I'm a highly-committed snowboarder who just loves the summer!
Sitting here in our Boston office this AM, with the temps to reach 90 and real-feel of 100, I'm loving the idea of the drive back to the NH beach tonight in the red summer car. A month from now...BANG!...we're all accelerating from August's flip flops to real shoes, sports jackets, starched shirts and whatever cruising speed fits your work habits.
Tags: Making Tough Choices, Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts, Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, 2024 sales and marketing best practices, 2024 Sales Planning
An extraordinary day last Friday at The Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts watching, listening, reviewing and commenting on the semi-finals for our annual $100K Business Plan Contest. Just as college basketball ramps up for March Madness, so do we accelerate for the biggest event on the Tufts campus for The Finals on April 5th.
Tags: Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts, Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, Derby Entrepreneurship Center, 2024 sales and marketing best practices, 2024 Sales Planning, 2024 Business Planning, 2024 Marketing Planning
Let's start with the total raw workdays between Monday and 12/22.
Tags: Sales Best Practices, Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts, Teaching at Tufts University, 2023 Business Planning, 2023 Marketing Plans
We've all heard the adage about the better mousetrap and buyers beating a path to the door. In fact, the U.S. patent office over the years has issued more than 4,400 patents for "better" mousetraps, and my guess is that over my years of owning houses, my choices always seem to come down to two: the old-fashioned, dangerous, lose-your-finger, spring traps and the myriad of make-you-cringe newer glue traps. 4,400 ideas reduced to just a couple of choices and actual buying decisions typically being made in the aisles or on the websites of Home Depot and ACE based on colors, brand names, fonts, images of dead critters, and anonymous reviews citing "better, "faster" and "more humane".
Tags: HubSpot Tips, how to write a marketing plan, Making Tough Choices, how to write a sales plan, Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts, Teaching entrepreneurship, 2023 Business Planning, 2023 Sales Planning, 2023 Marketing Plans
When I was in junior high school, it was obvious to me and to my parents that I was not doing well in math. As a result, every Saturday morning was spent at the house of Mr. Sampson, the head of the high school math department, who served as my tutor taking me from basic addition to more complicated algebraic formulas resulting in a slow rewiring of my brain. Math Saturdays took place all year including when the family returned from the beach in August, and I still remember walking back and forth to Mr. Sampson's house in the sweltering heat of the summer. To a large degree, the rewiring process worked...although not so well according to my CFO friends.
Tags: Sales Best Practices, HubSpot Tips, Inboound, Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts, 2023 Business Planning, 2023 Sales Planning
Welcome to the Summa!
Just a superb holiday period last week, as I took unfair advantage of the fact that I live on the NH beach by lugging my book-filled beach bag out the door every afternoon and laying claim to my time-tested perfect location of sand and surf.
- Perfect for catching up on my long list of required reading assignments
- Necessary for the final edits to the fall syllabus which went out on the 5th
- Relaxing from being at the tip of the spear for the last quarter.
Tags: Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, Sales quota, Sales Leadership in the Revolution, Tufts Entrepreneurship, Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts, Teaching at Tufts University, 2023 Business Planning
With the end of the Q just eight days away (don't plan on anyone working on the 30th before the July 4th weekend/holiday week), it's time to plan the second half of the sales year in terms of strategic focus and where I'm going to focus my management time and my limited budget. Do I focus on ...
Tags: Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, Making Tough Choices, 4th of July, Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts, 2023 Business Planning, 2023 Marketing Plans
Cautionary times? Sure!
Tags: Making Tough Choices, Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts, 2023 Business Planning, 2023 Sales Planning, 2023 Marketing Plans
I live on the NH beach and frequently commute to Boston. Those days that I'm teaching, I leave at 5:00 AM to arrive at 7:00 and schedule student meetings before my afternoon marketing and sales classes. In my consulting work, if the client says, "I want to meet in the office", I'm in the car driving around NE or on Amtrak to NYC. Yesterday's commute to Boston, however, clearly defined why salespeople should not be going back to any city-based office just because some out-of-touch supervisor states that they want everyone sitting at their desks. Notice above my use of the phrase "city-based office".
Tags: Sales Leadership in the Revolution, Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts, Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, 2023 Business Planning, 2023 Sales Planning, 2023 Marketing Plans
13 weeks later, these two final weeks are the final presentations by the teams to the senior management of their respective Sales or Marketing projects. Completing this from the NH beach this AM before heading out to Waltham in a couple of minutes where the student team of six will present their marketing research, strategies and implementation tactics to six sales and marketing managers at the company. Real life. Real expertise. Real and direct feedback. For the students and for me, the culmination of their work is very exciting and always a bit unnerving since the success (and 40% of the grade) is defined by the customer.
Tags: Sales Optimization, Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts, 2023 Business Planning, 2023 Sales Planning
