Contacts: James Pool, Sales Associate, Bjorn's (San Antonio, TX)

It's every salesperson's nightmare: a $7500 home theater sale that goes belly up on delivery day. James Pool, a top-performing sales associate at Bjorn's in San Antonio, TX, lived that worst case scenerio recently, when one of his elder customers decided to cancel her order after she heard economic advisors on CNN cautioning against big-ticket spending during troubled economic times.

"I expect there'll be more of that," said Pool, who nonetheless remains optimistic about making money on CE during Q4 as well as the year ahead. "I have a drive to be able to continue to do what I do. It's just going to mean we've got to be sharper."

Pool's idea of sharp these days means selling with his soft side. He finds a way to break the ice with each customer he approaches, talking about anything BUT product at first, and works hard to arrange home visits too.