Picking Up Sticks...and Sales

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Sun, May 13, 2012

Sales and clean forests“A clean forest is a happy forest” has become, over many years, my mantra about the annual cleanup of my woodlot in Vermont.  For me, retreating to the woods on a Saturday like yesterday, right at the crack of dawn towing my chipper with one of our ATVs is definitely part of my “Time-to-Clean-My-Head” therapy. 

Beginning the weekend after the snow melts, my ragtag team of high school students and I attack the woods dragging out fallen trees and collecting the wind-tossed debris into piles to be munched later in the season by “Charlie the Chipper”.  Easy-to-snap branches become necessary kindling and are quickly sorted into bins destined for winter storage in the potting shed-not a small task since we burn 4 cords of wood just to bring our propane and electricity costs down to a reasonable budget that doesn’t require a home equity loan.  The rest of the debris in the woods becomes food for Charlie, who has a big appetite and managed yesterday to devour everything else in the woods leaving me with both “a clean and a happy forest”. Sales and chippers

Not coincidentally, this task of “picking up sticks” also helps me reorganize my over-scheduled  calendar and sort through the avalanche of time-wasters that tend to build up and overflow my mental inbox every week.  After a couple of hours in the woods, minor irritations which I had not dealt with during the week are simply chewed up and forgotten like chips left on the forest floor.  Complex sales issues which might have been plaguing me for days, once I’m alone among the solitude of the trees, are sifted through more thoroughly and compartmentalized into clean solutions which I can then haul out of the woods and discuss with my customers in the upcoming week.

I find that keeping my head swept clear of the debris that tends to distract me is critical to my ability to maintain my focus with customers and prospects.  Without burying myself in the Vermont woods a number of times each year,  I know that I’d be even more whacked out than normal about planning, organizing and prioritizing my sales acivities and calendar.  Certainly good for my head, clearly good for the woods, and definitely good for my ability to focus and develop more sales.

I’d be interested in your own ideas as to how you gain perspective and focus in the daily intensity that surrounds your own sales life…

Good Selling...it's shaping up to be a very good quarter.

Jack
Head Coach
Linked In and Sales

Sales Management Boot Camp

DERBY-Associated Industries of Massachusetts
SemiAnnual Sales Management Boot Camp
"Save The Date":  September 30th-October 2nd, 2012

Our always sold out Sales Management Boot Camp is just being launched with Early Bird Pricing ending August 15th.

Open only to 25 managers of sales, Presidents, CEOs and General Managers, this unique experience is focused on providing real-world experience that will enable you to increase your sales productivity by 20%-30% in one year. Click HERE for a quick overview and email me to set up time for a 10 minute call.   Want more detail?   Click HERE for full agenda and pricing.

Guest speakers so far include Greg Flynn, SVP, Brainshark; Mike Volpe, CMO, Hubspot; Ed Mallen, CEO, TimeTrade and others to be announced.

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Tom Jessee, Senior Vice President of Sales, MFS

Just a short note to say thank you so much giving me the opportunity to participate in your sales optimization boot camp earlier this week. This was by far the most high value two-day session I have experienced in many years. The energy, passion and experience you brought to the session was contagious and motivating and enables open minds that certainly helped me take away some very key learnings.
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