Derby Management's "Competitive Edge" Blog

 

It all comes down to 50 minutes

In life, in Sales, and in teaching, there are always deadlines. 

Wednesday, one of those deadlines was evidenced in 50 minute final exam presentations days at Tufts.  After 12 weeks of content in the brand new Sales course and in the nine-year-old Marketing course, Wednesday was the day when the first two teams of Sales students and the three teams of Marketing students presented their findings, reams of research and their detailed sales and marketing recommendations to the management of their project companies. 

We'll do the same thing to the same rhythm next Wednesday, and then another semester will be over.  During the summer, I'll spend a big chunk of time on the beach refining and re-calibrating for the fall semesters at Tufts and at MIT, where I've had the privilege of working with Professor Chun for almost 20 years.  For me, all of this is a lot of fun, a fair amount of hard work and always some level of anxiety, which keeps me on the competitive edge, which is exactly why I teach...since I continue to believe that I'm just a student of the very exciting worlds of sales and marketing.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Best Practices, sales and marketing best practices, sales training

Most mornings when I'm getting ready for the day at the gym after working out, I find myself shaving in the sink area near Dr. Steve, a world-renowned surgeon. Over the years, I've gotten to know him very well, and recently he's been a wonderful sounding board for me as I maneuvered my way through the maze of hospital procedures, protocols and processes.

Tags: Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, sales management effectiveness, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales management training, sales optomization, sales jobs, sales management boot camp

April 1st

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, sales management training, sales training, sales boot camp, sales management boot camp

Monday's Boston Globe:  Just after 7 Sunday evening, with 2.9 more inches of fresh snow blanketing Boston, the National Weather Service announced that the city had notched its snowiest winter since records started being kept in 1872.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, sales and marketing best practices, sales planning, sales management training, sales management boot camp, sales producitivity

Here we are at the beginning of the last month of the quarter, and as managers and sales professionals, we're consistently reviewing ....

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, sales and marketing best practices, sales, sales management, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales management training, sales management boot camp

 

Tags: Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales plans, sales boot camp, sales producitivity, sales management boot camps

What's Important?

Two weeks ago, I underwent bypass surgery at MGH. "Big Success" is all I wanted to hear, and those were the exact two words scribbled boldly across my discharge papers.  What's ahead are a few weeks of recovery and exercise, and then, just as I have heard from hundreds of blog readers and Facebook friends, "better than before".  That phrase by itself raises a lot more questions, and one of the most important of those to be answered is that of "What's Important?".

See, I thought that I was already "better than before", and have always exercised every day, and snowboarded and surfed on the weekends.  Couple those activities with relatively good diets, and I should be the postercild for "Healthy (older) Boy" of the year. 2014 didn't seem to end that way, but on the very positive side of all of this, 2014 is now way back in the rear view mirror.  

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, sales and marketing best practices, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales optomization, sales management boot camp, sales culture

Ever been on the other side of the Team?

• Not included by the Cool Kids? 
• Left out of the really important front-office activities? 
• Relegated to "those people back in the factory"?

How did not being on the Team feel?  
...Not so good , I expect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Tags: Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, sales and marketing best practices, sales management, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales management training, sales training, sales producitivity, how to write a business plan, improving sales productivity

“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.”                   -Mike Tyson

If your last image of Iron Mike chewing off the ear of Evander Holyfield was a bit too graphic, then maybe some of the following highly positive quotes might be more representative of the reasons for careful planning...just so that you don't get punched in the face.

Tags: Sales Best Practices, sales and marketing best practices, sales planning, sales plans, business tools, business planning, business coaching, business plans

The Day After The Big Thankful Day

Yesterday’s Thanksgiving holiday has got to be the best holiday of the year.  In my own personal book of holidays, it actually ties with the 4^th of July.  What sets it apart from all the other holidays is…

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, sales and marketing best practices, sales, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales tools, selling, sales training