Vermont Rules
As you know, I love Vermont and spend about 30% of my time working from there with more time on the weekends doing what every Vermonter does: shovel snow, rake leaves, tend my woodlot and plant gardens. Plus, every time I'm there, including this weekend, I always take some time out to admire the unique beauty of Vermont by walking down to the river or just looking across to the now-turning leaves on the other side of the pond just up the road a piece.
Six generations of my family before me were born and lived in this same valley, and although I call myself "a Vermonter", I always leave out the fact that I was born and lived my early years in a tough neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. Maybe I'm "a-kind-of Vermonter" since I've lived in this same valley for 50 years, but I do know my place in that I am not "a true Vermonter". Those are Vermont Rules!
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sales planning,
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writing business plans,
planningsalestodayinacovidworld,
Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts,
2022 business planning
Just before we jump into the deep end of the pool next Tuesday, it might be worthwhile to think about approaching this year's planning season by looking out over two horizons and dividing your business plan into both the first and second halves of 2022.
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sales planning,
marketing effectiveness,
business planning,
how to close sales,
marketing planning,
writing sales plans,
writing business plans,
2022 business planning
1 thing Covid has done is to dramatically change my sleep & work patterns:
- Pre-Covid it was bed by 8 or 9, up at 3:30, car into Boston, gym at 5, go to work
- Now, bed by 10, up at 5, Peloton downstairs, walk beach, work at 7 at the house
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-worlds-sleeping-habits
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sales effectiveness,
sales planning,
improved sales management,
how to close sales,
sales management boot camps,
improving sales productivity,
how to write a sales plan,
Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts
It all comes down to today: e
nd of the month, t
he quarter, and the
first half of the year. Hopefully, your high on the charts...and you always have the next 10 hours or so. An adage in the profession of sales has always been "never give up!". Put it to good use today...I know that I will be!
Somewhere among the results of the first half of the year are lots of reasons to celebrate, and this weekend is the perfect time of year to do just that. As we power through the last hours of this month making sure that every drop of quota juice gets squeezed through this quarter's wringer, once that's done, and you've cleaned up paperwork tonight or tomorrow morning, just stop! Get out of town, go to the beach, hang out in the backyard, and just celebrate!
Yes, I know that this does not sound like the normal workaholic seven-days-a-week, Jack, and no, I did not get mellowed out by the heat, but I'm also a student of the science of when it's time to hang it up and step away for a few days. Plus, I love both the simplicity and the complex history of the 4th. Later tonight I will be jumping in the fast red car to get to Vermont, where the 4th of July takes on a whole new meaning in this quirky state of my ancestors. I'll get to watch the West Wardsboro parade twice since there's only one main road in town, and what goes one way, needs to come back. Simple Vermont practicality. Then another fast trip back to the NH beach to watch the outlandish fireworks and huge bonfires that are part of the tradition here ever since my parents brought me to this beach at the age of 5.
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sales management coach,
sales enablement,
sales planning,
sales tools,
how to close sales,
sales boot camps,
strategic planning,
how to write a sales plan
Every day, every week, I work through a series of mini-plans at least in my head and most often in writing.
-Days start early before the sun and begin with a fountain pen and new yellow-ruled sheet of paper.
-I bullet down in a word or two the tasks needed for the company and for Tufts in two columns
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Sales Optimization,
sales effectiveness,
sales planning,
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closing sales,
how to close sales,
sales success,
how to write a sales plan
It's come down to this...
- Today through Friday...still pretty good selling days !
- Next Monday, of course, is Christmas, so enjoy !
- As far as next Tuesday's concerned, everyone's traveling either here or there !
- And, then Wednesday-Friday, might be good for you, but most buyers have checked out !
The Blue Skies of Hope & The Valley of Reality
So, just to be conservative in our planning and quickly adjust our heads, and most importantly, our time this week, let's set out this Monday morning figuring that there are only five days to demonstrate our ability to bring in our forecasted deals and punch the ticket to go to President's Club in February.
Which means, we need to plan every call and every activity this week and not get distracted by, or totally lost in "the blue skies of hope".
- Forget about the Bluebirds
- Don't waste a lot time on brand new leads
- Just focus on the bottom of your current funnel
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sales productivity,
Sales Best Practices,
Sales Management Best Practices,
sales planning
Teaching Marketing at Tufts...
- A consistent search for real life Marketing & Sales Plan projects for my students
- 5-6 person teams work for 13 weeks on complex marketing and sales plan assignments
- All of our academic content is woven into these assignments from real companies
- I teach the tools; company management provides the real life experiences
The results are very positive and dynamically exciting from everyone involved
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sales effectiveness,
sales enablement,
sales planning,
marketing effectiveness,
marketing plans,
how to write a marketing plan,
sales management plans,
how to write a sales plan,
marketing planning,
sales management productivity
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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Sales Best Practices,
Sales Management Best Practices,
sales plan process,
sales planning,
improving sales productivity
I'm now going to date myself, but it's an important perspective in understanding just why I, you and the entire profession of sales need to keep rapidly evolving while it focuses, not on the practice of sales itself, but on the value that we bring to our customers.
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sales productivity,
sales coaching,
Sales Optimization,
sales coach,
sales planning,
sales tools
