Derby Management's "Competitive Edge" Blog

January is the most critical time of the year for the entire management team to get their fingers deep into the crankcase oil of the entire engine of the business in order to achieve...

Tags: sales management effectiveness, sales enablement, business coaching, how to close sales, business planning meetings, how to write a sales plan, writing business plans, forgetsalesstrategyfocusontactics

Over the long weekend of the 4th, I listened to two threads of stories...

Tags: sales effectiveness, sales management boot camp, business coaching, improving sales productivity, best sales practices;, sales management productivity, sales effectivness

Too often we business types roll our eyes to the ceiling when we think about academia. Our images of university life immediately flash back to our own college days, but that image has little to do with the reality of university life today. 

Today, college students are wicked bright, very hard working and highly focused on jobs, careers and the social impact of making a difference in the lives of others.  As a group, current students and alums for the past eight or ten year are a massive category with huge numbers, but they also have far less spending power due to the very high cost of housing in general and the massive student debt that they carry. 

Tags: sales productivity, sales management, improved sales management, small business management, management, business coaching, leadership

My Hubspot blog template asks me this morning "What are we writing about today?". This Thursday morning, I'm pretty consumed with the excitement and the logistics of tomorrow's day-long Founder's Workshop and its incredible line up of real-life entrepreneurs, early stage investors and expert coaches, all focused on making sure that our early stage entrepreneurs do not fall off the cliff.

Tags: entreprenurial, business coaching, Tufts Gordon Institute, entrepreneurship, Making Tough Choices, sales success, jack derby professor at Tufts, Tufts Entrepreneurship, Tufts Entrepreneurship Center

Thanks for closing the Q on time and even squeaking in those last few orders on Friday afternoon before the closing bell !  This morning, whatever the number was, it feels good to have the wind at your back and a new page open to a new week, a new month and a new quarter !  Still lots of room between now and the end of December.    

Tags: business planning, business coaching, business plans, strategic planning, strategic

Here we are in mid January, and you and I have the opportunity to change the world this year.  

Tags: business planning, business coaching, writing a business plan

Tags: closing sales, business planning, business coaching, business plans, best sales practices;

“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.”                   -Mike Tyson

If your last image of Iron Mike chewing off the ear of Evander Holyfield was a bit too graphic, then maybe some of the following highly positive quotes might be more representative of the reasons for careful planning...just so that you don't get punched in the face.

Tags: Sales Best Practices, sales and marketing best practices, sales planning, sales plans, business tools, business planning, business coaching, business plans

I've been a student of the comics forever and well remember waiting dutifully for my father to come every night and hand me the Boston Traveler, which I then immediately thumbed to the funnies.  Today, I'm still addicted to the comics although it's my iPad now that delivers my daily fix, since my daily download of BostonGlobe.com sadly does not include the comics.  Dilbert continues to be one of my favorites for the simple reason that the parallels to daily business life are so close to reality that they either make me laugh or cringe.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, sales optomization, closing sales, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans, management, business tools, business planning, business coaching, strategic planning

I had the privilege of being the keynote speaker at Middlesex Bank’s CEO Forum last week.  A great bank, superb guests and for me, a fun opportunity to talk about something that I've fervently believed in ever since I started the company 22 years ago- how to build your competitive edge.  Aptly named, our long running newsletter, The Competitive Edge, and this blog speak to what I carry around as a religion in how I think about business in general and especially the world of sales.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, sales optomization, closing sales, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans, business coaching, leadership, economic stimulus, The Competitive Edge, strategic planning