News and Trends

• Home Depot discusses restructuring of HD sale
  Home Depot is in discussions with affiliates of the equity firms that purchased the company's HD Supply wholesale distribution division to potentially restructure the sale agreement. The talks could result in a reduction of the initial $10.3 billion sale price and changes to the transaction's financing and terms. Industrial Distribution (8/9)

• Rexel reports on first half of 2007
  Rexel SA Chairman Jean-Charles Pauze said that the company is currently pursuing as many as 30 prospects for acquisition. Rexel has completed six acquisitions in its first half of 2007 and has reported revenue totaling $7.3 billion in that same time period. TED Magazine (8/8)

• Former top Nicor officials accused of financial fraud
  The Securities and Exchange Commission is alleging that former senior officials of natural gas distributor Nicor Inc. committed financial fraud from 1999 to 2002. In a civil injunctive action, the SEC said the executives engaged in or approved improper transactions and misrepresented Nicor's gas inventory in an effort to meet earnings targets. Mondo Visione (U.K.) (8/9)

• Other News

• Applied Industrial reports 6% sales increase in fiscal 2007
  Modern Distribution Management (8/9)

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Best Practices

• Build business by pulling instead of pushing
  When it comes to boosting business, marketing coach Terry Brock advocates pulling instead of pushing, or drawing in business through persuasion and enticement, rather than pushiness and force. The key is finding a market that wants or is in need of something and then providing it, he says. American City Business Journals (8/6)

• Survey: Funny bosses make workers happy
  In a survey of 500 full- and part-time office workers, the vast majority -- 97% -- said they preferred managers who could make them laugh. The survey indicated that as many as 87% of workers said their bosses were pretty funny. Inc.com (8/8)

	Good help is hard to find. NAW SmartBrief to the rescue! You won't reach a more targeted, qualified audience in the wholesale distribution industry. Get started now and post your open positions in NAW SmartBrief.
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Sales

• Five innovative places for advertising
  In a market saturated with advertising, there are still a few opportunities for new advertising venues. Five venues to consider: airline tray tables; employee uniforms; golf cart hubcaps; attention-grabbing T-shirts; and municipal vehicles and buildings. Entrepreneur (7/2007)

Hot Topics

Top five news stories selected by NAW SmartBrief readers in the past week.

• Wolseley acquires two firms (Industrial Distribution)

• Effective sales letters grab readers' attention (DIRECT)

• "A" players focus on customer expectations (CEO Strategist)

• Airgas acquires Gartech Refrigerant (Forbes)

• Interline posts strong Q2 (American City Business Journals)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

Small Business Manager

• Weekend startup launch hits a few snags
  Valuable lessons were learned in an experimental, collaborative effort to launch a Web-based startup over the course of a weekend. The effort involved about 70 company founders who were to all share equity in the company, but, by the end of the weekend, things had fallen apart. The emergence of leaders who didn't have a sense of the mission's urgency was part of the problem. BusinessWeek (8/6)

Executive Life

• Survey reveals business traveler trends, preferences
  With flight issues plaguing nearly every air traveler this summer, an Orbitz survey found that 56% of business travelers would pay to have their luggage shipped ahead of their flight. For business travelers headed to a vacation destination, 72% said they would prefer to bring a significant other or spouse rather than travel alone. TravelPulse (8/10)

• Study: Leptin may help control overeating
  A deficiency of the hormone leptin, which controls food desires and signals fullness, may trigger overeating. Though hormone supplements won't help people with normal leptin levels to lose weight, it may help control obesity in those with low levels. Reuters (8/9)

NAW Insider

• NAW's Billion Dollar Company CEO Roundtable
  NAW's Billion Dollar Company CEO Roundtable, Chicago, Oct. 9 to 10, joins CEOs from wholesale distribution companies with sales $1 billion and above to network and learn. Topics are based on responses from the CEO community addressing specific needs of the group, including Building a Platform for the Future, Brand Building/Sourcing/Private Labels and the Multigenerational Workforce. Get details and register here.

• Save on overnight shipping with DHL ShipReady
  NAW and DHL have partnered to offer a unique delivery service from DHL Express. Members can ship anywhere in the continental U.S. for one flat rate with no weight limits, extra fees or fuel surcharges. Receive two free envelopes with your first order by visiting the ShipReady site and entering the promo code NAWSR07.

Weekly Poll

• Do you consider your boss to be funny?
  After voting once, check out the real-time poll results on NAW's All Access page as often as you'd like.

	Yes, we are always laughing.
	Not really, work is a place for work.
	S/he certainly seems to think so.

Sales/Customer Service Regal Plastic Supply Company Kansas City, Missouri Office/ Midwest Locations

SmartQuote

A word to the wise ain't necessary; it's the stupid ones who need the advice." --Bill Cosby, actor and comedian