I spend 30% of my 80-hour work weeks in Vermont, which I find is the perfect place for figuring out large projects, writing business plans and creating complex sales playbooks. I enjoy the view out the office window and the ability to step outside and walk in my woodlot for 30 minutes when I get stuck. It's almost perfect...except for the heat problem.
Tags: Sales Management Best Practices, Derby Entrepreneurship Center, 2026 Sales Planning, 2026 Business Planning, 2026 Marketing Planning
Just woke up to the first snow on the ground in Vermont this AM...it's official: Winta's Here!
I also woke up to read this WSJ article...which although it's not new news to me...it provides a factual story of what's happening on every college campus right now.Tags: 2026 Business Planning
The headlines are clear: Gen Z is entering one of the toughest job markets in decades.
For graduating seniors, the path from campus to career looks very different than it did even two years ago.
Here are the facts, and why your help matters both for students and for your own business!
Tags: Sales Hiring Perfectly, Sales Hiring & Onboarding, Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, 2026 Sales Planning, 2026 Business Planning, 2026 Marketing Planning
Tags: Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, Making Tough Choices, Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, 2025 Business Planning, 2025SalesPlanning, 2026 Sales Planning
Pretty much, the 3 days I need to be in Boston every week, I'm in the car at the NH beach at 4:00 AM for the 59-minute drive at an average 61 mph (with a powerful radar detector) to Boston. With the wicked Boston traffic, if I were to leave at 5:30, it would take 2 hours mostly at 15 mph on 93.
I start my day in the gym at 5:30 on the treadmill reading the WSJ, and yesterday, I read this Interesting article about the shortage of AI expertise and that workers in Silicon Valley are pushing themselves to extremes. Since counting time and figuring out the math of Sales is one of my passions, I looked back at the data that we've collected over the last 10 years on the number of hours that the top performing salespeople work.
Tags: Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, 2025SalesPlanning, 2026 Sales Planning, 2026 Marketing Planning
At Derby Management, the fall is always a very busy time working with management teams on overall strategy while taking a deep dive into the sales and marketing processes, the tools and the people upgrades that will need to be made in order to accomplish 2026 forecasts.
Tags: Sales Best Practices, Teaching at Tufts University, Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, 2026 Sales Planning, 2026 Business Planning, 2026 Marketing Planning
I left the NH beach last night to drive to the Vermont office for a day filled with sales calls starting in 10 minutes at 9.
Clearly the fall season is fully in charge here on the busiest leaf-peeping week of the year... except that the trees are already mostly bare due to a wicked dry summa'.
Tags: Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, 2026 Sales Planning, 2026 Business Planning, 2026 Marketing Planning
We're now 5 weeks into our semester and have officially shifted from high-end strategy into developing executable tactics and campaigns. The semester ends in early December with presentations of detailed plans to the CEOs of our host companies who determine 40% of the final grade. Definitely, everyone the course is hustling to an end point just the same as if they had a 4th quarter quota to reach...since they actually do.
Tags: Sales Best Practices, Sales Hiring Perfectly, Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, 2026 Sales Planning, 2026 Business Planning, 2026 Marketing Planning
I spend a lot of time driving fast from the NH beach to work in Boston, frequent trips to Tufts and end-of-the-week...like this afternoon...3-hour expeditions to VT. As a result, I frequently trade in cars just before the time of the dreaded "you need new tires and brakes" checkup.
Tags: Sales Management Best Practices, Making Tough Choices, Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, 2026 Sales Planning, 2026 Business Planning, 2026 Marketing Planning
I'm off to my second class MIT this morning, where I teach business planning and marketing, and three weeks already at Tufts' Derby Entrepreneurship Center, where I teach marketing and sales. This semester, there's a fair amount of major changes in my content from what and how I taught marketing just two semesters ago.
What's changed?
