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As organizations close, tips for facility managers to clear out the coronavirus

Scott E. Rupp Facilities & Grounds

The Clean Buildings Expo (CBE) and National Facilities Management and Technology (NFMT) Conference and Expo that was to be held this week in Baltimore has been postponed because of the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). There's likely no better time for the information that was slated for the clean-building conference than now. But that's the current state of the world given the pandemic. As governments develop strategies to lead their citizens through these developments, there's an important role to be played by facility managers.

Halting sports shows human lives valued over making money

Damon Sayles Sports & Fitness

The coronavirus (COVID-19) has hit the world with a left hook that packs 100 times the power of the greatest heavyweight boxing champion. On the evening of March 11, the NBA suspended its season. The next day, the NCAA Tournament crushed the dreams of college basketball fans by canceling March Madness, one of the biggest events in American sports not named the Super Bowl. From there, hockey fans saw the NHL season suspended, baseball fans saw the spring training schedule canceled and Opening Day pushed back indefinitely, and soccer fans saw leagues from various nations go on hiatus.

Original research is high-octane fuel for B2B marketing

MultiView Marketing

Recently, the latest State of Original Research for Marketing was published. In reading the report, there’s a ton of valuable content included.

Boeing freezes hiring as stocks plunge

Michelle R. Matisons Manufacturing

Boeing stocks have reportedly dropped to a 46-year low, as airline travel restrictions and new reports of company malfeasance further limit buyer confidence and challenge the company’s ability to withstand vulnerable market forces. Boeing shares dropped 18% on March 11 — the largest single-day percentage drop in decades. Canceled orders are much to blame here, as the company reported February’s overall net order number was down 28 planes.

How (and why) businesses are ensuring employees become financially literate

Tory Barringer Business Management, Services & Risk Management

A worrying trend has emerged in the past decade since the global financial crisis: Even with a world of information available at our fingertips, Americans' financial literacy is dismal and only getting worse. A recently concluded study by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation found that only about one-third of Americans surveyed were able to correctly answer a majority of questions when quizzed about interest rates, inflation, financial risk and mortgage rates, down from 42% in 2009.

What small businesses need to know before filing tax returns

Seth Sandronsky Business Management, Services & Risk Management

What does the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, perhaps President Trump’s signature legislative achievement, mean for businesses? We turn to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center (TPC), located in Washington, D.C. "TCJA allowed businesses to deduct the full cost of qualified new investments in the year those investments are made (referred to as 100 percent bonus depreciation or 'full expensing') for five years," according to the TPC. But this is not a permanent change to the tax code.

Seek and you shall find: 3 tips for setting negative interactions straight

Candice Gottlieb-Clark Business Management, Services & Risk Management

You often find what you seek. In my years of helping teams resolve conflicts and build better communication, I've seen this simple truth to be an underlying component in countless circumstances. I believe it's why we inevitably have strong opinions, and it's how we end up attracting the exact energy and outcomes we assume to be right and true. Consider for a moment how this occurs in a workplace setting.

Beware the dangers of groupthink for proposals

Lisa Pafe Civil & Government

Proposal color team reviews don’t work. Why? In many cases, proposal reviewers make two critical mistakes: 1. They read the proposal as if it was a novel, instead of scoring and rating it according to the evaluation criteria. 2. They get tired of arguing about their comments, so they come to consensus — which really means they succumb to groupthink. These mistakes often result in a proposal that not only fails to offer a value proposition rich in discriminating strengths, in some cases it is non-compliant.

Why marketing tribes are demographics you should be targeting

Lisa Mulcahy Marketing

As a marketer, you know the value of targeting the right segments and subtypes of your existing customer base and potential consumers — but did you know there's a highly effective way to take that strategy a step further? It's all about targeting marketing tribes. So, what's a tribe? It's a specific portion of your demographic who share the same specific mindset, regardless of age or geography. What key points do you need to keep in mind when it comes to effectively gaining the interest and trust of your targeted tribes? Pay attention to these important areas.

New remodeling forecasts revised upward

Michael J. Berens Construction & Building Materials

Demand for remodeling services maintained momentum in the fourth quarter of 2019, with remodelers reporting average revenue gains a few notches above industry projections. That momentum is expected to carry over into the first half of this year, fueled by the recent uptick in activity in the housing market. Although industry experts still foresee mainly moderate growth for 2020, they have revised their long-range forecasts slightly higher than those of the previous quarter.

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