They said the site can display inventory that is in storage or pieces offered at lower price points and therefore not a priority for gallery sales staff.

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Daimaru Department Store has embarked on a hiring spree for sales staff who speak Chinese, and hotel restaurants are hiring bi-lingual waiters: The Chinese are coming, the Chinese are coming, with big wallets.

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Transparency of company strategy is a key, in very simple terms for all staff members, even for foreign food sales at a Shenzhen Wal-Mart or PC software in the Akihabara electronics bazaar in Tokyo.

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There was a hefty commission for those staff who could make the most sales.

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Brooks Brothers decided to introduce a dressier button-down collar with a higher thread count and made with Italian-woven fabric in its Luxury shirt because sales staff had been getting requests from customers for such a shirt, he says.

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Bajaj Finance, an Indian consumer-lending firm that has been using Chatter, Salesforce.com's social-networking system, for over a year, says it has led to much smoother communication between its sales staff and underwriters.

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This can happen, for example, when a rapidly growing business with strong sales makes large investments in stock, staff and manufacturing plants.

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Actually the idea for Close.io came from the sales people that the team has on staff needing a better sales teool, says Steli Efti, CEO of Elastic.

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