Yesterday on Groundhog Day, it seems that Punxsutawney Phil declared six more weeks of winter.  Certainly, as I sit here in Vermont this AM with the temp at 5 at 8:00 with a forecasted -25 ambient tonight, winta' like Phil is going to stick around for a while.  On balance however, this has been a very mild winter, and although I'm looking out at 18" of snow in front of my office window, when I left Tufts yesterday, there's no sign of any snow in Boston.  

A mild winter is unfortunately not the case for my seniors looking for jobs!  Without question, it's a tough year for business and therefore for graduating seniors.  It is what it is, and there's little to nothing that we can do about the overall economy.  I gave a keynote speech in mid-December to an audience of biopharma execs with strong advice to be financially prudent and practical on one hand and yet have the courage to take on at least one new strategic initiative during this cold winter that will impact growth in 2024!

As a marketing and sales professor, I frequently take the academic concepts and learned skills that I teach in my courses and twist them into being actively used by my students looking for both internships and full-time jobs.

• Each week, 4 students deliver to the rest of the class, their own value propositions.
• Focused on the specific business value they will deliver to their employers.
• just 90 seconds 
• Then comments from their teammates on delivery and the value definitions
• The same process which they use to create value propositions for their class projects

I'm also now featuring one "A" level student every Tuesday AM on my own Linked In. .

I have always taken time each week with 5-6 individual students to talk individually creating their own personal marketing campaigns titled "The Marketing of Me". 

Yesterday, given the current economic unknowns and the increasing announcements of layoffs, I thought that I could do that more effectively with a video, which I will publish later today through the Tufts system.  Since, it's meant to be a roadmap, it's 20 minutes. Take a look and give me your comments and pass it on to your own kids and friends if you want. 
https://www.brainshark.com/derbymanagement/vu?pi=zDwzXk2VXzFFz0

Of course, if you are looking for the very best entry-level sales and marketing associates, let me know directly.  I would add to that comment that within the Derby Entrepreneurship Center, we see around 1,000 students each year across a very wide range of majors from CS to product engineering to philosophy to nutrition and economics.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND & CONNECT ANYTIME!

Have a great weekend and please be very careful of the weatha'.  As I am writing this, I just noticed an email from the mountain that they are closing the top lifts today and tomorrow and will only be running chairs to mid-mountain because of the cold. 

Connect with me at any time for some quick ideas and feedback. There's never a cost for a call or two, plus I love listening and talking about Sales & Marketing.   

www.derbymanagement.com  
Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts.

2023 SALES PLANNING 

One of the tasks I completed during the holiday break was to update our sales productivity site page and our new edition of Writing the Winning Sales Plan for 2023.  Or you can just email me, and I will send you a free copy, and, of course, connect with me at any time for questions, comments or just catching up.