Richard Branson: Knight of Big Ideas

In 2008 Howard Schultz returned to Starbucks and steered it through the financial crisis. Last year, Schultz sat down with Inc.'s Lewis Schiff.View the video on Inc.com at: http://www.inc.com/lewis-schiff/howard-schultz-starbucks-founder-chief-executive-what-it-takes-to-win.html

The Real Thing Tony Post was inundated by fake FiveFingers." />When Vibram had trouble meeting demand for its popular FiveFingers running shoes, the market became flooded with counterfeit, nearly identical, shoes. Here's how it fought back.In the spring of 2010, a pair of shoes arrived at the Franklin, Massachusetts, warehouse of Vibram USA. A customer was demanding a refund for a pair of the company's popular Five-Fingers running shoes. But the shoes, which were marred by split seams and separating soles, were fakes

Are you making these six common selling errors? Find out what they are and how to easily avoid them.Why does one sales campaign end in success and another in abject failure? In almost every case, it's because the seller neglected an essential step in the selling process. Here are the most common errors, along with some advice on how to avoid them.1. Failure to Research the CustomerIn today's information-rich business world, customers expect you to know the following before you contact them:Who they areWhom they work forWhom they work withWhat their company doesWho their customers areWhy they might need your offeringWhenever you ask a customer a question that could be answered by spending 30 seconds on the Web, you're telling that customer that either you're stupid or you don't really give a damn.