After college at BC, I went into the Peace Corps returning to the world from Tanzania three years later to face the reality of finding a job. A couple of twists and turns, and I found myself working as a purchasing expeditor for Honeywell as the company attempted to shift from manufacturing and selling heating systems into what was then called the first "mini-computers". It was a brave attempt that failed when a little local company called Digital Equipmentdid it better. Most of the time I've come to learn that the phrase "first mover advantage" is a startup myth more often eclipsed by the truer phrase that "most pioneers get shot in the back."
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the economy,
Sales Optimization,
improved sales management,
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small business management,
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best sales practices;,
sales management productivity,
writing sales plans,
Selling Successfully in a Covid World
In my tiny town (pop. 735) in Vermont...called Winhall by the state and Bondville by the feds...there are only three bastions of commerce:
- the 7/11 gas station which doubles as a state liquor store
- the brand new Ace Hardware store branded "Lincoln Maples Hardware" to countrify it
- and the decades-old Winhall General Store
I've lived in this valley for a very long time with five generations before me, and over the years I've seen many owners of the general store come and go. There were a few serious Vermonters back in the day, lots of city folk who were looking to own "a little slice of Vermont" , but lasted only a couple of wicked cold winta's, and then there's Lorraine.
Like many, Lorraine came for the skiing and the beauty of Vermont and stayed to successfully build the business and support the town. She's done a remarkably consistent job of paying attention to the local Vermonters looking for coffee and a solid sandwich while knowing how to cater to the weekend flatlanders form New York and Jersey.
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improved sales management,
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sales management productivity,
inordertoselltodayyoumustchange,
planningsalestodayinacovidworld,
whiteboardingmarketingsolutions,
forgetsalesstrategyfocusontactics,
whiteboardingsalessolutions
Think about it!
- Monday morning, the 20th of July. One day among 365. 202 down with 164 to go.
- Just one day in a decade or in 100 years or in millennia since Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago.
- Time is always non-stop and always represented by change.
- The concept of time is self-evident, but we rarely think about the fundamental nature of time...
...until of course, we run out of time!.
What this pandemic is teaching us is the fragility of time. We see it, we sense it, and now we always live it in both our personal and work lives. We live in an ever-expanding bubble of time listening to the daily chants of infections, hospitalizations and deaths, and, as a result, we're much more aware of time now than we were six months ago. We anticipate it and we watch it carefully in our Zoom calls. More than ever, we constantly try to balance our own time with a myriad of new demands that we never ever considered before like "should we send our kids back to school?" and "what are the safest hours to go to Market Basket?"
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Sales Hiring & Onboarding,
how to write a sales plan,
writing sales plans,
sales readiness
In an abnormal time of unknowns, in a time of personal fears and anxieties, in a time of flag waving, of violent protests and accusing screams that drown out rational thinking, let us not forget that this sacred day of remembrance is about freedom.
The 4th along with all of the days not remembered and lives lost in the battles between the states, in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and inches of dirt in countless other wars bring us to today to once again celebrate and pray for freedom in these new battles.
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independance day,
freedom,
4th of July
Rarely, as in never, do I get into a discussion in this blog about politics, and to a large degree this post is not about politics, it's just about the science, the data and the sources of the truth behind the pandemic and its impact.
What each of us should be doing at this time is to identify our own "single sources of truth" regarding the disease, the impact that it's making on our physical and mental health, and the devastating effect on our businesses and our jobs.
The only way we can fight back is with discipline in what we do, how we act, and how we sell and market our products
.
Six months into this, we clearly know the facts...
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sales boot camps,
how to write a sales plan,
2020 sales plans,
Selling Successfully in a Covid World
I happened to be talking to a friend of mine, Paul Kelly, President of Berkshire Bank, yesterday about...what else...Sales, of course, and he provided a very interesting perspective to approaching his sales process during these times of unknowns. Notice I just used the phrase "times of unknowns" since "chaotic" is too depressing and "new normal/abnormal" has become too much of a trite label, All we do know right now is that we will be in this "time of unknowns" for at least the next six and probably twelve months. Nothing we can do in our day-day-day is going to change the overall environment, but determined and innovative managers like Paul, who focus on positivity, motivation and specific marketing and sales tactics, impact sales at their companies every week.
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sales productivity,
Sales Best Practices,
Sales Management Best Practices,
sales and marketing best practices,
sales enablement,
sales management training,
how to close sales,
2020 sales plans
The official summa' kicks off this Saturday, -which by the way, looks like a perfect weatha' day- and we welcome in this season of beaches, barbecues and barefootin'.
Most importantly, it's time to kick back a bit, take a breath, and simplify from what we've been through over the past 100 days. We need to take a break, or at least a partial break, from the pressures of the reality of the virus and from the stress of the unrest.
Given what's been going on around us and the financial realities of where we are, I expect that the word "vacation" may have a very different meaning during the Summa' of 2020. Having said that, we still need to take a break and shut things off for a day or five or a couple of weekends since it's going to be a long road ahead to get to "recovery" whatever the word means. We also need some time to get out of the day-to-day survival mode where we've been hunkered down for the last 100 days and think a bit more strategically about where we're going to be at the end of the next 100 days.
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Sales Management Best Practices,
sales boot camps,
sales management boot camps,
Making Tough Choices,
how to write a sales plan,
2020 sales plans
Yesterday, I completed my virtual follow-up visit with my cardiologist, Dr. Michael at MGH. It's hard to even use those words, "my cardiologist" after being diagnosed with "massive heart disease" (another uncomfortable choice of words) five years ago with 100% of one artery blocked and 60% of another.
The only reason I lived was that I had grown two new arteries which "naturally bypassed" the two diseased arteries. Who knew? Not me! Not my Vermont country doc who had incorrectly diagnosed my shortness of breath as asthma and loaded me down with three different scripts for inhalers which I used for years before moving back to Boston and new docs at MGH.
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Sales Best Practices,
Sales Management Best Practices,
sales effectiveness,
sales enablment,
how to write a business plan,
sales planning meetings,
2020 business plans,
2020 sales plans
Last night, I watched the documentary about the climber Alex Honnold, who is the star of Free Solo, the documentary about his ascent of El Capitan that won an Oscar last year.
El Cap is a 3,000ft sheer rock face in Yosemite, California, and he climbed it without a rope.
Although Alex is known in the public eye as a free solo-ist, most climbing he does takes place on a rope. He typically won’t free solo a difficult route until it’s been thoroughly rehearsed while attached to one.
So that’s what makes this photo here fun...and of course, here he’s roped in.
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Sales Management Best Practices,
sales and marketing best practices,
sales management training,
selling skills,
sales training,
Making Tough Choices,
sales management productivity,
sales readiness
