Declining growth in shale drilling for oil and natural gas is in turn hurting suppliers, with United Rentals' third-quarter drillers and producers revenue down two-thirds from five years ago in terms of overall revenue percentage. "We just won't chase business there because the highs feel great and the lows feel worse," said executive Ted Grace.

Amazon will challenge the US Defense Department's decision to award a $10 billion cloud computing contract to Microsoft. The evaluation process "contained clear deficiencies, errors and unmistakable bias," Amazon says.

Distributors and suppliers benefit from fair agreements with clear terms, helping everyone avoid unnecessary conflicts while focusing on sales and margins, writes Glen Balzer. While balanced distribution contracts may not prolong relationships between distributors and suppliers, "one-sided language often hastens the end of a relationship," Balzer writes.

The number of freight shipments has been declining for 11 consecutive months, with October's numbers 3.9% less than the month prior and down 5.9% year-over-year, according to the Cass Freight Index Report. Report author Donald Broughton of Broughton Capital says this continued decrease signals "an economic contraction," and he notes the trend is apparent in almost all types of transportation in the US and abroad.

Business-to-business marketers should incorporate personalization into email campaigns to boost open rates, including customizing subject lines, segmenting audiences and personalizing dynamic content, Clara Beck writes. Employ automation to make the task easier and authenticate your domain to stop emails from being filtered as spam, she advises.

Use empathy to establish baseline relationships, as only then can any attempt at advice, planning and accountability occur, writes Dan Rockwell. "You can't bring out someone's best until they feel understood," he writes.

Explain the reasons behind pending layoffs through in-person communication, let employees know how the move affects them and help those affected find new jobs, say corporate experts. "How you treat people throughout this whole process is an indicator of whether or not you will still have any [employees] remaining on the other side," says Laura Hamill, chief people officer and chief science officer at Limeade.

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