Do You Trust Me Now?

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Mon, Feb 20, 2012

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?  

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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

"Trust me on this"...and Sales

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Sat, Feb 11, 2012

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

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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

Do Cows Get Cold? ...and Other Sales Questions

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Sat, Jan 21, 2012

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. 

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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

Best Laid Plans...for Stratton, for Sales

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Thu, Jan 05, 2012

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

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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

Everyone Needs More Training, Even Salespeople

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Fri, Dec 16, 2011

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.  

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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

Tough Sleddin' & Sales

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Thu, Dec 08, 2011

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.

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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

Feeling the Pressure in Vermont & in Sales

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Thu, Nov 17, 2011

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

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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

Gazelles, Lions & Sales-Keep Running

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Tue, Nov 08, 2011

“Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle - when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.”

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

Storms, Vermont, Horace & Sales

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Fri, Nov 04, 2011

Monday was our second day without power, heat, running water and that most vital of all utilities, access to salesforce.com to check on my sales activities...  Huddled around the fireplace with the consistent hiss of Coleman lanterns casting a yellow glow over the room, we toughed it out with only limited whining…mostly on my part.  Every couple of years, since we live in Vermont and New Hampshire, we revisit what it’s like to endure these multi-day experiences without power, instant communication, and the basics of heat and plumbing.  And the bottom line is that it’s a bit inconvenient for sure, but nothing like what my great-grandfather, Horace, growing up in Poultney, Vermont, must have experienced his entire life.

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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, Sales quota, sales training

Huntin' & Sales

Posted by Jack Derby, Head Coach on Fri, Oct 28, 2011

It’s the Tween Season in Vermont.  It’s neither foliage nor a lot of snow...yet, so it must be “‘tween huntin’ and winta’”  With little this year in the way of foliage due to the wet summer and Irene, most of Vermont is now painted in various shades of just plain old dull brown.  It’s that time of year that the highly celebrated natural beauty of Vermont becomes muted as every small community prepares itself for the coming of winter. It’s also that time of year when the hundreds of small contractors, which are the real backbone of Vermont’s economy, start feeling just a bit pressured when they receive those calls from their winter homeowner- customers asking how the new deck or the new kitchen cabinets look, when in fact, they still have the lumber in the back of their pickups.  

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