...just plain ol' Vermont grit

Vermont is a tiny state with a very diverse grouping of residents.  I'm not talking here about the 13 "gold towns" inappropriately named by an infamous prior governor who overtaxed the flatlanders who came to VT to ski.  I'm also not talking about Burlington where 50% of the population lives. To know the real Vermont, one needs to get down into the dirt and understand their own grit and exceptionally hard work. 

When one takes a look at the stats, it almost defies logic of why the state even exists...except for grit.

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Tags: sales coaching, sales plan process, sales management boot camp, how to close sales, Tufts marketing projects, student intern marketing projects, how to write a sales plan, sales effectivness, Tufts Entrepreneurship Center

Success in Sales & at Tufts: Just 1 Requirement-Believe in Yourself !

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Mon, Nov 20, 2017

I've been manufacturing, engineering and selling most of my life....tech products, medical devices, sports apparel, and now consulting services.  It's a wonderful and exciting profession, but make no mistake, Sales is tough work:

  • Measurements occur every month and every quarter that totally define your success and income
  • Frequent rejections happen all the time due to the necessary waterfall math of any sales funnel
  • Positive energy is required all the time, even when you're knocked down once in a while
  • There's a requirement to consistently learn new skills, technologies and processes

The Question of the Day: Can Sales be "taught", or is it "just natural"?

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Tags: sales productivity, Sales Best Practices, sales plan process, Sales Hiring Perfectly, how to write a sales plan, sales plans for 2018

Eclipses and the Basics of Sales & Business Plans

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Fri, Oct 27, 2017

Just to light up your memory banks, way back in August, August 21st to be specific, it seemed that everyone in the U.S. was caught up in The Summer of 2017 Eclipse Fever, when for the first time in 99 years, we underwent a coast-to-coast phenomena.  Pretty basic stuff, but having said that, just as one example, one million people traveled to Oregon for three day just to grab the first view of the first light.  Small towns in the Midwest with populations below 1,000 welcomed tens of thousands of visitors.  Tens of thousands of people overpaid for the special glasses and overnight deliveries. 

And then...just as suddenly...it all ended. We packed up our telescopes and stowed our sleeping bags...and the special glasses...into our campers, and we just as quickly changed back into our workaday lives marking off April 8, 2024 on our digital calendars. 

All of that craziness and hype just follows the predictability of the rhythm of eclipses.  It will be the same in 2024. 

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Tags: Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, sales plan process, sales planning, improving sales productivity

How do you Rank? ...and Sales

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Tue, Mar 03, 2015

Here we are at the beginning of the last month of the quarter, and as managers and sales professionals, we're consistently reviewing ....

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Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, sales and marketing best practices, sales, sales management, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales management training, sales management boot camp

Weather Forecasting...and Sales

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Fri, Feb 20, 2015

 

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Tags: Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales plans, sales boot camp, sales producitivity, sales management boot camps

Back to School...and Sales

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Sat, Aug 23, 2014

As we think about the way-too-rapidly-approach to Labor Day...

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Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales tools, sales culture

Strategic planning, business planning...and Sales

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Fri, Jul 18, 2014

Sometimes we make this strategic planning stuff much too difficult, too mysterious and too complex to be useful in the real, rough and tumble world of scaling a profitable growth business. 

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Tags: sales and marketing best practices, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales management training, business planning, strategic planning, improving sales productivity

Barbara Walters...and Sales

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Thu, May 22, 2014

Did you watch the Barbara Walters special Friday night?

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Tags: sales coaching, Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, sales, sales plan process, sales enablement, sales tools, improving sales productivity

Are you Relevant? ...and more sales

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Tue, Feb 04, 2014

Cannot imagine what it would be like to become the CEO of Microsoft, but since my buds, Bill and Steve, once again passed over my application, I was reading up on Satya Nadella on Saturday morning (since this is a winta' without snowboarding), and I was struck my his simple, but provoking quote that...

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Tags: Sales Optimization, Sales Management Best Practices, sales plan process, selling skills, sales training, sales management boot camps

Vermont's Battle of the Winhall River...and Sales

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Fri, Sep 06, 2013

Here in Vermont today dealing with yet another contractor issue. Had to take the day off from work, deal with Vermonters (said he lovingly being a 7th  generation Vermonter), and drive 6 hours back and forth. It is what it is, but the trip up late last night did remind me of this summer's hotly debated "Battle of the Winhall River" in the town.  

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Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, sales plan process, sales boot camp, sales management boot camp