Are you following up? According to one study, more than 70% of sales leads are lost simply because the sellers don't make contact quickly enough after an initial contact.

"We also had a big argument about the price point: Some people in the business thought it should be 50p to get a big sale," said Matt Kelly, editor of the print paper The New European, in an interview this week on the FIPP site.

I might not think that a behind-the-scenes look at the food inspection services at Frankfurt Airport is all that exciting, but for heads of quality management and food safety in Germany, it is. The area is normally restricted to visitors, and the criteria used to check the incoming food and what leads to rejection of the products can be telling in the field.

A video shows a middle-aged daughter visiting her father in his kitchen. She asks how the iPad she gave him for Christmas is working out. He said he's thrilled with it and then proceeds to make a salad with guess what as a cutting board—and even placing it in the dishwasher after.  

"Cleverness is overrated, and heart is underrated," wrote comedian and filmmaker Mike Birbiglia in an article in The New York Times last week titled 6 Tips for Making It Small in Hollywood. Or Anywhere. Birbiglia became widely known for a fun film a few years ago called Sleepwalk With Me, and has an interesting film out now called Don't Think Twice.