Every week, I shuffle between living on the NH beach, working in Boston, teaching at Tufts and spending weekends in Vermont.  Lots of miles on the car, a good time for customer and student calls, and always an opportunity to think about planning ahead.  In a month like January  when we're kicking off sales meetings and working through the details of territory plans, account plans and commission plans, since I'm a planning kinda guy, I thought I'd have some fun this morning and introduce you to the art and science of what it takes to plan ahead when one heats their house with a woodstove which is what I do in Vermont. 

Planning Decisions

• Plan to cut or buy
  A cord of dried unstacked wood will cost $425.  Harvesting downed trees from my woodlot is "free" not counting the "opportunities" for strained backs, smashed fingers and lots of "why am I doing this?" moments when my 22" Stihl chainsaw malfunctions.   
  
• Plan out the Challenge & the Opportunity 
  The challenge is that the 1980's house was built with electric heat-cheap at the time, but now if I were to use it, the cost runs $1,200 a month.  The opportunity is heating with wood, getting a solid workout and being able to think about life and work up in the woodlot.
• Plan on "The Law of 8"
  From the first cut, to the splitting, to my tractor, to the stacking, and finally opening the door to the wood stove, I touch that piece of wood 8 times, and all that takes planning far ahead for big chunks of weekend time in the summa'
• Plan How to Stack in Advance 
  -Elevate wood off the ground
  -Arrange it in a crisscross pattern for stability and air
  -Stack split wood with the bark facing up allowing it to air dry quicker
  -Don't pack the logs too tightly together
  ...Or just do what I did and buy the wood storage shed from the guy up the road a piece. 

What's the takeaway this morning:

•  We're at the end of January, and it's absolutely the time to solidify your detailed sales plans through June; otherwise, you're going to be out in the cold.
• In the world of Sales, time is finite, and it becomes the ultimate equilizer.  The wisdom of Sun Zhu states that the general who plans his soldiers and knows his enemy will win the battle. 20 work days a month quickly evaporates to only 1,100 to 1,300 productive selling hours a year.   Your job/my job is to plan out those hours.
• Focus on the things that matter.  It's always important to think through overarching sales and marketing strategies, but your job/my job is to focus on execution...or be left out in the cold, and that "t'aint gonna happen." 

Have a great day selling today!

working on your 2025 Sales plans!

For a few ideas on your own sales planning for 2025, click here for our new "Writing the Winning Sales Plan in 2025, outlining ideas on structure, models, process funnels, productivity tools and how to recruit, hire and onboard the best the best salespeople. 

Connect with me any time at jack@derbymanagement.com, and let's discuss having us facilitate tuning up your 2025 planning processes in your business planning, in your marketing plans or in your sales processes.