It's been a superb summa' so far. Rain or shine, I don't really care; all I know is that any day from May through September beats February in Vermont!
A typical week has me working from NH the first half of the week and then mid-Wednesday afternoons I take the red summa' car to let the ponies run on the three hour drive to Vermont. I typically work from the VT house for the balance of the week returning to the NH beach at some point depending on the weatha'.
These last two weeks, I doubled down on the Vermont time since as my great grandfather who grew up in this same valley used to say about Vermont..."there's nine months of snow, one of damn poor sleddin', one for mosquitoes, and August is summa'." My extended time in Vermont has been superb!. Worked a ton on a funding project, got out in the woods with the ATV, pretended to clean up the gardens, and over those two weeks, I realized that my speech, my words and my dialect was changing...again.
I happened to comment during one of my scratchy reception mobile calls to George, my Boston partner, who also didn't have the best reception, that I had taken a picture of another bear walking through the garden that morning, to which he responded...
- George: "Are you sick again; how are you feeling?".
- Me: "I'm not sick. Why did you say that?"
- George: "You said you had taken Bayer."
In New England, nothing is more distinctive than a true Vermont accent. Here in the southern part of the state from Brattleboro up to Rutland, accents are only "moderate" having been corrupted over the decades by flatlanders from New York and Jersey. However, up in the Northeast Kingdom, which is an entirely different Vermont, accents become another dialect. The bottom line here, Vermont dialects and unfamiliar languages aside, solid communication in business is tough enough today without creating unnecessary roadblocks.
The Same is true using Sales & Marketing Language!
- What's a qualified lead? What's an MQL, SQL and the SLA that defines each?
- Where does marketing lead gen stop and sales lean gen take over?
- What's a true Discovery step in a formal sales process? How do you measure that?
- ...and 10 to 15 other absolutely critical definitions with exacting internal language.
What we know from being in the business of "the science of sales", where we've been working hands-on, deep in the dirt for the past ten plus years, there are key metrics at critical steps in any sales process ("Discovery" is the best example) where exacting language understood by everyone on the Sales and Marketing teams can improve overall sales productivity by 20% in less than a year.
- Language is common and immediate
- Everyone exactly knows the process definitions and their responsibilities.
- The metrics are transparent everywhere since the entire team takes responsibility.
During this superb summa' of '21, as we gear up for whatever 'the return to work" will be, this is a great time to rethink not only how we should be tightening up our sales and marketing processes for the sprint to December, but we should also make absolutely sure that there is a common language in everything we do in Sales and Marketing.
If you want more information about what how to create winning sales plan during the balance of this year, click here for our latest edition of "Writing the Winning Sales Plan in 2021". ...and you also might want to browse through our redesigned site in general and specifically take a look at our other sales tools
Have a great day selling today, and enjoy what looks like a beautiful weekend!
A SOUNDING BOARD FOR JULY
If at any time, you have a need for a confidential sounding board for Sales or Marketing, just connect with me at any time. Text or email me, and I'll quickly set up a call. I'm a pretty good listener, and we can get deep into tactics if you want. Obviously, no cost for a call or two; just an opportunity to listen intently and make a few recommendations based on decades of experience.
Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts
