In order to succeed in today’s B2B sales world, salespeople must create buyer consensus among diverse customer stakeholders. Those who fail to do that risk falling victim to the status-quo – the minimal-risk, lowest-cost option – or worse, losing the deal altogether. The Challenger Customer: Selling to the Hidden Influencer Who Can Multiply Your Results from CEB (NYSE: CEB), a best practice insight and technology company, reveals that it isn’t just about how you engage, but who you engage within the customer organization that drives complex sales today.
“The ‘senior decision-maker’ no longer exists in B2B sales. That makes the most significant problem facing marketing and sales teams a buying problem, not a selling problem. Organizations need to shift their focus from making the sale to understanding buyer groups – and who among them really shapes decisions,” said co-author Brent Adamson, executive advisor at CEB. “Our research shows that the one thing that matters most to executives is whether or not a supplier has buy-in with the rest of the organization – NOT the supplier’s actual offering or solution.”
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7427252-ceb-the-challenger-customer/
Food Network kicks off the New Year with a new season of Worst Cooks in America, the hit competition series that transforms kitchen disasters into skilled cooks, and five-time winner Chef Anne Burrell returning for a rematch against Chef Tyler Florence. Premiering on Sunday, January 3rd at 9pm ET/PT, the seven episode series pits Anne against Tyler, each leading a team of disastrous cooks in an intense kitchen boot camp designed to vastly improve the food skills of their recruits. The contestant who makes the most impressive culinary transformation is awarded a $25,000 grand prize, in addition to delivering victory and bragging rights for their team leader.
“Worst Cooks is comical, competitive and ultimately, inspiring,” said Bob Tuschman, General Manager and Senior Vice President, Food Network. “Under Anne and Tyler's guidance, these cooking-challenged contenders transform their hilarious kitchen blunders to refined culinary techniques - and the journey is truly entertaining to watch.”
In the season premiere, Anne and Tyler are confronted with some of the worst cooks they've ever seen during an open casting call. They then chose fourteen recruits including a lunch lady, truck driver, Army veteran and special education teacher to send to boot camp, and each contestant whips up the “offending dish” that landed them in hot water. After a stomach-wrenching tasting, Anne and Tyler pick their teams and attempt to teach them to make a well-balanced meal. Two recruits are not up to the task, and are sent home. Upcoming episodes feature a game show - style battle called “Family Food,” internationally-flavored empanada and Asian street food challenges and a visit from the competitors’ loved ones. The season culminates in a finale on Sunday, February 14th at 9pm ET/PT where the most improved recruit is awarded $25,000 and bragging rights for their mentor.
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7619231-food-network-worst-cooks-in-america/
Today in Pompano Beach, Fla., The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company set the Guinness World Record® for constructing the World’s Largest Game of Cornhole to kickoff a week of celebration leading up to the 80th Annual Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on December 31 in Arlington, Texas.
Measuring an astounding 64 feet by 32 feet, the super-sized version of the traditional tailgate game, cornhole, was paired up with another larger-than-life college football tradition—the Goodyear Blimp. As their school mascots cheered from the ground, cheerleaders from Michigan State University and the University of Alabama flew more than 200 feet above the massive cornhole game board to toss beanbags out of Goodyear’s newest blimp, Wingfoot One. The students competed for bragging rights in the larger-than-life game of cornhole as their teams prepare to face off in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on New Year’s Eve. The epic game ended in a 1-1 tie.
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7404459-goodyear-world-s-largest-cornhole-board/
The vehicles deemed the 16 Best Family Cars of 2016 were announced today by Kelley Blue Book, www.kbb.com, the only vehicle valuation and information source trusted and relied upon by both consumers and the automotive industry. After extensive testing and evaluation, with a keen focus on safety, comfort, convenience, spaciousness for both passengers and cargo, and fit of various rear-facing and forward-facing child safety car seats, the KBB.com expert editors recommend their choices for a diverse group of vehicles that best meet the needs of today’s modern families.
“For two weeks’ time we drove, lived-with, folded-down-seats-of, paired-phones-to and installed-baby-seats-in each and every one of the contenders,” said Jack R. Nerad, executive editorial director and executive market analyst of Kelley Blue Book’s KBB.com. “We loaded cargo, contorted ourselves into third rows, watched movies on rear-seat screens, toted rowing teams to marinas – in short, we did everything that you and your family might do with a vehicle day-to-day. And we did all this with a certain sense of what a family needs and wants, since many of our testers are simultaneously parents of kids ranging from mid-twenties to newborn. So this wasn’t just a cursory exercise, but instead it drew heavily upon our family-car experiences, needs and wants.”
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7748351-kelley-blue-book-best-family-cars-2016/
In its seventh year as an official NCAA® Corporate Partner, LG Electronics is reinventing the color commentator role this March Madness® season and releasing a series of exclusive statistics* that will help fans “Do Game Day Right®” by looking at the tournament from a whole new perspective – uniform colors.
LG has signed up ESPN College Basketball Analyst, Jay Bilas, as the official “LG Color Commentator” to provide fans everywhere with never-before-seen statistics exploring team performance through the filter of official team colors.
No stranger to the impact of color – with OLED TVs that produce more than a billion rich colors and TWIN Wash™ that washes two separate loads of laundry to protect your home and away uniform colors – LG will give NCAA fans an edge with new uniform color statistics from now until the end of the tournament. Verified by Elias Sports Bureau, each statistic reveals performance by uniform color by looking at all the teams that made the Final Four® since the tournament moved to the 64 team format in 1985.
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7763551-lg-march-madness-do-game-day-right/
STOUFFER’S FIT KITCHEN, creator of protein-packed, premium-quality frozen meals, once again teamed up with baseball stars Kris Bryant of Chicago and Kansas City’s Mike Moustakas to host the Fit City Takeover, an interactive day of fun that celebrated all the ways people incorporate fitness into their everyday lives.
STOUFFER’S FIT KITCHEN took over Phoenix elevating one of America’s favorite pastimes, recreational softball, surprising Arizona State University students with guest coaches for the day – Kris Bryant and Mike Moustakas. Two intramural teams took their game a step closer to the big leagues as Bryant and Moustakas went head to head in a friendly rivalry, sharing advice with the collegiate teams and showing fans everyone has a different way of staying fit.
The Fit City takeover, also included a never-before-seen Fit City Course that was modeled after an actual city, featuring obstacles like a skyscraper climbing wall and stationary bike that lights up the Fit City course. After exhausting all of their energy during the softball game and taking on the Fit City Course, fans had the opportunity to try the different fit feats and fuel up on free STOUFFER’S FIT KITCHEN samples to get a taste of the meals Moustakas and Bryant have been enjoying this off-season.
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7812251-stouffers-fit-kitchen-bryant-moustakas/
Clayton, one of America’s largest homebuilders, today announced it has acquired Gallatin, Tenn.-based Goodall Homes, a builder of new single-family homes, townhomes and condominiums since 1990. Goodall is the second site-built housing company to become part of Maryville-based Clayton, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Clayton acquired Atlanta-area builder Chafin Communities last fall.
Clayton, through its site-building group, Clayton Properties, entered the site-built housing market to expand its portfolio of housing options to homebuyers. The acquisition of Goodall Homes includes approximately 3,600 lots and 180 homes under construction in a five-county area in Middle Tennessee. Goodall Homes closed 436 homes last year.
“Adding great builders like Goodall to our team is exciting,” stated Clayton home building group President, Keith Holdbrooks. “As we continue to grow and expand into the site-built market, it is important to partner with teams that share our culture of providing an excellent customer experience.”
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7716454-clayton-acquires-goodall-homes/
A decade ago Turtle Beach Corporation (NASDAQ: HEAR), a leading audio technology company for over 40 years, pioneered the console gaming headset category and is set to do so again in 2016 with its revolutionary Turtle Beach® Elite Pro Tournament Gaming Headset, Elite Pro Tactical Audio Controller (T.A.C.) and Elite Pro accessories designed for competitive gamers, which establishes a new standard for eSports gaming audio performance and comfort. Turtle Beach’s “Elite” series products represent the highest level in audio and build quality, and the all-new Elite Pro Headset, T.A.C. and Elite Pro accessories are the Company’s all-new line of competitive gaming audio gear created to meet the demands of today’s professional and aspiring pro teams and players.
The Elite Pro Headset’s journey began in 2013. Seeing the consistent growth and popularity of eSports, Turtle Beach launched a comprehensive scientific research program to deeply examine the needs of professional and hardcore gamers as it pertained to game audio, communicating with teammates, and overall comfort. The result is the all-new Elite Pro Tournament Gaming Headset – a ground-up redesign of the competitive gaming headset that brings to market multiple first-and-only innovations in the core mechanics of headset design, weight and fit. Not only does the Elite Pro Headset provide Turtle Beach’s best-in-class game audio and chat performance, but also delivers groundbreaking comfort-driven technologies, including the ComforTec® Fit System with multiple adjustment points for a truly personalized headset fit and feel, Aerofit® Ear Cushions that stay cool in the heat of battle, and Turtle Beach’s all-new patented ProSpecs® Glasses Relief System that finally makes wearing a gaming headset comfortable for players who wear glasses.
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7537953-turtle-beach-optic-gaming-elite-pro/
The 11th annual Amgen Tour of California presented by AEG entered its second decade as America's most prestigious annual cycling event, welcoming an unsurpassed field of professional teams for the race start in San Diego. One of the most important races on the international calendar, the 8'day event attracts some of the brightest cycling stars in the world to the golden state each May. This year’s field features 11 World Champions, five Olympic medalists and Rio Olympic hopefuls, with more than 30 countries represented.
The 2016 Amgen Tour of California includes 10 UCI WorldTour Teams, the most in race history, as some of the top cyclists in the world face off across nearly 800 miles of California terrain May 15-22, visiting 12 Host Cities from San Diego to Sacramento.
2016 marks the debut of the UCI Women's WorldTour, which brings the highest level of professional women's cycling competition to cities around the world. The four-day Amgen Breakaway from Heart Disease Women's Race Empowered with SRAM May 19-22 marks the U.S. debut of the Women’s WorldTour and will showcase some of the best talent in the sport. The peloton will include two-time Olympic champion Kristin Armstrong and eight Rio Olympic hopefuls.
The eight-stage men’s event began Sunday with 18 of the world’s most decorated and esteemed teams competing for one of the sport’s most coveted titles. World Champion and reigning race champion Peter Sagan of Tinkoff roared to victory in a bunch sprint to the finish line in Mission Beach, San Diego, putting him back into the yellow leader jersey he wore at the race’s conclusion last year.
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7831951-amgen-tour-of-california/
The Space Potatoes rocketry team from Bellevue, Washington, bested 100 of the top student rocketry teams in the country to claim first place at the 2016 Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) National Finals.
The five-student team outscored nearly 5,000 students on 789 teams that participated in this year’s competition from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Space Potatoes, comprised of Mikaela Ikeda (12), Larry Jing (13), Karl Deerkop (14), Srivatshan (Sri) Sakthinarayanan (13) and Stephanie Han (13), were awarded more than $20,000 in scholarships and funds for their school.
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7615351-team-america-rocketry-challenge/
Abila, the leading provider of software and services to associations, nonprofits, and government entities, announced today findings from its 2016 Nonprofit Finance Study: Compliance, People, and Process Complexities. This study explores the challenges and opportunities associated with rules and regulations changes, compliance, managing multiple revenue sources, audits, fraud, and staff turnover in the nonprofit finance department.
“Any time there are rules and regulations changes, there are added costs – both in terms of time and money – for nonprofit organizations,” said Dan Murphy, senior manager of fund accounting strategy for Abila. “Maintaining compliance, mitigating fraud, and preparing for audits add even more layers of complexity for organizations. We found there are a number of areas where nonprofit organizations need to sharpen their focus, better equip their teams with specialized training and technology, and ensure they are mitigating the risk of losing essential finance personnel.”
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7858252-abila-2016-nonprofit-finance-study/
Today, Cision announced the launch of its new integrated platform, the Cision Communication Cloud™. The new offering is the first of its kind in the communications industry to bring the power of the cloud to earned media and incorporates many of Cision’s award-winning technologies into one integrated platform, providing an effective way to connect, scale and accurately measure the impact of earned media communications.
“Communications teams have had to manage very disparate systems, content, data, and analytics. When it comes to the mission critical communications function, the power of the cloud has yet to be unleashed,” said Cision CEO Kevin Akeroyd. “Just as the marketing mega players of Silicon Valley have successfully built cloud platforms to transform sales, marketing and other functions, Cision is now bringing the power of the cloud to earned media.”
To view the multimedia release go to:
http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7931751-cision-communication-cloud/
