I am the TrashMan...and Sales

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Thu, Aug 30, 2012

It’s been a superb summer!  Simply…superb…no better word.

Lots of interesting work!  Lots of new customers and complex projects!  Lots of beach time!  A perfect balance of work and time on the sand to read, study and think through what’s coming up for the balance of the year.

Trash salesSince today is one of those beach days, I just got in from my daily routine (whenever I am not commuting in to the Boston office) of picking up beach trash.  As I am out there walking along our picture-perfect, one mile long, crescent-shaped beach, the old Beatles tune of “I am the Tax Man” cycles through my head.  Like most guys, since I can’t remember or understand most words to most songs, “tax” morphs into “trash”, as I continue down the beach, industrial strength plastic bag and tongs in hand pushing my one man campaign against beach litter.  

I’m always amazed at what people discard on the beach.  Much of it is just plain tourist stupidity of some people not caring or thinking about the debris impact on the ocean and marine life. But, I also often wonder what the meltdown of a harried day-tripper parent must have been like for mom or dad to leave behind mounds of toys, expensive clothes and shoes of every kind and expense.  I keep waiting one morning to see the kid that someone left behind, which according to my life guard buddies, has happened more than once…but only until someone starts counting noses once they’re back at their car.

For me, my daily trash routine gets me out of the house at daybreak, achieves just enough exercise to make my head feel ok and gives me enough time to get organized and prioritize my day. 

Plugged into SalesGetting plugged back into the grid and organized for our numerous sales meetings and 2013 planning sessions over the next couple of months is my focus for these last couple of days of summer as I transition off the beach and back onto the streets of Cambridge and the suburbs of Boston. Since the next four months are our busiest season for sales and business planning sessions, one of my Q4 resolutions that I'm committing to is to be more attentive to and less tolerant of badly run meetings-be they management team meetings, group sales reviews and especially board meetings. 

To that end, here's a couple of ideas on meeting management...

  • ...I created a Brainshark presentation on Rules, Process and Tips for conducting business planning meetings.  It’s a bit long at 25 minutes, but if you grab a fresh cup of coffee, turn up the volume on your computer and think through how this could apply to your own planning processes,  I think you'll find it helpful.
  • I listened to my friend, James Geshwiler's three part series on Reinventing The Board.  Although oriented to emerging companies, it's very good and applicable to most every company.
  •  ...I used comments from a "Death-by-Meetings Quiz" in Build magazine, which I then edited, obfuscated, and rehashed to create the following set of personal guidelines for myself:

    1.  Do I openly ask at the end of the meeting, did everyone feel that the process was a good use of time?   And, what could we have done better? 
    2.  Do I listen objectively to that answer and use the input to modify future meetings?
    3.  In the critically important meetings (Quarterly Sales Reviews, Strategic Planning Meetings and Board Meetings) do I objectively ask, "Did we get to the really important issues that are going to make a significant difference for us during the next quarter/year?"
    4.  Do I insure that there are notes taken, reviewed openly with everyone and agreed to by everyone before the meeting ends?  And specifically, do I make sure that the "Next Steps" are clearly defined?
    Personally, I think that I do reasonably well in meeting management, but I know that I can do better.  I also know that after a superb summer, I'm a lot less tolerant about both beach trash and badly run, boring, death-by-PowerPoint meetings.  

Hope that you also had a great summer and I look forward to reconnecting.

Welcome to the fall...and Good Selling!

Jack
Head Coach
Linked In and Sales

 

Sales Management Boot CampIn our Sales Management Boot Camp, we provide the opportunity to discuss and learn about the dramatic changes in sales management as a profession while also providing you with specific, hands-on answers to the question: “What can I do to dramatically impact our revenue in Q4 and 2013?”.

For the details on this September 30th-October 2nd two and a half day Boot Camp and how we believe that you can attend for almost nothing, just click HERE,



 

 

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