Josiane Feigon

I have this rule when I shop- no double trouble. No matter how much I like something, I never buy two of the same things- not even in different colors. This applies to tops, pants, skirts, jackets, shoes, and other clothing. I say this because everyone is talking about the Recession, Part II.

Is a “double dip” recession going to lead us to double trouble? The stock market is tumbling down, unemployment is rising, and consumer spending has slowed down. But there is a bright side to all this- layoffs have slowed down, hiring and recruiting is happening and promotions are up. My belief is we may hit a rough patch and 9 out of 10 economic recoveries have hit a rough patch since 1949 so this isn’t unusual.

Salespeople must continue to sell smart- by adopting new Sales 2.0 tools and strategies and becoming more cautious in their pipeline building efforts.  In...

A few of my single women friends were sharing dating stories and discussing the  inventory pool of eligible men. One friend was curious about two guys she had recently met. She described him as saying ”he didn’t want to complicate things in a relationship.” My other friend quickly jumped in and translated that and said, ”oh, that means he’s married.” She then wanted to read his text which said he was “out w the guys” and was convinced he had a girlfriend or was involved. The second guy was putting off inconsistent vibes- super friendly and affectionate one week and radio silent the next. My friend summed that up and said, ”oh, sounds gay.”

When we feel insecure about something, there’s lots of room for interpretation and we all know that dealing with No-Po’s makes everyone very cautious. We...

I absolutely cringe every time I have to walk inside a bank. Come to think of it, I used to work in a bank. Back in the day, I got my start working as a bank teller at Home Savings and Loan in Studio City. You could see this bank miles away, it stood on the corner of Ventura and Laurel Canyon - it’s mosaic front sparkled and the tall stained-glass windows looked majestic. When you walked in this enormous bank, you felt official, important and rich. 

Today, when I walk into my bank, my defenses are up (maybe because I don’t feel  rich these days) or that I just don’t want to cooperate. I am usually greeted by a  bunch of guys wearing their father’s grey suit who all look up from their empty desks and say, “Welcome to Wells Fargo.”  I throw an annoyed glance their way and keep walking up to the teller line, which has a few people waiting. I watch the large flat screen TV- tuned in...

Watching trends is one of my favorite things to do and when you sprinkle a little intuition in there, you have the makings of some fairly accurate predictions and forecasts. Each year, I write my hotlist of what’s in/out and trend reports. Since the phone and email are the primarily business tools for inside sales, I’m always looking out for new business and social trends which will impact their longevity.

So I’m paying attention when watching Sheryl Sanberg, COO of Facebook

talk about email eventually going away. She reminds us when we are surveying trends- we want to focus on what teenagers are doing because this opens a window into the future. She states that only 11% of teenagers are on email now. They are texting and using other...