Derby Management's "Competitive Edge" Blog

Finally, the first big snow Thursday - 14 inches at Stratton and 6 on the NH beach.  As any addicted snowboarder like me knows, the adage at any ski area is that…“there are no friends on a powder day”…just get headed up the hill as quickly as possible.  Since I had already made the wise decision not to make the commute to Boston on Thursday, calls and texts came flooding in all day from people looking for me who were either headed to or already on the hill.  Unfortunately, I had to make a choice about my time and rather than make the 3 hour trip to Stratton, I stayed glued to the computer and the phone all day.  An okay day all the same, but of course, I would have rather been figuring out how to avoid the trees in the glades than calculating how to avoid the politics of a sales comp plan for one of our customers.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, closing sales, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans

I’m an enabling kind of guy…I think.  I enjoy making things happen in my day-to-day: connecting people, improving this and building that.  I like tearing things apart that aren’t working well or are badly fraying around the edges and then reconstructing them on a firmer foundation. 

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, sales optomization, closing sales, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans

Last week’s blog dealt with that big word, “TRUST” as seen from the other side of the windshield of the increasingly complex world of the sales warrior.  In a fast-paced, over-charged environment which bombards me with thousands of marketing messages a day, just where does that trust thing figure in?  

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, closing sales, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans

"You need to trust me on this..."

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, closing sales, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans

 

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, sales management training, sales optomization, closing sales, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans

In the day-to-day pursuit of sales and working with my customers, I somehow manage to drive about 50,000 miles a year.  I actually enjoy it since it’s a great time to do telephone calls and just think about the business issues that I and the rest of the guys in the firm run into every week.  So there I was last Monday cruising north at 6:00 AM on the winding twisties of Route 100 headed to Quechee, Vermont for a meeting.  Not much happening on the road, classical music amped up on the 8 speaker Dolby, and me clicking paddle shifters back and forth through the gears with every nip and tuck in the road. 

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, closing sales, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans

http://www.stratton.comFirst, and most importantly, a very sincere wish for a wonderful, healthy and prosperous 2012.  

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, sales optomization, closing sales, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans

We’ve all heard the phrase “It’s just like riding a bike; it always comes right back to you”, and, in fact, that was pretty much it last Saturday as I strapped on my new Rome snowboard (an unabashed plug since I am one of the directors of this great company), and headed down the slopes at Stratton (another unabashed plug for a great group of men and women who run the place).   No matter the fact that I’ve been skiing or riding ever since I was 4, and it didn’t make any difference that I’ve gone down that particular trail, my favorite on the hill, literally thousands of time, there’s always a mixture of exhilaration, fear and trepidation, and just old fashioned excitement on the first day out in the season.  The first run was more than chunky both on the slope and in my head, but by the end of the second run, I had quickly eased back into a somewhat natural rhythm of turns, breathing more slowly and working through the differences in the new board.  

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, closing sales, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans, HubSpot Tips

With just about 15 selling days left in the year, closing deals now all comes down to the sales warriors who have the most energy, who are the best organized, who have the best value propositions and, most importantly, are the best closers.  The pressure’s on, and everyone’s feeling it.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, closing sales, Sales quota, sales training

I was deep in my Vermont woodlot this past weekend picking up sticks. Low 30’s, crisp and eerily quiet. Not the smartest thing that I ever did considering Saturday was the start of deer hunting season, but details are details, and time is quickly running out.  All it takes now is one deep snowstorm, and the kindling will continue to stay where it has rested all summer.  Most of the wood tent has been filled by Tom the Wood Guy, but I still need to haul in a couple of cords I stacked in the woods last spring, and the weather looks like it will hold until Thanksgiving.  Hopefully finish this coming weekend. 

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales effectiveness, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, closing sales, marketing effectiveness, marketing productivity, Sales quota, sales training, leadership, marketing management