Your question is difficult to comprehend. If you are referring to farm raised fish versus fish raised naturally or organic versus non-organic food. There are various segments based upon performance of the item, price, convenience, service and balancing of the first four. Each group will have different items of importance. For instance seniors prefer convenience and service whereas a younger person may be more interested in price structure.

I think you should definitely slow down and regroup and assess your current strategy as a whole for selling your company and product to consumers. Who is your audience? Are you selling direct to consumer? Are you selling to stores? How can you directly target that consumer through marketing, sales approach, training etc. Evaluate the need for your software and thoroughly educate your sales people with not only the information they need to sell your product, but also the enthusiasm that they need to do so. Your success with sales are a direct effect of a developed sales and marketing strategy that you determine for you company. If you don’t think this is an effort you can manage by yourself, and you are fiscally able to do so, do not be afraid to reach out to people who are more experienced in the sales and marketing fields and can help you achieve your sales goals!

Through HR and as quickly as possible so that it is not drawn out.

Usually, when everyone else is working, and you are on your phone, it makes you look like you aren’t putting in 100%. IMO I usually like it if someone has to use their phone at work, for them to do it at a break or to be as discrete as possible about it. Though sometimes your position requires you to do so and it cannot be helped. Just be aware that this is the age of technology and none of us are dumb–we are aware if you are messaging on your computer, on Facebook at work, etc– and it does not look good when your full attention is required and others are more than capable of remaining focused and dedicated while on the clock.

A certain amount of training is required so a new hire can be prepared for the responsibilities their job requires of them, as well as the new expectations of colleagues and supervisors, and a new company culture. This training period might need to be more extensive and rigorous for new graduates, especially those with little previous work experience or lack of diversity on their resume. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as training gives your employee a chance to develop the specific skills (both social and professional) needed to thrive in your workplace. It is great that you aren’t jumping to conclusions and are willing to give your new hires a chance: adjusting to a new job is not easy… especially your first job out of school.

Hi! Adding on to the above answer, can you give a bit more background as to what the meeting was like, and/or what information they were willing to give? Maybe then I could be more helpful.

There are several ways to calculate a business’ valuation, and make an offer, but for this you are going to need the owners to provide numbers (including important information such as net profits, etc.). If they cannot provide any information, then it could be hard for you to close a deal (or at least for you to make a wise business investment)l. If the owners have had the business for a long time (you mentioned they are in their 80s) they may have a strong emotional attachment to the business, so perhaps giving more information about yourself and why you are personally interested in investing their business could be a good start to establishing a good and trusting business relationship. An explanation as to why you need certain information (as it can help you both come to a reasonable and fair business deal), might be helpful as well! Hope it all works out for you!

If you don’t currently like the people you are hiring, maybe you aren’t asking the right questions that represent you, your company and what you are looking for in an employee. I’m not quite sure I understand what your definition of “ruling out the weak ones” is, nor do I think that’s an appropriate attitude to have or term to use. Be sure that you are clear in the type of personalities you work well with, not just impressed with brand names and certifications. People can be trained, but usually you can’t change someone’s personality, motivation, or work ethic.

Traditional media is dead! We are headed into a new age! Who are we kidding? The news has changed so much in the last few decades. In the next ten years, we will be dealing with a completely different situation.

Little random gifts as incentives are nice depending on company culture.