Neat & Tidy: How to organize your Business & Sales Planning

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Tue, Nov 12, 2013

Sales Plans organizedJust about ready for winta'.  As part of my never-ending "drive-1,000-miles-a-week" travel schedule, late Thursday night and Friday morning found me in the towns of Colchester and Williston, VT.  I thank the inventor of GPS every single trip when I head off with absolutely no idea where I'm going other than... "It's north (or some other direction) somewhere."  A Mobil station dinner and a Hampton Inn breakfast later, I found that the management team at the Colchester and Williston plants were truly engaging, have complex opportunities, and I'm looking forward to our two day planning session in December.

Stratton snowmaking 2013 resized 600Driving back to the NH beach later Friday afternoon, I finally hit my first snow of the season.  I had heard reports of a few fluries hear and there, but nothing real.  The "we-gotta-be-1st-in-the-country" Killington Marketing Team had a couple of Death Ribbons open last weekend just to say, "we did it again!".  But in the drive down 89, it actually snowed and left patches of white stuff on the grass for a couple of miles. That same day, with perfect calendar and weather alignment, Stratton cranked up the big guns, and will continue every minute that they can right through Thanksgiving and Christmas until Mother Nature takes over.   Every fall, just like sales and business planning for the next year, the weather and skiers wait for no one.

So, with winta' on it's way, Thanksgiving around the corner and only 28 Selling Days left in the season, it's time to make everything "neat & tidy", just like my 5 cords of wood now perfectly stacked in the wood tent out by the front door.

Sales ChecklistIt's Checklist Time...

  • Update all Key Account Plans for the next 28 days
  • Offload everything else that gets in your way.  It needs to wait! 
  • Jumpstart your Q1 leadgen with Marketing this week
  • Finish your 2014 Sales Plan over Thanksgiving 
  • Detail your Q1 Monthly Sales Activity Plan before 12/15 
  • Finish your sales input to your boss's Business Plan
  • Turn in the next draft of your own business plan by 12/1 

What did I forget here?  What other checklist items do you have to make everything neat & tidy between now and the end of the year? 

You can use the next 28 days to your advantage and be "neat & tidy" at the end of the year...or, you can be looking down at your shoes and be left without any wood to burn for the winter! This time of year, your attitude, drive and your checklists need to be in perfect alignment for the remainder of the season.

For those of you charged with writing a 2014 Business Plan, click HERE and download a free copy of our 75 page ebook on Writing the Winning Business Plan.
In the meantime, Good Selling!
 Jack Derby 

 Head Coach

Linked In and Sales

 

Tufts Marketing
Each semester at Tufts, over a period of 13 weeks, I engage 30-35 students in a unique, hands-on, tools-based experience of preparing them for the real world of business in general and specifically the complexities of working in today's environment of Marketing and Sales.

Which leads me to look for 6 new companies each semester. 

Right now, I'm taking applications for the spring, 2014 semester.  If you're interested, please email me at jack@derbymanagement.com, and I will send you an overview of what's involved and instructions.  Last June, we had 32 companies request information, and we accepted 6.  A truly unique opportunity for both your company and our students.

 

The 2014 Sales Management Boot Camp:  April 6th-8th


Sales Management Boot Camp

Click HERE for information about our next Sales Management Boot Camp.

  • Perfectly timed for new sales management skills for 2014
  • Focused on you and what it takes to enable your team
  • Process, tools, tactics, and technology in a Sales 2.0 world
  • Only 30 managers are accepted
  • Always sold out so register early!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: Sales Best Practices, sales management, sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales management boot camp, sales boot camps, sales checklists