The James J. Hill Reference Library has chosen Glassdoor as its Business Web Site of the Week. Glassdoor was created in 2007 as a career and workplace community that anyone can use to find or anonymously share salary details about specific jobs for specific employers. Glassdoor can also be used to post or find detailed company and interview reviews describing life inside specific companies.

If you're interested in gaining insight into companies via real-time compensation data, company reviews, and ratings, Glassdoor provides access to anonymous salaries, company reviews, and interview questions and reviews for over 23,000 companies.

Rick Farrell’s article Pain Locator Questions is on target in his fine examples of how to build rapport with questioning skills. I think you'll like it as much as I did.

Pain Locator Questions 
Since for all intents and purposes prospects could care less about you and your company, the pain locator questions are a great way to put all the emphasis and focus on prospects. These questions are an excellent tool to use to build rapport; create a long-term relationship built on trust and confidence; build a business case instead of just a product justification; and save time, energy and resources by quickly identifying your prospect’s problems, consequences, commitments, priorities and motivations to change.

The depth of these questions underscores the tenet that there are many ways to skin a cat. I have listed, obviously more than necessary, the questions you may use to gain insight and understanding of your prospects’ problems and pains. Generally 5-10 questions will suffice. When I have my clients in my training sessions list out all their own diagnostic questions, they can usually go no deeper than 2 questions, if that! The process of asking these in-depth questions is essentially alien to them. The beauty of these questions is that it forces you to do all the things that make a great salesperson: empathize, listen, demonstrate care and expertise, and most importantly, exude trust.

These questions are to follow when a prospect states a problem or a concern in their business. Your job as a salesperson is to understand the full extent of your prospect’s problems and help them understand if the timing is right for them to act on it.

When United Airlines pilot Captain Denny Flanagan, the subject of my Wow Factor Sends Customer Satisfaction Sky High post, read it and responded, he also revealed that it was his birthday, and that he had the following wish to share with all of our readers. I hope you’ll spread Captain Flanagan’s good word among your colleagues, friends, and loved ones, too. Happy Birthday, Captain Flanagan.
 

Dear Family, Friends, Workmates and Customers who I have flown through the Friendly Skies,

From May 3rd through May 6th, Patrick Connor and I led a select group of highly seasoned senior executives on our first ExecuCross Bike Trip. Our group journeyed along the Great Allegheny Passage Trail, a 150-mile system of biking and hiking trails connectng to the C&O Canal Towpath in Cumberland, MD. We started our adventure outside Pittsburgh, PA, eventually ending our odyssey in Paw Paw, WV, covering a distance of over 122 miles. (The Great Allegheny Passage Trail is still a work in progress, but it will connect Cumberland to Pittsburgh, PA when it's completed.)

Our outfit forged on, undaunted, through four days of grueling yet exhilarating physical activity, torrential rains, and mud flooding the creeks and rivers. Not only was a rip-roaring good time had by all, but each of us came away from our first ExecuCross tour with plenty of progressive ideas on leadership in a challenging environment. It was a great opportunity for braving the elements and breaking away from the office, instead of the usual safe, comfortable, unchallenging office or classroom setting with a PowerPoint presentation, or hitting the golf course and the bar at the country club afterwards. Instead, we put leadership to a more palpable endurance test, challenging ourselves physically and emotionally, learning to survive and thrive while challenging our minds as well as our bodies. With everyone going through tough times these days in business and pretty much every other aspect of life, our group emerged from our adventure feeling inspired, motivated, brimming with fresh ideas on how to do a better job of developing, coaching, mentoring, managing, and motivating their people to be much more effective and proactive.

I recently came across this excellent piece by James Chartrand of Men With Pens. It struck me that Chartrand's suggestions for bloggers would work equally well for communicating effectively with clients. I hope you'll find it as enjoyable and useful as I did.

The Winnie the Pooh Guide to Blogging 

Sometimes, expert advice comes from where you least expect it. Winnie the Pooh himself will tell you he is a “bear of little brain,” but he also has an uncommon, clear-eyed wisdom.

You may have heard of The Tao of Pooh. But what about The Blog of Pooh?

Given that the happiness and feelings of his friends are Pooh’s chief concern (other than "hunny," that is), he'd likely build a strong community as a blogger. Here are six social media lessons we can all learn from the lovable bear who’s stuffed with fluff.

Lesson 1: “You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.”

Pooh rarely sat around. In most stories, he was heading out to visit his Good Friend Piglet or perhaps have a little spot of Something with Rabbit. He went to Owl to get advice and to Christopher Robin to get help.