Derby Management's "Competitive Edge" Blog

Happy Valentine's Day!

Tags: Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, Sales Hiring Perfectly, Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, Derby Entrepreneurship Center, 2025 Business Planning, 2025MarketingPlanning, 2025SalesPlanning

At 8:30 this morning, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the employment report. My guess is that it's going to show that hiring slowed in January while the unemployment rate was flat.  Nothing unexpected there since I've been listening carefully to our clients since October with a steadily increasing number of comments of "let's see what happens with the elections", and much more loudly in January: "let's see how the new Trump directives shake out".  Since one of our mantras with our customers is to only focus on those things that you yourself can control, and since most of us cannot control these larger events, what does come to mind this morning is an opportunity during this graduation season to hire the best seniors coming out of the universities that surround our companies:

Tags: Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, 2025 Business Planning, 2025MarketingPlanning, 2025SalesPlanning

I've been involved with HubSpot and therefore with Dan Tyre since the beginning;

Tags: Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, Sales quota, Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, 2025 Business Planning, 2025MarketingPlanning, 2025SalesPlanning, Dan Tyre

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. 

Tags: Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, Derby Entrepreneurship Center, 2024 sales and marketing best practices, 2025 Business Planning, 2025MarketingPlanning, 2025SalesPlanning

A very Happy New Year!  2025 promises to be a year of solid business growth, but as usual, a number of unexpected speed bumps as we speed along the highway. In addition to making personal new year resolutions while formalizing our business sales and marketing plans, it's also a time when many managers at all levels begin to think about possible job or career changes.  It's just the normal rhythm of the year and planning out the year ahead.   As a result, those individuals do the normal thing and reach out confidentially to their friends and business colleagues, dust off their resume and send an email vaguely worded as "if you see something, please keep me in mind."   The absolute worst waste of time in trying to market yourself!  

Tags: Sales Management Best Practices, Sales Hiring Perfectly, Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, 2025 Business Planning, 2025MarketingPlanning, DavidMeermanScott, 2025SalesPlanning

Wicked cold this AM in Vermont.  Deep snow in the yard out by the barn assuming I could see the barn, but it's pitch-black outside at 6:00 AM.

Stratton Moutain's up the road a piece and totally open after two months of snowmaking and a ton of natural snow so far this season. 

Bottom line on every January:

No surprise anywhere since "It's the winta' in New England", and it's supposed to be wicked cold and snow in January.  Just like holding sales meetings in January!

Tags: Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, 2025 Business Planning, 2025MarketingPlanning, 2025SalesPlanning

Wicked cold this AM here at the NH beach just trying to figure out whether it's today or tomorrow to make the weekly 3-hour trek to the much colder Vermont.  Right now, a heavy lean toward tomorrow so that I can clean up in the office, get a few work things finished, complete this semester's grading and finish the last very rough chapter of a book idea I'm working on.  Just by typing out those words, I convinced myself that the journey over the river and through the woods will happen at sunrise tomorrow.   3' of snow on the ground at the VT house in the valley, with tons more on the hill. 

Tags: Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, 2025 Business Planning, A wonderfully warm and safe Christmas

Some rules don't change in the rhythm of business or being a professor at Tufts!

Tags: how to write a business plan, how to write a marketing plan, how to write a sales plan, Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, 2025 Business Planning, 2025MarketingPlanning, 2025SalesPlanning

As a skier since I was 5 and a snowboarder-only since I was 50-the beginning of the snow season continues to bring immediate positive emotions and a few practicalities to the forefront especially at this time of year. I've been involved in the ski & snowboard industry as a board member, as an entrepreneur and as a manager off and on for decades. Very exciting and rewarding times, and for those of you who may think that working in the industry would be a wonderful opportunity to be out on the hill, the reality is just the opposite since from Thanksgiving through mid-February, you're working every day, all the time.  

Tags: Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, 2025 Business Planning, 2025MarketingPlanning, 2025SalesPlanning

No matter who you or I voted for, it's good to have this election behind us, so we can get back to work. 

-too much division
-too much distraction
-too much caution

Time to get back to work and focus on moving ahead!

Tags: Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, 2025 Business Planning, 2025MarketingPlanning, 2025SalesPlanning