News and Trends

• Applied Industrial Technologies receives GSA honor
  Applied Industrial Technologies has received the General Services Administration's 2007 Large Business Contractor of the Year award. The GSA presents one contractor a year with the award, recognizing that company's growth, value to the federal marketplace and GSA Multiple Award Schedule program contributions. Purchasing.com (4/26)

• Praxair records Q1 sales growth
  Praxair Inc. has said its net income increased by 18% in its first quarter, as compared to a year ago. Sales in the quarter for the atmospheric and specialty gases distributor increased by 8%, to a record $2.175 billion. Progressive Distributor (4/26)

• Senate supports SEC's efforts to alter Sarbanes-Oxley
  Earlier this week, the Senate voted down an amendment that would have exempted more than 70% of publicly traded companies from Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Instead, the Senate voted to stand behind the efforts under way by the Securities and Exchange Commission to revise the section. "By these two votes, the Senate today made a strong statement ... to support protecting investors," said Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn. "We rejected an approach that would weaken investor protections." InvestmentNews (4/25) , CNNMoney.com/Reuters (4/25)

• Tax breaks, wage hike caught in expected veto
  Legislation calling for tax breaks for small businesses and a minimum-wage increase, included in the Iraq war bill, will need to be reconsidered when President George W. Bush's expected veto hits the $124 billion package. Senate Republicans unhappy with the tax breaks could call for changes when the bill returns. Finance Committee ranking member Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said before the vote: "Let's arrive at a pre-conference agreement on the House and Senate bills and go to conference and hash it out with a real conference." CNNMoney.com (4/26) , MarketWatch (4/26)

• Other News

• AmerisourceBergen sees little change in quarterly profit
  Bloomberg (4/25)

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Best Practices

• Bring in top-notch talent
  Building a supportive, cooperative and hardworking team starts with developing a set list of personality traits and basic qualifications. Continually build up a pool of perspective new hires, so you are prepared in case a quick replacement is necessary, and look to current employees for hiring suggestions or possible referrals. American City Business Journals (4/23)

• So many ways to "think differently"
  CFO writer Paul Brown takes a look at three recently published books on management strategy and deciphers and simplifies the best methods to thinking differently, which is often the key to tackling everyday business issues and dilemmas. CFO Magazine (4/2007)

Sales

• Try new marketing methods to increase sales leads
  Refresh your search engine strategies; give telemarketing and cold-calling a chance; or hold a company-sponsored event when you find your sales team stalled and lacking fresh leads. Manage Smarter/Management Advisor (4/24)

Hot Topics

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

• W-Ds adapt to changing roles, offer fee-based services (Industrial Distribution)

• How to approach an underachiever (Inc.com)

• Look for these attributes when hiring (American City Business Journals)

• Spend money on incentives that matter most to employees (Manage Smarter)

• Effect of emotions at the office (Knowledge@Wharton)

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

Small Business Manager

• Bills would mandate paid-leave policies for businesses of all sizes
  A bill introduced in the Senate would require that companies of all sizes, including small businesses, offer six days of paid sick leave, whether for the employee or a sick child; meanwhile, another Senate measure, reportedly on tap for introduction, says companies employing 25 or more must grant six weeks of paid leave, with the cost divided among the employer, employee, and the federal government. BusinessWeek (4/23)

Executive Life

• North Carolina's Triangle appeals to families
  The Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill region of North Carolina, collectively known as the Triangle, attracts families with its down-home culture, expansive outdoor spaces and barbecue. The Triangle offers bike paths, lake activities and other outdoor recreational opportunities, numerous festivals during the spring and summer as well as museums all year round. The New York Times (4/27)

• Company hopes to entertain with Driv-N, in-car computer
  In-car computers continue to emerge as a popular niche automotive market. A new offering called Driv-N by HiPe PC incorporates Windows Vista Media Center and One Voice's voice control. Telematics Journal (4/25)

NAW Insider

• Move the distributor-supplier relationship from dysfunctional to effective
  It takes a long time to develop good distributor-supplier relationships, but it only takes a short time to destroy them. Working at Cross-Purposes from the NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence examines what drives these relationships, how often they go bad and why. Both partners can learn to avoid the economic and other consequences of a relationship turning sour by correcting emerging problems before they become critical.

• Now distributors can quote prices with greater confidence
  NAW's Price For Success: An Online Course for the Wholesale Distribution Sales Team shows your inside and outside salesforce how to quote prices with complete confidence that they are striking the correct balance between pleasing the customer and achieving the company's profit goals.

Weekly Poll

• How many new employees have you hired so far this year?
  After voting once, check out the real-time poll results on NAW's All Access page as often as you'd like.

	None.
	One to three.
	four to six.
	more than six.

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SmartQuote

I cannot give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is: Try to please everybody." --Herbert B. Swope, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist