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IRS Issues Proposed Rule Clarifying Laws Regarding Same Sex Marriage
Employers! You no longer need to hold your breath hoping you are “doing it right” regarding same sex marriage equality laws. On October 23, 2015, the question of how employers and other entities must handle the definition of marriage for IRS tax purposes was answered in the IRS proposed rule regarding implementation…
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Is Overtime Pay for Exempt Employees Really Becoming Law?
Well, not actual overtime pay for exempt employees. But, it will feel that way when your overtime exempt workers hear this: “You may be getting a pay raise if you make less than $50,440 a year (before taxes)!” Wait, what? About 15 million salaried overtime exempt employees who have earned about…
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Excel Black Friday Shopping List Template
This template was created so you can have the best game plan when going into Black Friday. It can be used for new or seasoned Black Friday shoppers. Here is how the table works: Column A has your date/time. Be sure to enter AM or PM so that when you…
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How to Use Slicers in Excel 2010 and 2013
Excel's Slicer Filter was added in Excel 2010 and enhanced in Excel 2013. This useful feature is excellent for viewing and comparing varied combinations of your data with a simple click. Something like a cross between a button and a filter, Slicers have become a prized tool for analyzing large…
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Intro to the COUNTIF Function in Excel
Much of spreadsheet data is a collection of individual transactions or instances that don't begin to offer meaning until they are organized and summarized in useful ways. Enter Excel's handy COUNTIF function. When categories of data are mixed together, or if you wish to understand your data based on certain…
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The Pivot Table and Percentage of Total Calculations
Once you learn how to create an Excel PivotTable, you'll discover that organizing your information is only the first step in getting the most out of this useful feature. PivotTables then give you the ability to further manipulate the organized information. Value Field Settings let you perform different types of…
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Excel Sort Formulas – How to Sort Dynamic Data
Excel includes powerful sort functionality in the Sort & Filter group on the Data tab. But what if your data changes frequently, or if you're simply tired of clicking through the Ribbon each time you generate a similar table? The answer might be to create a formula that does your…
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Sales Pipeline Management
In a previous post (Sales Management Software Considerations), I discussed the basics of sales management software. As noted, there are many “must-have” benefits to such a system, not the least of which is something called pipeline management, or sales forecasting. Pre-CRM, sales forecasting was somewhat of an impossible exercise. At…
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Sales Management Software Considerations
When I moved into sales management 20 years ago, the #1 rule preached in management class was: “Inspect what you expect.” Which, back then, was easier said than done. It required detailed review of every salesperson’s paper call reports, quotes and sales reports. From there I would “back into” the…
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Taking the Mystery Out of the Sales Management Process
In my two other posts (Sales Management Software and Sales Pipeline management), I referenced processes — reinforcing the fact that sales is a process and not a magic art only imparted to the gifted few. This post details that process further. If you’ve witnessed the construction of a house or…
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