News and Trends

• Grainger COO addresses industry trends, outlook
  W.W. Grainger President and COO Jim Ryan discussed consolidation and the competitive wholesale distribution market, at the Electrical Products Group of New York's annual meeting. "There is going to be a need for specialist distributors, and there is absolutely a place for large-scale distributors. The ones who will find it more difficult are the generalists in the middle," Ryan said. He also fielded questions regarding the impact of The Home Depot Inc.'s possible spin-off of its HD Supply business. Modern Distribution Management (5/23) , Reuters (5/23)

• SEC unanimously passes changes to Sarbanes-Oxley
  On Wednesday, the five members of the Securities and Exchange Commission unanimously passed changes to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that aim to make it easier for businesses to check their financial records. The changes refer to Section 404 of the law, which now allows firms to comply with the law by forgoing extensive checks and instead identifying the largest risks to their books. ClipSyndicate (5/24) , The New York Times (5/24) , MarketWatch (5/23) , Bloomberg (5/23) , The Wall Street Journal (5/23) , Financial Times (free content) (5/24)

• Senate approves plan to reduce guest workers
  The Senate has overwhelmingly approved a plan to reduce the number of guest workers allowed in the U.S. from 400,000 to 200,000. The amendment was the second of two Democratic proposals designed to alter a bipartisan "grand compromise," and the first would have eliminated the guest-worker program. CNNMoney.com (5/24)

• Other News

• Agencies ordered to reduce use of Social Security numbers
  Forbes/Associated Press (5/23)

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Best Practices

• Disaster planning requires serious attention
  Companies can't predict when a disaster will strike, but they can work to develop the best possible preparation plan in the event of an emergency. Every company's plan should include measures to protect and back-up data and customer information, a means of securing the physical work site and a plan to restart business and operate remotely if needed. Chicago Tribune/Associated Press (5/21)

• What is the future of the desktop phone?
  The traditional desktop phone isn't going to disappear any time soon, said an industry analyst, but he also predicted that IP phones would account for 50% of all business shipments by 2009. InternetNews.com (5/24)

WHITE PAPER: Enabling Efficient Chargeback Management. Find out how a single, integrated enterprise solution can efficiently and effectively manage chargeback programs within the wholesale distributor's existing business systems.

Sales

• Three basic questions to answer to achieve marketing success
  Businesses should address marketing and advertising well before sales ever begin to decline. Answer these questions to identify your principle marketing message: What are you marketing? Who is buying which products within your market? What makes people want to buy from you? Entrepreneur (5/2007)

Hot Topics

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

• Slumping housing market makes HD Supply difficult sell (New York Post)

• 100,000 reasons to be in supply chain management (DC Velocity)

• First 30 seconds of a sales pitch most vital (Entrepreneur)

• Ideas to keep up sales team's motivation (Selling Power)

• Recover from mistakes (BusinessWeek)

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

Small Business Manager

• Necessary tech tools for today's SMBs
  Today, even small businesses need certain technological tools to efficiently operate and do business. Must-have tech tools for small and medium sized businesses include a contact relationship management system, reliable word processing software and mobile Internet access. Businesses should also take their Web sites seriously, regularly updating and tweaking them. The Wholesaler (5/2007)

Executive Life

• Outdoor kitchen installation requires ingenuity
  Backyard chefs designing the perfect outdoor kitchen are reminded to focus on the essentials, including valuable prep space. "The New Outdoor Kitchen," a new book by designer Deborah Krasner, discusses these and other valuable outdoor kitchen tips, such as buying equipment from restaurant supply companies to save money. The Denver Post (5/22)

• Study: Few with hypertension follow recommended DASH diet
  A study of more than 4,000 hypertensive adults found only 22% were following the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet, an 8% drop from previous studies. The diet, rich in fruits, vegetables, grains and low-fat dietary products, has been shown to significantly lower blood pressure and is part of the lifestyle changes recommended for hypertensive patients under national guidelines. Medscape (free registration) (5/21)

NAW Insider

• Rethink salesforce comp plans
  What's Your Plan?, an eye-opening book from the NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence, shows why tinkering with salesforce compensation plans in isolation can create more problems than it solves. The best strategy starts with development of overall company goals and leads to what author Mike Marks calls "alignment" of these goals with compensation.

• Branch managers: Master the 5 fundamentals
  What does it take to become a "superstar" manager of a wholesale distribution branch? 5 Fundamentals for the Wholesale Distribution Branch Manager, a book from NAW, advises current and aspiring branch managers on how to succeed and excel through the mastery of five fundamental skills.

Weekly Poll

• Do you regularly assess your disaster preparedness plan?
  After voting once, check out the real-time poll results on NAW's All Access page as often as you'd like.

	Yes, being prepared is imperative to our operation.
	We have a plan ready but do not often review it.
	We do not have a plan, but we are working on it.
	We have not addressed the need for such a plan.

Inside Sales Representative Laird Plastics, Inc. Bensenville (Chicago), IL Inside Sales Representative Laird Plastics, Inc. Los Angeles (Santa Fe Springs) Account Executive Industrial Electric Wire & Cable Home office in Chicago, Illinois Inside Sales Representative Laird Plastics, Inc. Grand Rapids, MI

SmartQuote

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear -- not absence of fear." --Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain, writer