German Industrial Production Increased Before US Tariff Barrage
German industrial production rose in March, a period in which looming trade barriers by the US administration probably boosted foreign demand.
Output rose 3% from the previous month, more than predicted by any economist in a Bloomberg survey. That was mainly driven by automotive, pharmaceuticals and machinery, the statistics office said in a statement on Thursday. On a less volatile three-month basis, it was 1.4% higher.
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Forbes
4 hours ago
- Forbes
Not Closing Deals? You May Have Fallen Into One of These 3 Sales Traps
BERLIN, GERMANY - AUGUST 07: Two men in business business suits shaking hands on August 07, 2014 in ... More Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images) If you work in sales and you're frustrated and struggling to close deals it's probably because you have fallen into one or more of three common sales traps: You're telling, you're accepting, or you're guessing. I should know, like most folks with long careers in sales, I learned my lesson the hard way: Only collaboration really works. Buyers and sellers both want a solution that benefits both parties. But too often, sellers and buyers conspire against one another. Buyers complain that sellers exaggerate and set false expectations. That they don't listen. That they even lie. Sellers complain that buyers withhold information and don't offer access to key stakeholders—that they too don't listen and sometimes lie. At the heart of this disconnect is a lack of collaboration, caused by an overabundance of telling, accepting, and guessing. Let me explain: By telling, I mean you talk too much. Have you ever read an AI-generated meeting report and discovered that you spoke for 70 percent of the total call time? Too often, salespeople tell customers what their problem is and how to solve it. It's a common sales trap. You may deny it but deep down you may in fact believe that it is your job to tell the potential buyer what they should do. The problem is, buyers will listen as you drone on, seemingly happy to be told what they need to do. (More likely, they have checked out, using their meeting with you as a respite from the more intense parts of their day). Don't let an occasional success fool you. Winning a sale by rambling on about your solution is about as reliable as a GPS with no signal. You may get there but only through luck. More often, your outpouring of words and paragraphs is completely off the mark, and you won't find out what's happened until you've lost the deal. In fact, you may never know why you lost. The problem with too much telling is it doesn't allow for enough time for listening to understand the client's challenge. As speaking coach Anne Sugar wrote in the Harvard Business Review, when you talk too much, 'Your ideas get lost because stakeholders lose patience with your habit of dominating the conversation—and start to tune you out.' Sugar offers some tips to improve outcomes. First, measure how long you talk. If you hit three minutes, stop! Maybe set rules, like, I won't talk until two other views are shared. Consider other ways to share your views, whether that's a chart, a link dropped into the chat or a subsequent meeting. Practice compressing your ideas. How would you get your idea across in a tweet, for example? Leave pauses for others to chime in. Finally, ask for feedback and/or help from a trusted colleague. I have a favorite variation on Sugar's advice about leaving pauses for others to chime in: Ask a straightforward question, and then shut up. Count to seven before saying another word to ensure the buyer has ample opportunity to gather their thoughts and answer fully. (Guess what? They almost always tell you something you didn't know!) 'Accepting' is the tendency to take the buyer's stated needs at face value—without probing more deeply or challenging assumptions. It's especially common during the RFP (request for proposal) process, in which clients outline priorities and selection criteria in writing. Sellers are often eager to respond and consider it a show of strength to accept an RFP without equivocation. But in many meetings I've attended, it's clear the decision makers haven't even read their own RFP. It's often based on guesswork—or maybe it's a standard template. In fact, they could benefit from help understanding options they haven't yet considered or having an outsider's perspective on a solution's relevance to their needs. Instead, a salesperson should be willing to voice concerns when they lack enough information to make an appropriate bid. Stating such reservations clearly and asking for meetings with the critical stakeholders—especially those most closely aligned with the actual end-user community— can help elevate the RFP process—transforming it from an exercise in gatekeeping to something far more useful and generative. Start with a softening statement, perhaps complimenting the client's effort to assemble the RFP and thanking them for the opportunity to respond. With that done, however, it's also OK to note that the RFP raised many questions. Rather than run the risk of misinterpreting and giving inaccurate answers, you could suggest, it might help everybody for us to set up some focused 20-minute conversations to better align with additional key decision makers. No doubt, some companies will decline to provide such access. But those instances are rare in my experience, and never make much sense to me. Doesn't the company want the best proposals? Either way, you get credit for your focus on meeting their needs. We've all done it. We meet the client, hustle back to the office fired up, and gather the team to discuss the new opportunity. What follows then are questions. Dozens of them. What exactly does the client need? What's their budget? Who is our competition? What's their current solution? How will they make their decision? And yet, despite the lack of clarity, we rush forward and prepare what I call the guessing document—a proposal listing services that may or may not be helpful to the client. Instead, politely—intentionally—seek the meetings you need to get answers to the questions that will enable you to build a meaningful and relevant proposal. Collaboration Is for Closers We are far more likely to think of workplace collaboration as something that happens intramurally—within our own shops. But workplace collaboration is something to strive for with clients, and potential clients, too. The same activities that produce win-win outcomes inside your organization and set you on path to conquering your BHAGs, can also be applied to the advance work you do with clients. Workplace collaboration can take many forms, each demanding a different level of effort and depth but all guaranteed to lead to a better outcome. Activities include: Of course, collaboration is only possible where there is trust. I've written on this many times before, but our founder Stephen R. Covey surely put it best: 'Without trust we don't truly collaborate; we merely coordinate or, at best, cooperate.' In sales, the obstacles to establishing trust and enabling collaboration may be greater, but the rewards are equally substantial. The idea is this: Instead of telling, accepting, and guessing, pursue mutual exploration. Success starts when buyers and sellers share what they believe to be true, bringing their expertise together to collaborate on finding the best solution. Only then can we take the time to listen and learn everything we need to know about the client so we can provide them with our insights. Only once we have collaborated can we hope to shift gears and talk about making a sale.
Washington Post
6 hours ago
- Washington Post
Spanish government says housing market is not a 'free for all' after recent crackdown on Airbnb
MADRID — Spain's government wanted to send a message last month with its crackdown on Airbnb : that the Spanish economy and its housing market, in particular, are not a 'free for all' that value profits over the rule of law, a minister said on Tuesday. The Spanish government ordered Airbnb to remove almost 66,000 holiday rentals from the platform which it said had violated local rules by failing to list license numbers, listing the wrong license number or not specifying who the apartment's owner was. Airbnb is appealing the move.
San Francisco Chronicle
11 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Sushi handroll expert expands, and more East Bay restaurant openings
The newest restaurants to hit the East Bay offer a wide spread of flavors. The anticipated return of Daytrip as a casual, chicken-oriented restaurant and the latest from the chef behind popular sandwich shop Ok's Deli are now live. Other new arrivals include a German street food favorite and a wine bar that's heavy on the French vibes. Handroll restaurant grows Fourth generation Japanese-American chef Kyle Itani has expanded his temaki sushi restaurant, Yonsei Handrolls. The second location in Albany brings a selection of handrolls that include dungeness crab with miso butter, soy-cured tuna or seared albacore with black garlic, among others. These are available in sets of five or by the piece. Cocktail selections incorporate rare Japanese whiskeys and ingredients like yuzu cordials and miso honey. Berlin-style doner arrives Spots for shawarma and kebab aren't hard to find around the East Bay. But a new Oakland restaurant is bringing Berlin-style doner kebab into the mix. Black Forest Kitchen shaves chicken off a rotating spit onto warm flatbread, with the addition of red onions, cucumbers feta and a spicy sauce. Owner Pierre Slack, born and raised in Frankfurt, told East Bay Nosh he hopes the brick-and-mortar sets off a doner revolution in the Bay Area. 478 25th St., Oakland. Oken, the newest Oakland restaurant from chef Albert Ok of the perennially popular Ok's Deli, is now open. The former fine dining chef told the Chronicle the restaurant will combine Korean, Japanese and Southeast Asian flavors in dishes. The influences are visible in offerings like a tsukune dumpling soup, made with a chicken dashi spikes with gochugaru, and a grilled half chicken accompanied by sauces like Lao jeow som and a house hot sauce. Ok's hit Sichuan chicken, which goes into sandwiches at his deli, appears on the menu as popcorn chicken bites ready to dip into honey mustard. 6200 Claremont Ave., Oakland. Awaited seafood spot finally lands In a day that was seven years in the making, Peninsula favorite Cook's Seafood is now serving diners at its second location in Pleasanton. The Mercury News reports that the restaurant announced its first-ever expansion in 2018, but the project ran into delays and was set aside for years. The original Menlo Park restaurant has operated for nearly 100 years and is well known for its classic fish and chips made with Alaskan halibut. Nouveau vibes on Piedmont Wine bar La Loulou is now pouring glasses of French vintages and serving small bites. Step in and take in the art nouveau flair, with flowy wood details over mirrors, ornate lamps and scarlet walls. 4250 Piedmont Ave., Oakland. A Temescal favorite returns The latest from Daytrip owners Finn Stern and Stella Dennig, is now open. Daytrip Counter reanimated the same Telegraph Avenue space where diners took to dishes like a hit celery salad and funky miso-butter noodles. The new focus is a rotisserie chicken brined in a vinegar solution, coated in a flavorful rub and injected with a rich sauce made from chicken fat and stock. Sandwiches stuffed with pickled vegetables, salads and quinoa bowls will also make use of the dripping birds. Smoothie shop back on Smoothie shop Drink Thicc opened at its new location in Uptown Oakland. The shop offers smoothies with ingredients like tropical fruits, vegetables and berries. Its website claims all smoothies have a minimum of 28 grams of protein, leaving no intake gaps for customers counting macros. It previously operated inside Swan's Market in Old Oakland. 372 24th St. Oakland. Bakery and restaurant reopens Wingen Bakery owners Bryan and Aimee Wingen are preparing their sourdough loaves once again. The couple reopened at a new location, where customers can continue to pick up their favorite baked goods during cafe hours in the morning. Dinner offerings lean Italian with a selection of classic pizzas, salads and antipasti. 50 S. Livermore Ave., Livermore. Bagel empire pushes on Boichik bagels continues its march to take over the Bay Area with its crusty, chewy bagels. The Berkeley-born bakery announced its anticipated Concord location. Find bagels covered with all the hits, from salt to 'everything' seasoning, with your choice of shmear and fillings. 2980 Treat Blvd., Concord. Mexican dishes fly into the Laurel East Bay Nosh reports Golondrinas Mexican Grill has made its nest in Oakland. The restaurant offers mole made in-house along with more commonly found dishes like tacos and burritos and flan for dessert. Golondrinas is the newest tenant at the former Communite Table space. 4171 MacArthur Blvd. Oakland. A buzzy new bar Step past a secret door to sip on cocktails in a plush banquette, under sultry lights and oil portraits at Livermore's newest speakeasy. Honeycomb Cocktail Lounge, initially a private events venue, is now open to the public. True to its namesake bees are all over the menu, figuratively. House cocktails, like the Hive Mind and Royal Jelly, are fittingly made using honey. Similarly, riffs on classics include an Old Fashioned made with beeswax-washed bourbon and a whiskey sour using bee pollen and crowned with honeycomb. The hidden bar is the latest from Tom and Teresa Lawrie, owners of the adjacent Sons of Liberty Alehouse.
