Derby Management's "Competitive Edge" Blog

I've found that there are two types of managers who work in our profession of Sales...

Back-in-the-day... MRP, ERP, Quality Circles, ISO900, DFM, KANBAN, and a myriad of other manufacturing productivity improvement tools and technologies were the structural keys to the success of the resurgence of quality and manufacturing superiority in the U.S.  

In the '70's and '80's, as a direct result of the new-age religions of processes, standardized tools, technologies and metrics preached by the High Priest, W. Edwards Deming, and national activities such as the Malcolm Baldridge Award, U.S. manufacturing steadily pulled itself back to worldwide superiority in such diverse markets as cars, appliances, in semiconductors and general electronics.  This refocus to massive productivity and quality gains, resulting in much higher levels of customer satisfaction, took a national call-to-action spread over a couple of decades, and it worked, and it continues to work today with US manufacturing productivity output doubling over the last 15 years.

And Yet, Sales Productivity in too many companies Sucks...

• In the last 10 years, selling costs rose faster than revenues.
• In the last 5 years, SG&A costs have increased 12.5% (Alix Partners 2013)
• According to Sales Benchmark Index, in the last 3 years, sales productivity declined for the world’s largest sales forces.  Only 41 of the SBI 100 companies increased sales productivity per employee.
• There's been an average productivity decline of 2.5 % over the last three years.

Joe Gusfaston, Chairman of Brainshark, the industry leader in Sales Readiness, who consolidated many of these stats, noted in an article published by Forbes that "Sales enablement is about how to improve productivity of sales by squeezing out inefficiencies and maximizing effectiveness,”    

Leaders like W. Edwards Deming, back-in-the-day, for manufacturing, and guys like Joe Gustafson today for Sales Readiness & Enablement, understand the sales productivity crisis and are actually doing something about it.
 

which is Why We've Teamed Up with Hubspot on March 20th For...

"Constructing a Winning Blueprint for 2017"

Most of us in our firm grew up on the manufacturing floors and in the engineering labs of our prior companies until we came to understand the reality of the simple business credo that..."Success in business is about just two things: Sales ! and other stuff" (Professor Howard Anderson, Harvard Business School).

We've also been devotees about everything Hubspot since the company was founded.  We use their tools, they are customers of ours, and we of them. 40+ of my Tufts alums (very happily) work there.  The Hubspot technologies are the backbones of my course in Marketing, and most recently my new course "The Art & Science of Sales".  Many of my class lecturers are my alums now working (very happily) at Hubspot.  All of this is very symbiotic, the process works perfectly and everyone benefits.

As a result of that partnership, we decided to co-host with Hubspot this "Constructing a Winning Blueprint for 2017" event on March 20th at the Hubspot headquarters in Cambridge, which is focused directly at the senior leaders (CEOs, and Heads of Marketing and Sales) of manufacturing companies. Kicking off with an introduction by Hubspot co-founder, CTO, and tech visionary, Dharmesh Shah, this unique event will outline the intersections of systems, processes and metrics between the rapidly evolving worlds of Sales & Marketing productivity and the productivity improvements being made on the factory floor.

The Agenda:

• 11-12 PM -Lunch & Networking
• 12-1 PM-Welcome and presentation from Dharmesh Shah, CTO and Co-Founder of HubSpot
• 1-2 PM Manufacturing CEO Panel, facilitated by Jack Derby
• 2-3 Q&A, Discussions and Networking

For more information on the event, and to register just go to this  LINK.  

Also, you should download and read our manufacturing eBook, " Constructing a Winning Blueprint for 2017”, at this  LINK.

Questions?  

Just connect with me at jack@derbymanagement.com or with my partner, John Routhier, who, with Hubspot, is in charge of this event at john@derbymanagement.com, and we'll fill in the details.

Have a great day selling today! 

 

 

Head Coach  

 Derby Management...for 25 years
 -Sales & Marketing Productivity Experts
 -Business & Strategy Planning Specialists
 -Senior Management Coaches for CEOs & VPs

Boston, MA 02117
Jack's Cell: 617-504-4222 
jack@derbymanagement.com

 

 

 

 

When I grew up in Greater Boston, we had one "device" in the house, and that was one AM radio in my parent's bedroom.  No Internet?  We would never have even been able to comprehend the concept.  No, no Internet.  In fact, no TV.

An Epic Game!

There's nothing more that I could add to the accolades and the volumes of words, statistics and analyses that have already been written...except to add one word... GRIT !

Being successful in any business is tough work.  Always has been, always will be...and that's what makes it both an exciting career and very rewarding. Once in a while, we get lucky, but rarely, and then only for short periods of calm in a turbulent ocean of constant change.

This entire “Constructing a Winning Blueprint in 2017” ebook is a collaboration between 23 unique HubSpot Agency Partners. Each agency has experience in the manufacturing space and contributed a section on how they believe manufacturers can overcome the biggest marketing and sales challenges facing the industry in 2017. To learn more about the participating agencies, check out the rest of this ebook. Sign up for our Free Lunch and Learn March 20th "Manufacturing Revenue for 2017 and Beyond"