With around 37 real selling days left in the Q, 90% of our sales and marketing expertise and our rapidly eroding time needs to be spent on pumping, pushing and pulling deals down into the funnel. 

The actual closing process at the end of the funnel should be the easy part; it's the prep and the actual selling of the value that we provide that takes the time over the next 37 days.   

BTW, just in terms of other sales factoids that rattle around in my brain sometimes, did you know that there are more than 30 different B2B closing tactics we could be using?  Here's an old video I did back in my sales training days that still has value in its simplicity. My experience is that the very best salespeople are experts in 3 types of closing techniques, and they hone those to perfection all the time!  

To make it more direct (I didn't say "easy"). our work as salespeople needs to be always focused not on us and our products, but on the actual business and personal value we deliver.  To help guide you along that path, I have pasted below excellent advice from last week's blog post from my sales-expert friend, and Fractional CRO, Mike Schumann, to provide you with specific ideas that should get you activated in the science and the math of Sales.  Mike's philosophy and hands-on expertise exactly matches our own at Derby Management, where for over a decade we've built customized detailed sales and marketing methods that follow our underlying mantra of "Process-Tools-Technology-Math & People".   When executed completely, the results are productivity improvements of around 25% in less than a year.

The Science of Sales and Marketing at Tufts

Alongside our client consulting work, a personal excitement for me at The Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts is to actively involve my juniors and seniors in the real world of building detailed Sales and Marketing plans over the course of a semester.  As I now think ahead not only through the next 37 days, but also out into January, I know two things will happen in the rhythm of the year.  One is that in our management consulting, we'll be heavily involved with our clients in sales meetings, and the other is that the Tufts semester will begin the second week of January.   Right now, I'm out looking for semester-long projects for next semester:

• I teach two courses: "The Science of Marketing", and "The Science of Sales", both core courses for our entrepreneurship minor, which is the largest minor at Tufts.
• 6 Marketing projects, 4 Sales projects.
• For companies who want detailed Marketing or Sales plans
• Projects involve research, analysis, tactical implementation plans and budgets
• Either B2B or B2C projects in any market or industry.
• Companies range from pre-revenue startups to $10m-$75m in revenue
• Materials sent to students in early December requiring immediate decisions.  

If you're interested in learning more, just connect with me at jack@derbymanagement.com, and I will send you an instruction sheet, and then we can talk.  Our results have been extraordinary with very positive reviews.

Expertise from Mike Schumann at concivi Growth:

Summary: Scale through your higher-quality leads requires engaging communities of your target personas with high-value solutions to their most pressing challenges or opportunities. 

1. Be Detailed: Use that algebra you complained about in the 8th grade:   Consider the following equation to establish messaging: 

(Confirmed industry or segment challenge or opportunity + Persona job description responsibilities) 

x 

(Impact or outcomes your approach delivers + Unique and compelling nature of your solution) 

= Messaging key points 

2. Confirm your Messaging is Sound: Why should the prospect make a change? Why should they do it now? Why should they choose you? - aka Why change? Why now? Why us?

3. Provide Real Solutions: Start by asking ChatGPT to summarize key responsibilities of a target persona. Add in your product features and value benefits and prompt for an alignment summary table to be created. Then ask for key messaging for each.  

HAVE A GREAT SALES DAY TODAY...and enjoy this superb NE weather! 

• Protect your time for these 37 days!
• Simplify your message & be direct! 
• Focus not on the product or the science, but on the value you deliver!

2023 SALES PLANNING 

Check out our updated sales productivity site page.  Just page down to get our 2023 edition of 
Writing the Winning Sales Plan for 2023. 

Or you can just email me, and I'll send you a free copy.  I'm now into two weekends of updating this for 2024, so if you have ideas or just want to write content, just let me know.      

www.derbymanagement.com  
Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts.