News and Trends

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Ingram Micro's CEO says its Australia business will be affected by crisis
Gregory Spierkel, CEO of Ingram Micro, said the Australian division will probably be affected by the financial crisis. "There are some weaker resellers out there and no-one is immune," Spierkel said. "How steep the decline will be no-one knows for sure." The global IT distributor saw a decline in third-quarter profit compared to the year-ago period. CRN (U.K.) (11/11)

• Ingram Micro Canada discusses shift in vendor strategy: Ingram Micro Canada held a marketing symposium in Toronto recently and talked strategy with its vendor partners. "Our approach typically in the past has been reluctant and a bit conservative with buy-ins," said Tim Billing, vice president of vendor management at Ingram Micro Canada. "Now, we're trying to reach out to you because we're open for business." ITBusiness.ca (Canada) (11/7)

Mapco parent says profit rose 24% in Q3 despite gas shortage
Delek US Holdings Inc., the parent company of gas station company Mapco Express, said profits rose 24% to $25.4 million for the third quarter despite a gas shortage in September throughout most of the Southeast attributable to extreme weather. Delek is the owner of around 500 gas stations in the Southeast, as well as a Texas oil refinery. The Tennessean (Nashville) (11/7)

Other News

• Weyerhaeuser hopes to find buyer for Canadian mill
  Miramichi Leader (New Brunswick, Canada) (11/10)

• Los Angeles, Long Beach ports to collect truck fees
  Fleet Owner (11/7)

Best Practices

Study: Poor support from supervisors impacts worker attitudes, health
Workers who perceive their managers as being unsupportive tend to have worse job attitudes and health issues, such as blood pressure, heart rate and sleep quality problems, than those with more interactive bosses, according to a study. The study found that once supervisors were trained to show more support for workers' work/life issues, the workers responded, and it impacted their health, satisfaction and safety. Harvard Business Review (11/2008)

How to get past consumer bias that may damage your bottom line
Using Internet ratings and reviews can help or hurt a company because consumers tend to have characteristic biases that influence their buying decisions. This article outlines the "seven deadly consumer biases" that include personal bias, which can be addressed by running a focus group; bias in favor of reviews, which often represent only the complainers; and time-delay bias, which means that by the time feedback is published or data is collected, the issues addressed may be out of date. E-Commerce Times (11/8)

Sales

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Book describes keys to building relationships in selling
Gary Moore describes in his book how salespeople can build personalized relationships with customers. One tip is to ask open-ended questions as a way to expand the scope of the conversation and thereby increase the avenues for making a sale. goWholesale (11/5)

• For more: Purchase Gary T. Moore's Objective-Based Selling in Wholesale Distribution.

Small Business Manager

Small-business employees increasingly use HSAs
Health savings accounts can lower the cost of health care for employers and give employees a tax hedge. A Kaiser Family Foundation study indicates that 8% to 13% more small-business employees this year are using plans such as HSAs. The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Miss.) (11/9)

Executive Life

Travelers may benefit from procrastinating
Columnist Michelle Higgins explains that in addition to offering discounts, many hotels, resorts and cruise lines are doing away with cancellation penalties, reducing booking deposits and offering money-back guarantees to lure jittery clients. Even some travel agencies are getting into the game. Ramsey, N.J.-based Liberty Travel has vowed to outdo its competitors' prices. The New York Times (11/9)

Nokia revs up luxury "Ferrari" phones
Nokia's Vertu unit will issue three more models of its sleek Ferrari-branded handsets, the ultra-high-end line whose designs and materials are inspired by the famous sports car: Vertu puts the same leather and stitching on the phones that are in the cars. "The new Vertu Ascent Ti Ferrari editions are the definitive automotive-inspired handsets -- bold, balanced and with the unmistakable character of the Prancing Horse," said Frank Nuovo, chief of design for Vertu. cellular-news (U.K.) (11/9)

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Weekly Poll

Do you expect gas prices to continue to have an effect on your business in 2009?
 Yes -- we do not foresee gas prices decreasing next year.
 No -- we are hopeful that gas prices will stabilize within the next year.
 Gas prices have not really affected business thus far.

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