-minute builds AI agents aren’t a new idea. Many marketers, myself included, have experimented with them for more than a year, but it used to take a lot of technical work. About a year and a half ago, I built an agent based on the two books I’d written that could answer questions in my tone and reference my ideas. I used LangChain, one of the first frameworks for connecting large language models to data and tools. It worked, but it wasn’t quick. I had to learn vector databases, RAG, and several other moving parts to get it working – not something most PPC pros want to tackle on a Monday morning. Since then, several companies have made it easier to build agents like these, and some even feature them with a digital clone of a person, such as HeyGen. But when OpenAI introduces a way to create agents, I pay attention – and that’s what they did with AgentKit. It brings a visual interface for building agents directly on the platform of the most used chatbot. What used to take hours or days of development can now be done in minutes, and you don’t need to know how to code. AgentKit: ‘Zapier for AI’ AgentKit is OpenAI’s new toolkit for creating agents that can connect to tools and take actions through those tools. It’s a visual builder where you link services like Gmail, Dropbox, or Slack, and describe what the agent should do using tools you already use every day. If you’ve ever used Zapier, n8n, Make, or Rule Engine, the concept will feel familiar: you connect blocks in sequences that represent what you want to happen. But because a flexible AI model sits at the core of these flows, AgentKit is different – it can use reasoning instead of rigid rules. If that sounds scary, you can add a simple human-in-the-loop approval step to any flow. Instead of “If X happens, do Y,” you can say, “If a client sends a campaign report, summarize it and save it to the right folder.” The AI figures out how to do that by making reasonable requests that help it understand what you mean by vague instructions like “the right folder.” For PPC marketers, this opens the door to automating work around campaigns (think reporting, documentation, and creative preparation), without waiting for a platform feature or a developer. Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. The unsung hero: Model Context Protocol (MCP) Under the hood, much of the power that enables agents to take action comes from the Model Context Protocol, or MCP. It’s not brand-new, but it’s the key piece that makes all of this work. MCPs are the connectors that let agents talk to your tools or data in a structured way. If you think of APIs as the connectors of the web, MCPs are similar, but built as a standard that any LLM can use. Some are built by OpenAI, like the connectors for Dropbox or Gmail. Others come from third-party developers, like Box. And you can create your own to connect private data or internal systems. You can think of it this way: MCPs are the plumbing. AgentKit is the faucet. The plumbing defines what data can flow where. The faucet is how you turn that into something usable. Without MCPs, an agent would be like a brilliant intern with no logins to any of the systems they need. With them, the agent can safely use your data and tools with clear permissions. Dig deeper: How Model Context Protocol is shaping the future of AI and search marketing MCPs in plain terms If this still sounds abstract, think of an MCP as a menu of what an AI can do inside a given flow. For example, the Google Ads MCP currently includes actions like: Search for entities. List connected customers. That’s it for now. It can read data, but it can’t change bids or create ads yet. That limitation is a good illustration that MCPs don’t open the door to entire systems for an LLM to go wild. Instead, they provide a defined set of capabilities created by the MCP developer. It’s an important guardrail. And even with MCPs that offer broader capabilities, you still control exactly which actions your agent can access when you integrate them into a flow. Even in this early state, it’s a clear preview of how AI might eventually interact with Google Ads data through well-defined, secure interfaces. Example: A ‘brand-safe ad assistant’ Here’s what this looks like in practice. Imagine you want an AI assistant that writes Google Ads while automatically following your brand voice and legal disclaimers. In AgentKit, you could create an agent with two connected tools: Dropbox, where your brand guidelines live. A vector store with your agency’s tone and policy docs. You could then ask the agent to “write new RSA headlines for our fall campaign using our style and disclaimers,” and it would connect with the right data to complete the task. Behind the scenes, it reads the files, extracts the rules, and generates compliant ad copy. You still approve the final version, but the prep work is automated. It may sound simple, especially since you can already do this with a custom GPT, but it shows how these building blocks can be expanded. For example, you could integrate an MCP for your email platform and have the agent send a client an approval request for the creatives it generated. Connecting data sources in AgentKit Here are the steps to create an agent connected to the two data sources mentioned above. In Agent Builder, click the + icon next to Tools to give your agent a new capability, such as connecting it to an MCP. Choose an existing MCP, like the ones shown here, or connect a custom MCP by clicking + Server. You can also add a file search capability and select the files to include directly in the pop-up dialog. Now you can interact with the agent to see how it uses its new abilities to produce better answers and, where enabled, how it uses other tools to take actions. Dig deeper: How to get smarter with AI in PPC Why this shift matters for PPC If you’ve been in PPC for a while, you’ve seen this script before. We went from manual optimizations, to automated rules, to scripts, to automation layering – and each wave changed the skill set needed to stay ahead. Agents are the next wave. Instead of writing scripts or building workflows with APIs, we’ll soon describe them in plain English and let AI generate the logic. That amplifies what marketers can do. The core skills stay the same – strategy, measurement, and judgment – but the way we build automation is about to get much faster, more flexible, and far more accessible. What these early agent tools reveal about what’s coming The current tools for building AI agents are still early. Setting up an MCP takes some configuration, and the Google Ads connector is limited to reading data. But the potential is clear: AI will move beyond generating text to running workflows, checking rules, and getting work done. If you want to stay ahead of this shift, start small. Experiment with simple automations that connect your email, files, or reports. Learn what agents can and can’t do yet. Just as marketers who adopted scripts early will be the ones setting the standard later, those who learn this now will be the ones setting the standard later. Dig deeper: Agentic PPC: What performance marketing could look like in 2030 View the full article

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web. Google released Gemini 3 and it is now powering Google Search's AI Mode...View the full article

To me, the under-desk treadmill is the ultimate symbol of productivity culture (read: late-stage capitalism). And I'm exactly the type to buy into the under-desk treadmill appeal. Why shouldn't I want to walk while I work, burn calories during calls, and transform my sedentary office prisons into a wellness wonderland—all without sacrificing a single billable hour? (Never mind that I don't work in an office or bill my hours.) Office fitness is the perfect hack for our optimization-obsessed culture, promising that we can have it all: career success and physical health, no trade-offs required. But when I see an under-desk treadmill, I also remember when we all swore that replacing our desk chairs with yoga balls would change our lives. Or that a standing desk, or a balance board, or some kind of pedaling contraption would do the same. In other words, nothing ever changes. I'm not denying that there's a problem with fully sedentary work days; it's just that no one gadget ever seems to be the solution. And the problem isn't that we lack willpower or that the products are inherently flawed. The problem is that we're buying solutions to the wrong problem. The allure of multitasking your way to healthI'm not immune to the fantasy either. When you're drowning in deadlines and meetings bleed into evenings, the idea that you could somehow merge your workout with your workday feels like a lifeline. Why carve out an hour for the gym when you could just walk while answering emails? It's efficient! It's smart! It's...probably not going to work the way you hope. "I think these products can and do work for some people, but there's an important caveat: there's no replacement for actually getting away from your desk for a mental and physical break," says Jen Fisher, formerly the chief wellbeing officer at Deloitte. "There's a real irony here—these products aim to solve one problem (sedentary behavior) but reinforce another (never truly disconnecting from work)." Therein lies the paradox: We're trying to optimize ourselves into working more, not better. An under-desk treadmill might give you movement, sure, but it keeps you tethered to your screen, always available, always productive. You might think that if anyone could make office fitness gadgets work, it would be Google—a company famous for its wellness perks and campus amenities. But even there, this pattern persists. "I love the treadmill desks that we have available whenever I've used them," says Shosh Brodman, a senior Google Workspace program manager with over 13 years at the company. "But I think I've used it maybe less than five times." Brodman's experience with an under-desk pedaling device was similar: initial excitement followed by abandonment. She says that despite access to gyms, treadmill desks, and a culture that supports movement, the fundamental problem remains: the structure of modern work doesn't actually allow for these interventions. The one thing that did work for her? Step-tracking contests that encouraged actual breaks and movement, creating social motivation to escape the desk entirely. Compared to an under-desk treadmill, a real lunch walk gives you something far more valuable: a little mental space, entirely separate from work. Fitness gadgets become another source of anxietyThe fitness gadget industrial complex has convinced us that the path to wellness is paved with data, tracking, and technology. But for many people, these tools become yet another thing to feel bad about. "When it specifically comes to products that people use to mitigate their sedentary lifestyle, gadgets are never the answer," says Melissa Painter, founder of Breakthru, an app that guides users through two-minute movement breaks. "Especially not gadgets that cause us inadvertently to outsource our body's intelligence to a piece of tech. The minute we're staring at data in the face of what we've 'done wrong,' the more likely we're going to put it in a drawer and step away." This points to a pattern many of us recognize: the sleep tracker that made us more anxious about sleep, the step counter that turned movement into a guilt-inducing scorecard. Tools are only useful if they nudge us toward feeling better, rather than becoming another metric of inadequacy. The absurdity becomes clear when we consider what actually helps us think and solve problems. "The reason going for a walk helps you solve a problem is because you're moving and untethered," Painter says. "The space and time away from your screen is an invitation for your mind to wander just enough so that instinctual solutions can emerge. Walking on a treadmill is not going to have the same impact. It's like trying to do the wrong kinds of thinking at once." Breaking free from productivity cultureHere's what makes our gadget obsession even more frustrating: We already know what works, but we just don't want to hear it, because it requires actually stepping away from work. "It's very American to think we don't need breaks," Painter says. Trapped in non-stop productivity culture, we fall prey to this idea that "wellness" requires an enormous amount of time and money. We live in a culture that treats rest as laziness and breaks as luxuries. Fisher says that the type of work matters: "For passive tasks—listening to a meeting, reading documents—these tools might genuinely help. But I worry about the cultural message when we're optimizing to work more rather than building in real breaks that actually support our wellbeing." If these gadgets work in addition to actual breaks, great. But if you're thinking "now I can skip my lunch walk because I have a treadmill desk," that's where we've gone wrong. Fitness gadgets around the office allow us to maintain this idea that we can always be productive without any downtime. As if our bodies are just machines that need the right accessories to run indefinitely. We'd rather invest in expensive gadgets that let us keep working than accept that you might need to actually stop and rest. As a result, most of us end the workday feeling overwhelmed, fatigued, nowhere near the end of our to-do lists, and nowhere close to wanting to go to the gym. The problem isn't the under-desk treadmill itself, but the slippery slope of non-stop-optimization it represents. So, what's the solution? How to actually prioritize your wellness at workThe irony is that the effective solutions are free and simple—they just require us to challenge the "always on" culture we've normalized. What people need instead are genuinely brief interventions that help them feel better and reconnect with their bodies. Getting up to see the sun. Watering a plant. Taking a walking meeting. These aren't fancy, and they don't require a $1,200 piece of equipment, but they do require something that feels even more expensive in our work culture: permission to stop working, even briefly. There's no need to swear off all office fitness products. Standing desks with decent ergonomics have real value for shifting body position throughout the day. If you genuinely use that balance board or under-desk elliptical regularly for passive tasks, and it's in addition to real breaks, keep at it. But for most of us, the better investment isn't another gadget—it's the harder work of time management and cultural change: Set actual boundaries around breaks. Block time for a real lunch away from your desk. Schedule walking meetings. Stand up and stretch between Zoom calls. These sound obvious because they are, but we skip them because we've internalized the message that real breaks are indulgent. Question the productivity narrative. Just like your doctor has been telling you for years: more movement throughout your day, across your lifetime, improves thinking, mood, focus, and attention span. If you still want to think in terms of productivity, consider that taking breaks isn't sacrificing productivity, but actually promoting it. Start absurdly small. You don't need a $1,500 treadmill desk. You need to get up once an hour and walk to the window. Water a plant, step outside for a coffee, or try to touch your toes. The bottom lineThe fitness gadget industry thrives on our desire to optimize, to find the one weird trick that lets us have it all. But the actual hack is much less sexy: we need to accept that human bodies require breaks, that our brains need space to wander, and that no piece of equipment will let us cheat these fundamental needs. The treadmill desk isn't evil. It's just a symptom of our broader refusal to accept that rest is productive, and that being fully present for our work sometimes means being fully absent from our screens. So before you click "buy" on that under-desk elliptical, ask yourself: Am I solving my sedentariness problem, or am I buying permission to never truly step away from work? Because if it's the latter, you already know where it's going to end up—right next to that dusty yoga ball in the corner. View the full article

In today’s hyper-competitive B2B landscape, marketing leaders face a paradox: The pace of change is relentless, yet the need for clarity and purpose has never been greater. With artificial intelligence (AI) reshaping every facet of business, the imperative is not just to keep up but to lead the charge. To navigate this complexity, we must lead with vision and innovate with intent—focusing our efforts, aligning teams, and making decisions that drive the business forward. Below is a no-nonsense framework for CMOs to fulfill our mandate of not just keeping up with the market but shaping what comes next. VISION IS THE STRATEGIC COMPASS Vision is more than a lofty statement on a corporate website. It’s a strategic compass that sets a clear direction for decision-making, inspires bold thinking, and aligns marketing with broader business transformation goals. AI is not just a technology trend—it’s a strategic lens through which visionary CMOs anticipate market shifts, personalize at scale, and create new sources of value. Vision encourages us to look beyond quarterly targets and toward long-term value creation. It’s not just about where we’re going, but why our destination matters. Peter Drucker’s insight that “the best way to predict the future is to create it” reminds us that visionary marketers don’t wait for trends to unfold. They shape them—often by harnessing AI’s predictive and generative power. Consider Microsoft’s transformation under the leadership of CEO Satya Nadella. By repositioning itself as a cloud-first, AI-forward enterprise leader, Microsoft’s market cap soared from ~$300 billion in 2014 to over $3 trillion by 2024. Unified branding, thought leadership, and marketing aligned with product vision—and a bold embrace of AI—were instrumental in this journey. The lesson is clear: A rebrand aligned with long-term strategy and market trends, especially those driven by AI, can unlock massive shareholder value. INNOVATION IS THE DIFFERENTIATION ENGINE In saturated markets, differentiation is survival. Innovation allows us to stand out, not just in what we offer, but in how we engage, deliver, and evolve. AI-driven insights empower marketers to test, learn, and iterate at unprecedented speed, turning data into differentiated experiences that set brands apart. Whether through product, experience, or brand voice, marketers must respond to evolving customer needs and emerging technologies. The challenge is to build a unique voice, foster a culture of innovation, and lead with empathy and agility, even while navigating internal barriers like silos and legacy systems. Steve Jobs captured this imperative when he said, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” For marketing leaders, innovation—now supercharged by AI—is the engine that powers strategic impact. Apple’s journey from the dot-com bust to unprecedented growth is a testament to visionary leadership and relentless innovation. Strategic repositioning built a premium brand and loyal customer base. The transformation wasn’t just about technology. It was about storytelling, experience, and strategic marketing, now increasingly powered by AI-driven personalization and creative tools. When marketing aligns with product innovation, long-term strategy, and the intelligent application of AI, it can redefine industries and drive valuation from billions to trillions. VISION MEETS INNOVATION At onsemi, our own transformation showcases how aligning vision and innovation can redefine a brand. Once known primarily as a reliable supplier, onsemi has emerged as a high-value technology leader in intelligent power and sensing. Under CEO Hassane El-Khoury, our identity evolved from traditional, engineering-focused to forward-looking, innovation-driven. Marketing played a pivotal role in translating the strategic vision into measurable results. Marketing leaders operationalize and bring vision and innovation to life with a strategic framework that tightly aligns marketing with business goals. Today, they must put AI at the center of every pillar. The backbone of a modern AI-centered marketing engine includes these eight fundamentals: Brand purpose and positioning: AI-powered sentiment analysis and competitive intelligence inform meaningful, consistent messaging. Market and audience intelligence: AI enables dynamic segmentation, lookalike modeling, and predictive analytics for personalization at scale. AI-powered demand generation: Generative AI creates dynamic content, while predictive models fuel pipeline growth through targeted outreach. Optimized digital experiences and customer intelligence platforms: AI-driven personalization engines and recommendation systems ensure every interaction is seamless and insight-rich. Unified messaging architecture: AI helps keep the story coherent across channels, adapting in real time to audience feedback. Innovative tactics: Agile marketing models, strategic AI personalization, and customer journey mapping empower teams to iterate quickly and adapt to change. Customer experience: A relentless focus on customer experience transforms every touchpoint into a strategic advantage. AI tools can anticipate needs and deliver value before customers even ask. Cross-functional collaboration: Marketing collaborating with sales, product engineering, and corporate strategy ensures that marketing is at the table, shaping the future rather than just communicating it. Taken together, these elements create a marketing engine that drives growth, relevance, and long-term impact. LEAD WITH VISION, EXECUTE WITH INNOVATION, DELIVER WITH IMPACT—POWERED BY AI If there’s one takeaway for marketing executives, it’s this: Lead with vision, execute with innovation, and deliver with impact. Vision inspires teams and aligns stakeholders. Innovation—now inseparable from AI—keeps us relevant and unlocks differentiated value. Impact is measured not just in impressions and engagement, but in pipeline, revenue, and strategic growth. When we connect vision to execution, harness the power of AI, and measure our impact, we elevate marketing from a function to a force. The future belongs to those who shape it. Let’s continue to lead with clarity, execute with creativity, and deliver with purpose—embracing AI as a core leadership competency for the next era of marketing. Felicity Carson is chief marketing officer at onsemi. View the full article

A Gustav Klimt portrait painting that helped save the life of its Jewish subject during the Holocaust sold Tuesday for $236.4 million, a record for a modern art piece. Klimt’s “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer” sold after a 20-minute bidding war at Sotheby’s in New York, where the flashiest item of the night was a solid gold, fully functioning toilet that went for $12.1 million. The 6-foot-tall (1.8-meter-tall) portrait, painted over three years between 1914 and 1916, depicts the daughter of one of Vienna’s wealthiest families adorned in an East Asian emperor’s cloak. It is one of two full-length portraits by the Austrian artist that remain privately owned. The work was kept separate from other Klimt paintings that burned in a fire at an Austrian castle. The colorful painting depicts the Lederer family’s life of luxury before Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938. Nazis looted the Lederer art collection, leaving only the family portraits, which were considered “too Jewish” to be worth stealing, according to the National Gallery of Canada, where the painting was previously on loan. In an attempt to save herself, Elisabeth Lederer made up a story that Klimt, who was not Jewish and died in 1918, was her father. It helped that the artist spent years working meticulously on her portrait. With help from her former brother-in-law, a high-ranking Nazi official, she convinced the Nazis to give her a document stating that she descended from Klimt. That allowed her to remain safely in Vienna until she died of an illness in 1944. The portrait was part of the collection of billionaire Leonard A. Lauder, heir to cosmetics giant The Estée Lauder Companies. He died this year at 92, leaving behind an impressive collection worth more than $400 million. Sotheby’s declined to share the identity of the portrait’s buyer. The sale topped a previous record for 20th-century art set by an Andy Warhol portrait of Marilyn Monroe, which sold for $195 million in 2022. Five Klimt pieces from Lauder’s collection sold at the auction for a total of $392 million, Sotheby’s said. Pieces by Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse and Edvard Munch were among other notable sales. Later in the evening, an 18-karat-gold toilet by Maurizio Cattelan — the provocative Italian artist known for taping a banana to a wall — hit the auction block. Cattelan has said the 223-pound (101-kilogram) piece, titled “America,” satirizes superwealth. “Whatever you eat, a $200 lunch or a $2 hot dog, the results are the same, toilet-wise,” he once said. The toilet, owned by an unnamed collector, was one of two that Cattelan created in 2016. The other was displayed in 2016 at New York’s Guggenheim Museum, which pointedly offered to lend it to U.S. President Donald The President when he asked to borrow a Van Gogh painting. Then the piece was stolen while on display in England at Blenheim Palace, the country manor where Winston Churchill was born. Two men were convicted in the toilet heist, but it’s unclear what they did with the loo. Investigators aren’t privy to its whereabouts but believe it was likely broken up and melted down. “America” was exhibited at Sotheby’s New York headquarters in the weeks leading up to the auction. Sotheby’s called the commode an “incisive commentary on the collision of artistic production and commodity value.” —Hannah Schoenbaum, Associated Press View the full article

Adobe is buying Semrush in a $1.9 billion all-cash deal and adding the platform to Adobe Experience Cloud and its AI marketing stack. The post Adobe To Acquire Semrush In $1.9 Billion Cash Deal appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

To succeed in small business sales, you need effective strategies that drive results. Start by building a solid pipeline of quality leads, and don’t overlook the potential within your existing customer base. Research is key to comprehending your audience better, enabling you to tailor your communication. Setting clear goals for each interaction improves focus and conversion rates. These foundational strategies can greatly boost your sales performance, but there’s more to explore. Key Takeaways Build a pipeline of quality leads through effective lead generation tactics, improving sales productivity and fostering consistent lead flow. Focus on selling to existing customers by identifying upselling opportunities and implementing loyalty programs to drive long-term growth. Conduct thorough research on prospects to customize communication, increasing response rates and enhancing engagement during sales interactions. Set clear, incremental goals for sales interactions tailored to the prospect’s position in the sales cycle, improving conversion rates. Utilize win-win strategies and automation to enhance efficiency, track interactions, and ensure timely follow-ups, boosting overall sales performance. Build a Pipeline of Quality Leads Building a pipeline of quality leads is essential for driving sales success in your small business. Effective lead generation can greatly improve your sales productivity by reducing the time your team spends searching for leads. Utilize lead generation tactics like contact forms, online advertising, and content marketing to attract potential customers. These marketing strategies for small businesses not just streamline pipeline management but additionally create a consistent flow of leads, which shortens the sales cycle. When you implement effective lead generation, your sales team can focus on nurturing relationships and converting prospects into customers. Waldron Private Wealth exemplifies this by using live chat, contact forms, and engaging blogs to guarantee a steady influx of leads, in the end boosting overall sales effectiveness. Sell to Existing Customers Selling to existing customers is a smart way to increase your sales without the high costs associated with acquiring new clients. By identifying upselling opportunities and implementing loyalty programs, you can encourage repeat business and strengthen customer relationships. Regular engagement with your current clients not just builds trust but furthermore opens doors for more customized offers based on their purchasing habits. Upselling Opportunities When you focus on upselling to existing customers, you tap into a strategy that can yield significant returns with lower costs. Since acquiring new customers is five times more expensive, leveraging your current clientele is smart. Existing customers already trust your brand, making it easier for you to introduce complementary products or services. By analyzing purchasing patterns, you can pinpoint upselling opportunities customized to their interests. Regular communication about promotions improves customer engagement and encourages increased sales. Consider implementing loyalty programs, as they can incentivize customers to make additional purchases. Companies like Spikeball effectively reward their customers with programs like “SpikePoints,” showcasing how you can boost revenue while nurturing long-term relationships with your clientele. Loyalty Programs Loyalty programs can be a potent tool for small businesses looking to capitalize on their existing customer base. By implementing programs like Spikeball’s “SpikePoints,” you encourage repeat business through point accumulation for specific actions. This approach not only improves customer retention but additionally makes marketing for small businesses more cost-effective, as upselling to current customers is markedly cheaper than acquiring new ones. Studies show that a mere 5% increase in customer retention can lead to a 25% to 95% profit boost. Offering personalized promotions and exclusive deals through loyalty programs cultivates stronger relationships, increases customer satisfaction, and encourages referrals. In the end, these strategies allow you to maximize the value of your loyal customers while driving long-term growth. Do Your Research Researching your prospects is crucial for effective sales outreach, as it allows you to customize your communication to their specific needs and challenges. Comprehending a prospect’s company and its unique hurdles improves your messaging, making them more likely to respond positively. Well-researched emails can increase response rates by up to 30%, emphasizing the importance of personalized outreach. By applying marketing solutions for small businesses and integrating marketing tactics for small businesses, you can develop a focused approach. Utilize marketing tips for small businesses to create customized messages that resonate. This research as well prepares you for objections, reducing unnecessary back-and-forth communication. In the end, knowing your prospects leads to impactful interactions, crucial for mastering the best marketing strategies for small business success. Set Clear Goals for Interactions Setting clear goals for each sales interaction not just streamlines the sales process but guarantees that conversations remain focused and productive. By establishing incremental goals, like scheduling a follow-up call or sharing additional information, you create a structured approach that eases any intimidation for prospects. Tailoring these interaction goals based on where the prospect stands in the sales cycle allows you to provide relevant information and address their specific concerns. Sales reps who set and communicate clear goals are often more successful, leading to higher conversion rates. Regularly reviewing and adjusting these goals based on performance data improves your overall sales effectiveness and aligns your sales strategies for small business success with evolving customer needs, providing valuable marketing help for small businesses. Think Win-Win A win-win mindset is essential for creating sales strategies that benefit both your business and your customers. By focusing on mutually beneficial outcomes, you cultivate long-term relationships that improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, helping you implement the best marketing tactics for small business. Satisfied customers are more likely to refer others, increasing your reach. Furthermore, effective lead qualification guarantees your product genuinely meets buyer needs, leading to higher conversion rates. This approach boosts your brand reputation in the market; customers see you as trustworthy and customer-centric. When thinking win-win, you navigate negotiations more effectively, making both parties feel valued and understood, which minimizes conflicts. Incorporating win-win strategies can considerably improve your marketing for small companies and overall success. Keep Following Up Building strong relationships with customers through a win-win mindset lays the groundwork for effective follow-up strategies. Following up consistently can greatly boost your conversion rates; studies show that it often takes five follow-ups to close a sale. Regular outreach keeps your product or service top of mind for prospects, enhancing their engagement and interest. To implement effective marketing plans for small businesses, adopt a systematic approach that includes varied methods like emails, calls, or messages. Timing is also essential; strategically spacing your follow-ups can lead to higher response rates. By creating a sales cadence for your outreach, you streamline the process, ensuring consistent communication and maximizing your chances of success. This is one of the best ways to market a small business effectively. Use a Self-Managing Communication Tool Using a self-managing communication tool can greatly streamline your sales team’s processes, allowing you to focus on selling rather than administrative tasks. These tools automate vital functions, improve tracking capabilities, and create a more efficient workflow by minimizing the need to juggle multiple applications. Streamlined Communication Processes Streamlined communication processes are essential for improving sales efficiency in small businesses, and implementing a self-managing communication tool can greatly contribute to this goal. Tools like RingCentral help minimize the need to switch between applications, allowing your sales team to focus on selling rather than administrative tasks. This can considerably improve your marketing management in small business contexts. By maintaining organized communication logs, you improve relationship management with prospects, which is key in marketing a small service business. Here’s a quick overview of the benefits: Benefit Description Impact on Sales Improved Communication Centralizes calls and meetings Increases response rates Organized Logs Keeps track of interactions Improves follow-up consistency Reduced Manual Effort Automates reminders and tracking Boosts productivity Automation for Efficiency When you implement automation tools in your sales processes, you can greatly improve efficiency and productivity within your team. Self-managing communication tools streamline your sales marketing efforts by reducing manual tasks, allowing your team to focus on what matters—closing deals. These tools help track interactions with prospects and customers, ensuring timely follow-ups and reminders, which can markedly enhance your marketing business plan. By minimizing application switching, you’ll find that improving workflow becomes seamless, making it one of the best marketing techniques for small businesses. Furthermore, consistent engagement through automated communication leads to higher conversion rates and a more organized sales process, ultimately driving your business’s success. Embrace automation and watch your team’s efficiency soar. Enhanced Tracking Capabilities How can improved tracking capabilities transform your sales process? By implementing a self-managing communication tool like RingCentral, you can greatly improve your sales efforts. These tools streamline your communication, allowing you to make calls and hold meetings directly from your email, which is vital for small business marketing strategies. Automation features track interactions with prospects, ensuring timely follow-ups—crucial in marketing for SMEs where studies show that closing sales often requires multiple touchpoints. Centralizing communication reduces manual tasks, enabling your team to focus on selling rather than administration. Maintaining updated contact lists helps avoid wasted efforts on outdated information, making this one of the best marketing strategies for small businesses. Improved tracking capabilities lead to better relationship management and increased sales effectiveness. Frequently Asked Questions What Is the 3-3-3 Rule in Sales? The 3-3-3 rule in sales involves making three attempts to contact a prospect over three days. If you don’t receive a response, you wait three weeks before trying again. This method emphasizes persistence while preventing overwhelming your prospects. What Are the 5 W’s in Sales? In sales, the 5 W’s are crucial for comprehending and connecting with your audience. The “Who” identifies your target customer, helping you tailor your approach. The “What” describes your product or service, highlighting its unique benefits. The “When” refers to the timing of your outreach, aligning with customer buying patterns. The “Where” specifies the channels for communication, and the “Why” uncovers the motivations behind a customer’s decision to purchase. What Are the 3 C’s in Sales? The 3 C’s in sales are Company, Customers, and Competitors. First, assess your Company to identify strengths, weaknesses, and unique value propositions. Next, analyze your Customers to grasp their demographics, needs, and buying behaviors, allowing you to tailor your sales approach effectively. Finally, evaluate your Competitors by researching their strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. This thorough comprehension helps you position your offerings effectively and seize market opportunities, enhancing your overall sales effectiveness. What Are the 4 A’s of Sales? The 4 A’s of sales are Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. First, you capture Attention through engaging content that resonates with your target audience. Next, you build Interest by providing valuable information that addresses their specific needs. Then, you create Desire by highlighting the unique benefits of your product, making an emotional connection. Finally, you prompt Action with clear calls-to-action, guiding prospects to take the next steps, such as making a purchase or signing up. Conclusion By implementing these seven effective sales strategies, you can improve your small business’s success. Building a solid lead pipeline, nurturing existing customers, and conducting thorough research will set a strong foundation. Clear goals for interactions and a win-win mindset promote productive relationships. Consistent follow-ups and utilizing self-managing communication tools streamline your sales process. By focusing on these methods, you’ll not just drive sales performance but additionally create a sustainable growth path for your business. Image via Google Gemini This article, "7 Effective Sales Strategies for Small Business Success" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

To succeed in small business sales, you need effective strategies that drive results. Start by building a solid pipeline of quality leads, and don’t overlook the potential within your existing customer base. Research is key to comprehending your audience better, enabling you to tailor your communication. Setting clear goals for each interaction improves focus and conversion rates. These foundational strategies can greatly boost your sales performance, but there’s more to explore. Key Takeaways Build a pipeline of quality leads through effective lead generation tactics, improving sales productivity and fostering consistent lead flow. Focus on selling to existing customers by identifying upselling opportunities and implementing loyalty programs to drive long-term growth. Conduct thorough research on prospects to customize communication, increasing response rates and enhancing engagement during sales interactions. Set clear, incremental goals for sales interactions tailored to the prospect’s position in the sales cycle, improving conversion rates. Utilize win-win strategies and automation to enhance efficiency, track interactions, and ensure timely follow-ups, boosting overall sales performance. Build a Pipeline of Quality Leads Building a pipeline of quality leads is essential for driving sales success in your small business. Effective lead generation can greatly improve your sales productivity by reducing the time your team spends searching for leads. Utilize lead generation tactics like contact forms, online advertising, and content marketing to attract potential customers. These marketing strategies for small businesses not just streamline pipeline management but additionally create a consistent flow of leads, which shortens the sales cycle. When you implement effective lead generation, your sales team can focus on nurturing relationships and converting prospects into customers. Waldron Private Wealth exemplifies this by using live chat, contact forms, and engaging blogs to guarantee a steady influx of leads, in the end boosting overall sales effectiveness. Sell to Existing Customers Selling to existing customers is a smart way to increase your sales without the high costs associated with acquiring new clients. By identifying upselling opportunities and implementing loyalty programs, you can encourage repeat business and strengthen customer relationships. Regular engagement with your current clients not just builds trust but furthermore opens doors for more customized offers based on their purchasing habits. Upselling Opportunities When you focus on upselling to existing customers, you tap into a strategy that can yield significant returns with lower costs. Since acquiring new customers is five times more expensive, leveraging your current clientele is smart. Existing customers already trust your brand, making it easier for you to introduce complementary products or services. By analyzing purchasing patterns, you can pinpoint upselling opportunities customized to their interests. Regular communication about promotions improves customer engagement and encourages increased sales. Consider implementing loyalty programs, as they can incentivize customers to make additional purchases. Companies like Spikeball effectively reward their customers with programs like “SpikePoints,” showcasing how you can boost revenue while nurturing long-term relationships with your clientele. Loyalty Programs Loyalty programs can be a potent tool for small businesses looking to capitalize on their existing customer base. By implementing programs like Spikeball’s “SpikePoints,” you encourage repeat business through point accumulation for specific actions. This approach not only improves customer retention but additionally makes marketing for small businesses more cost-effective, as upselling to current customers is markedly cheaper than acquiring new ones. Studies show that a mere 5% increase in customer retention can lead to a 25% to 95% profit boost. Offering personalized promotions and exclusive deals through loyalty programs cultivates stronger relationships, increases customer satisfaction, and encourages referrals. In the end, these strategies allow you to maximize the value of your loyal customers while driving long-term growth. Do Your Research Researching your prospects is crucial for effective sales outreach, as it allows you to customize your communication to their specific needs and challenges. Comprehending a prospect’s company and its unique hurdles improves your messaging, making them more likely to respond positively. Well-researched emails can increase response rates by up to 30%, emphasizing the importance of personalized outreach. By applying marketing solutions for small businesses and integrating marketing tactics for small businesses, you can develop a focused approach. Utilize marketing tips for small businesses to create customized messages that resonate. This research as well prepares you for objections, reducing unnecessary back-and-forth communication. In the end, knowing your prospects leads to impactful interactions, crucial for mastering the best marketing strategies for small business success. Set Clear Goals for Interactions Setting clear goals for each sales interaction not just streamlines the sales process but guarantees that conversations remain focused and productive. By establishing incremental goals, like scheduling a follow-up call or sharing additional information, you create a structured approach that eases any intimidation for prospects. Tailoring these interaction goals based on where the prospect stands in the sales cycle allows you to provide relevant information and address their specific concerns. Sales reps who set and communicate clear goals are often more successful, leading to higher conversion rates. Regularly reviewing and adjusting these goals based on performance data improves your overall sales effectiveness and aligns your sales strategies for small business success with evolving customer needs, providing valuable marketing help for small businesses. Think Win-Win A win-win mindset is essential for creating sales strategies that benefit both your business and your customers. By focusing on mutually beneficial outcomes, you cultivate long-term relationships that improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, helping you implement the best marketing tactics for small business. Satisfied customers are more likely to refer others, increasing your reach. Furthermore, effective lead qualification guarantees your product genuinely meets buyer needs, leading to higher conversion rates. This approach boosts your brand reputation in the market; customers see you as trustworthy and customer-centric. When thinking win-win, you navigate negotiations more effectively, making both parties feel valued and understood, which minimizes conflicts. Incorporating win-win strategies can considerably improve your marketing for small companies and overall success. Keep Following Up Building strong relationships with customers through a win-win mindset lays the groundwork for effective follow-up strategies. Following up consistently can greatly boost your conversion rates; studies show that it often takes five follow-ups to close a sale. Regular outreach keeps your product or service top of mind for prospects, enhancing their engagement and interest. To implement effective marketing plans for small businesses, adopt a systematic approach that includes varied methods like emails, calls, or messages. Timing is also essential; strategically spacing your follow-ups can lead to higher response rates. By creating a sales cadence for your outreach, you streamline the process, ensuring consistent communication and maximizing your chances of success. This is one of the best ways to market a small business effectively. Use a Self-Managing Communication Tool Using a self-managing communication tool can greatly streamline your sales team’s processes, allowing you to focus on selling rather than administrative tasks. These tools automate vital functions, improve tracking capabilities, and create a more efficient workflow by minimizing the need to juggle multiple applications. Streamlined Communication Processes Streamlined communication processes are essential for improving sales efficiency in small businesses, and implementing a self-managing communication tool can greatly contribute to this goal. Tools like RingCentral help minimize the need to switch between applications, allowing your sales team to focus on selling rather than administrative tasks. This can considerably improve your marketing management in small business contexts. By maintaining organized communication logs, you improve relationship management with prospects, which is key in marketing a small service business. Here’s a quick overview of the benefits: Benefit Description Impact on Sales Improved Communication Centralizes calls and meetings Increases response rates Organized Logs Keeps track of interactions Improves follow-up consistency Reduced Manual Effort Automates reminders and tracking Boosts productivity Automation for Efficiency When you implement automation tools in your sales processes, you can greatly improve efficiency and productivity within your team. Self-managing communication tools streamline your sales marketing efforts by reducing manual tasks, allowing your team to focus on what matters—closing deals. These tools help track interactions with prospects and customers, ensuring timely follow-ups and reminders, which can markedly enhance your marketing business plan. By minimizing application switching, you’ll find that improving workflow becomes seamless, making it one of the best marketing techniques for small businesses. Furthermore, consistent engagement through automated communication leads to higher conversion rates and a more organized sales process, ultimately driving your business’s success. Embrace automation and watch your team’s efficiency soar. Enhanced Tracking Capabilities How can improved tracking capabilities transform your sales process? By implementing a self-managing communication tool like RingCentral, you can greatly improve your sales efforts. These tools streamline your communication, allowing you to make calls and hold meetings directly from your email, which is vital for small business marketing strategies. Automation features track interactions with prospects, ensuring timely follow-ups—crucial in marketing for SMEs where studies show that closing sales often requires multiple touchpoints. Centralizing communication reduces manual tasks, enabling your team to focus on selling rather than administration. Maintaining updated contact lists helps avoid wasted efforts on outdated information, making this one of the best marketing strategies for small businesses. Improved tracking capabilities lead to better relationship management and increased sales effectiveness. Frequently Asked Questions What Is the 3-3-3 Rule in Sales? The 3-3-3 rule in sales involves making three attempts to contact a prospect over three days. If you don’t receive a response, you wait three weeks before trying again. This method emphasizes persistence while preventing overwhelming your prospects. What Are the 5 W’s in Sales? In sales, the 5 W’s are crucial for comprehending and connecting with your audience. The “Who” identifies your target customer, helping you tailor your approach. The “What” describes your product or service, highlighting its unique benefits. The “When” refers to the timing of your outreach, aligning with customer buying patterns. The “Where” specifies the channels for communication, and the “Why” uncovers the motivations behind a customer’s decision to purchase. What Are the 3 C’s in Sales? The 3 C’s in sales are Company, Customers, and Competitors. First, assess your Company to identify strengths, weaknesses, and unique value propositions. Next, analyze your Customers to grasp their demographics, needs, and buying behaviors, allowing you to tailor your sales approach effectively. Finally, evaluate your Competitors by researching their strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. This thorough comprehension helps you position your offerings effectively and seize market opportunities, enhancing your overall sales effectiveness. What Are the 4 A’s of Sales? The 4 A’s of sales are Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. First, you capture Attention through engaging content that resonates with your target audience. Next, you build Interest by providing valuable information that addresses their specific needs. Then, you create Desire by highlighting the unique benefits of your product, making an emotional connection. Finally, you prompt Action with clear calls-to-action, guiding prospects to take the next steps, such as making a purchase or signing up. Conclusion By implementing these seven effective sales strategies, you can improve your small business’s success. Building a solid lead pipeline, nurturing existing customers, and conducting thorough research will set a strong foundation. Clear goals for interactions and a win-win mindset promote productive relationships. Consistent follow-ups and utilizing self-managing communication tools streamline your sales process. By focusing on these methods, you’ll not just drive sales performance but additionally create a sustainable growth path for your business. Image via Google Gemini This article, "7 Effective Sales Strategies for Small Business Success" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Google announced its widely anticipated Gemini 3 model Tuesday. By many key metrics, it appears to be more capable than the other big generative AI models on the market. In a show of confidence in the performance (and safety) of the new model, Google is making one variant of Gemini—Gemini 3 Pro—available to everyone via the Gemini app starting now. It’s also making the same model a part of its core search service for subscribers. The new model topped the scores of the much-cited LMArena benchmark, a crowdsourced preference of various top models based on head-to-head responses to identical prompts. In the super-difficult Humanity’s Last Exam benchmark test, which measured reasoning and knowledge, the Gemini 3 Pro scored 37.4% compared to GPT-5 Pro’s 31.6%. Gemini 3 also topped a range of other benchmarks measuring everything from reasoning to academic knowledge to math to tool use and agent functions. Gemini has been a multimodal model from the start, meaning that it can understand and reason about not just language, but images, audio, video, and code—all at the same time. This capability has been steadily improving since the first Gemini, and Gemini 3 reached state-of-the-art performance on the MMMU-Pro benchmark, which measures how well a model handles college-level and professional-level reasoning across text and images. It also topped the Video-MMMU benchmark, which measures the ability to reason over details of video footage. For example, the Gemini model might ingest a number of YouTube videos, then create a set of flashcards based on what it learned. Gemini also scored high on its ability to create computer code. That’s why it was a good time for the company to launch a new Cursor-like coding agent called Antigravity. Software development has proven to be among the first business functions in which generative AI has had a measurably positive impact. Benchmarks are telling, but as the response to OpenAI’s GPT-5.1 showed, the “feel” or “personality” of a model matters to users (many users thought GPT-5 was a dramatic personality downgrade from GPT-4o). Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis seemed to acknowledge this in a tweet Tuesday. “[B]eyond the benchmarks it’s been by far my favorite model to use for its style and depth, and what it can do to help with everyday tasks.” Of course users will have their own say about Gemini 3’s communication style, and how well it adapts to user preferences and work habits. With the release of Google’s third-generation generative AI model, it’s a good time to look at the wider context of the race to build the dominant AI models of the 21st century. The contest, remember, is only a few years old. So far, OpenAI’s models have spent the most time atop the benchmark rankings, and, on the strength of ChatGPT, have garnered most of the attention of all the players in the emerging AI industry. History on its side? From the start, Google has enjoyed some distinct advantages. It’s been investing in AI talent and research for decades, starting long before OpenAI became a company in 2015. It began developing machine learning techniques for understanding search intent, defining page rank, and for placing ads as far back as 2001. It bought London-based AI research lab DeepMind back in 2014, and DeepMind has been responsible for some of Google’s biggest AI accomplishments (AlphaGo, AlphaFold, Gemini models). The big research breakthroughs that enabled the current wave of generative AI models took place at Google. In 2017, Google researchers invented the transformer language model architecture that allowed LLMs to learn much more from their training data than earlier language models. The following year Google used the transformer architecture to build its BERT language model, which led directly to the GPT models that power ChatGPT. In fact, the search giant developed an AI chatbot well before OpenAI did, but was conflicted about releasing it or infusing it into its other products because of legal and business model concerns. All the data Google has access to more and better-quality training data than any other AI company. It’s been indexing most of the information on the web since 1998. It also owns huge amounts of information such as local business data, mapping data, and customer reviews, which can be used to train AI models or augment their output (within search results, for example). Generative models are just now gaining the ability to learn about the world from video footage in the same way that models learn from large amounts of text. With YouTube, Google has access to mountains of it, and its AI models could gain an increasing intelligence advantage by training on it. As AI begins to manage more and more of our personal and work tasks, Google’s advantages in experience, talent, and data and other resources may help sustain Gemini’s state-of-the-art status and overall functionality in the years to come. High stakes This is more than about which company can sell the most API access to its models or subscriptions to a chatbot. As models like Gemini, Claude, and GPT-5 may eventually become smarter, perhaps far smarter, than humans at almost any task. The company with the models that reaches that level, also called “artificial general intelligence” (AGI) may dominate the marketplace for consumer and business AI in the same way Google has dominated search in the first decades of this century. With tech companies already spending hundreds of billions to build the infrastructure for their AI businesses, the pressure is mounting to push harder and faster on the development of new generations of AI models. View the full article

Bill Hunt outlines how proactive digital integration prevents post-acquisition visibility loss and turns M&A into a driver of growth. The post Digital Equity Is Brand Equity: Don’t Lose Search Visibility In a Merger appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Many Americans are in the middle of making hard decisions about their health insurance, in part because open enrollment, the period in which consumers can change their plan, is happening now. That means scammers are also busy contacting people, impersonating insurance providers in an effort to collect personal, financial, and medical information. Common health insurance scamsFraudsters especially love to impersonate representatives from Medicare, targeting older adults and others who qualify for the federal program with unexpected calls. As the Federal Trade Commission warns, scammers may have some of your personal information already and will ask you to confirm your Medicare, bank account, and/or credit card number under the guise of sending you a new Medicare card. In reality, Medicare cards are free and sent automatically, so you should never need to provide payment. Scammers may also target consumers on Marketplace, Medicaid, and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) plans with a similar tactic, claiming that you may lose or be disqualified from health coverage unless you make a payment. In addition to impersonating government officials, bad actors will pretend to represent a legitimate insurer, promising discounted plans (that are available only for a limited time) or enrollment assistance (for a fee). Plans that seem too good to be true probably aren't health insurance at all and may not provide the coverage promised. And you shouldn't have to pay anyone to sign up for a plan. Note that while scammers may ramp up efforts during open enrollment, health insurance scams can happen year-round. A Federal Communications Commission (FCC) advisory warns consumers about common tactics like calls and texts in which scammers—impersonating government agencies or insurance companies—offer health screening, free gifts, or other promotional benefits in exchange for your personal information. Bad actors can pretty easily spoof phone numbers (so it looks like you're getting a call from a reputable insurance provider like Medicare or Blue Cross Blue Shield) as well as set up phishing websites designed to steal your credentials and financial information. Insurance scam red flagsAs always, unsolicited communication that pressures you to take action is almost always a scam. Medicare representatives will never call, email, or text you to verify information or demand payment, nor will legitimate government officials try to sell you anything or threaten you unless you pay up. If someone claims they represent an insurer and asks for money or sensitive personal information, or if they threaten you with legal action, hang up. Don't share any data, including your social security number, bank account number, or medical history with anyone—that is, unless you have contacted the Medicare office or other legitimate agency directly and first and need to verify your identity. (The number for Medicare is 1-800-MEDICARE, and you can reach a Marketplace representative through HealthCare.gov). Always verify a representative's identity using official contact information found on a .gov website, legitimate company page, or an account statement, and never send money via gift card, prepaid debit, or crytocurrency in exchange for anything. You should also ensure your credentials for your insurance accounts (like HealthCare.gov and Medicare.gov) are strong and secure, and enable multi-factor authentication wherever possible. View the full article

AI is bringing voice to the forefront of brand interactions. Smarter AI means we can talk to our technology—LLMs, software, phones, cars, fridges, and even banking apps. The novel part is this: Our technology is now talking back, and convincingly so. Brands are catching on, and the smart ones know that voice isn’t just functional, it will form a core part of the brand identity itself. Voice will be the next frontier of branding. And not metaphorically. A brand’s literal voice—the voice(s) used for advertising, on their website, and now, in interactive AI-based conversations with customers—is becoming just as ownable as elements of a visual identity. But standing out won’t come from just using voice tech alone. To cut through the noise, brands will need a voice that’s authentic, distinct, and is uniquely associated with their brand. The biggest brands already understand this. There’s a reason the most memorable brands choose to use the same voice actor across marketing campaigns, sometimes even across years: Consistency builds memorability, recognition, and trust. With voice AI, the opportunity for consistency and impact is even greater, and brands that embrace it will set themselves apart from the rest. TURN CUSTOMER TOUCHPOINTS INTO BRANDED EXPERIENCES The real gold in voice AI is its ability to provide both one-to-one and one-to-many communication at scale. AI is empowering brands to automate interactions across more customer touchpoints than ever before, including sales support, call center automations, and personalized ads, to name a few. As these channels incorporate voice AI, the need for consistency grows, making a singular, distinct voice more critical than ever. With voice AI, brands can hold a million individual conversations at once while maintaining both continuity and a personal touch. In customer support, an AI-powered agent can provide instant answers and even act via voice. That same voice can guide them through a product tutorial, help pay a phone bill, or introduce your brand to customers in an ad. That’s the beauty of voice AI as a brand asset: One voice can now efficiently scale, enabling a whole new level of brand cohesion across multiple interactions. Customers value predictability, and a consistent, trusted, and recognizable voice can really drive home that brand memorability and distinction. SECURE A MEMORABLE VOICE THAT’S EXCLUSIVELY YOURS With technology moving so fast, there’s no shortage of ready-to-go AI voices. But the convenience of these voices doesn’t guarantee exclusivity, and in branding, distinction is everything. The problem with 100% synthetic AI voices—voices entirely created with AI, with no real human in the loop—is threefold: They may become unavailable. They are often forgettable. They are rarely exclusive to the user. As vendors update their library or licenses expire, the voice you’ve been using to represent your brand could change, or even completely disappear. Even if it doesn’t, chances are: Other brands and creators are using that same off-the-shelf voice, erasing any sense of individuality. As a brand, you’ll want at least some exclusivity for your AI voice, so you don’t end up sharing it with a competitor. The reality is, the best AI voice clones come from real humans with the best voices: voice actors. You can hear a tangible difference between a synthetic AI voice and an AI voice cloned from a skilled voice talent. Done right, the one-to-one voice clone is higher quality than any synthetic voice—not only in its realism, but in its emotional nuance, uniqueness, and overall human quality. Licensing a professional voice also gives you greater control over creative direction to ensure the pronunciation of brand names and technical terms is correct. Licensed voices also offer customizable licensing suited to your specific needs, securing long-term consistency, exclusivity, and greater legal protections. It’s the difference between borrowing something generic and curating a voice experience that is yours. The best, most successful branded voices in the market today are distinct and emotive. Customers won’t remember an AI chatbot with a “friendly middle-aged female voice,” but they will remember a voice with personality—one that feels alive, intentional, and unmistakably part of the brand. That’s the future: Voice as a distinguishable brand asset, just like a logo. And by working with real humans to create a unique AI voice, you’ll secure something competitors can’t copy: A voice that is exclusively, recognizably, and enduringly yours. Jay O’Connor is CEO of Voices.com. View the full article

Ransomware doesn’t knock on the front door. It sneaks in quietly, and by the time you notice, the damage is already done. Backups, replication, and cloud storage help recover from ransomware, but when it strikes, these products may not be enough. You copy your data and ensure copies are recoverable when needed. Replication is often viewed as the gold standard of protection. It is fast, efficient, and seems like an easy answer. Two common types of replication are in use today. The first is physical to physical. This is when data is copied from one physical device to another, usually at a remote location. The second is physical to virtual. This is when data is copied from a local physical device to a virtual device in the cloud, commonly managed by a backup vendor. Both replication types can be useful and offer advantages, including uninterrupted service, reduced potential data loss, and data redundancy. But replication has limitations. When ransomware strikes When ransomware hits a server, the infection can spread fast. If replication is active, then corrupted or encrypted data may be copied to the secondary device. Both the original and secondary devices now contain bad data. Instead of serving as a safety net, replication can become a trap locking both environments into a compromised state. Replication can also be complex to set up and maintain, requiring skilled staff. Not every organization has the time, budget, or expertise to set up and maintain a replicated environment. Replicating to a vendor’s cloud can be expensive. You pay for the storage, and often for recovery and ongoing usage. Plus, if your original server goes down and you need to switch to the secondary server, you still need to rebuild the original server—reinstalling the operating system, reapplying patches, and restoring the previous configuration. This can take time depending on the environment. Where does this leave us? Should we just throw replication out the window? No, replication has its place. It can solve certain problems, especially when the risk of downtime outweighs the maintenance costs. But replication is not a cure-all. It should not be viewed as the primary recovery tool, especially against ransomware. Ask if you’re prepared Some questions can help you determine if you are ready for a cyberattack. Replication is a great tool, but ransomware can often expose its weaknesses: Have you thought about what would happen if ransomed data spread across your replicated systems? Do you know how long it would take to rebuild an original device if you had to switch over? Have you tested your recovery process end-to-end, not just the replication part? Do you understand the true cost of your replication service, including the hidden recovery fees? Look beyond replication Replication is valuable, but it shouldn’t be the primary mechanism for recovery from a cyberattack. Replication comes with costs and complexity, and doesn’t replace the need for a recovery strategy. So consider replication a tool in the toolbox, not the entire strategy. You need a way to quickly restore an infected device to a clean state—without worrying whether the compromised data has spread across your replicated environment. Or whether the recovery will cost more than the attack. Users sometimes download files locally or store critical data outside of the replicated environment. A complete recovery strategy must include both servers and workstations to ensure quick recovery, regardless of which devices become compromised. When considering ransomware recovery, explore solutions that provide resilience and data integrity, and enable fast recovery when your data is compromised. Instant recovery is achievable with solutions designed to recover from ransomware and other cyber threats. Elisha Riedlinger is the COO at NeuShield. View the full article