Derby Management's "Competitive Edge" Blog

We're coming down to the home stretch.  

• The Thanksgiving break is teasing us just around the corner.  
• The countdown to the end of the quarter is well underway 
• Only a very short number of days left in the year. 

So, are you ready?  No, I mean- really ready?

These are the 22 most important sales days of the year.  These are the days that can make a difference whether it's by making money the old-fashioned way through blocking and tackling your way down the field like the Patriots last night, or by investing time in a couple of those opportunity bluebirds that have been hanging out there for a while.  Whatever it is, these are the days that will count the most.  And the very good news is that there are still 22 DAYS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

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

Do you remember the Northeasters from last week?

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Best Practices, sales and marketing best practices, sales management effectiveness, sales coach, sales effectiveness, sales enablment, sales culture

Very early this Monday morning, I was driving out of Vermont, headed back to the NH beach.  

Tags: sales productivity, sales coaching, Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, sales and marketing best practices

The quarter's over.  Congratulations for making it through one of the most difficult periods of the year.   To me, it's always that time of year when there are more distractions of both my and my customers' time because of the natural rhythm of the summa', vacations and travel.

Tags: sales coaching, Sales Best Practices, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, best sales practices;

3 Simple Tips for More Effective Sales Connections.

As a sales guy, I have no problem with making connections.  For my business associates.  For my MIT and Tufts students.  For our customers of the firm.  It's part of the process of living and working in a tight ecosystem like Boston...or in any other city for that matter.

Tags: Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, sales and marketing best practices, sales, sales management effectiveness, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, selling, sales management training, selling skills, sales training

And so, the rhythm of the fall has begun....

Tags: Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, sales and marketing best practices, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales boot camp

At the firm, we have the privilige of working one-on-one with hundreds of heads of sales and CEOs every year.  It's exciting and complex work that often comes down to discussing, assessing and implementing  a series of best practices that are heavily based in metrics and data.  From all of these interactions, there appear to be two or three priority concerns that these execs have in common regarding the management of their companies, and I've listed them below in priority order:  

Tags: Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, sales management effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales management training

The day after the last hours of the last day of the last month of the all important second quarter.

Tags: sales coaching, Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, sales coach

• -220 work days in the year
• -"the best" sales people work 57 hours/week
• -15%/week is the average time totally wasted
• -only 57%/week spent on actual "selling"
• -most deals take 6 calls & meetings to close
• -most salespeople give up after 3 calls
• -most salespeople create 65%+ of their own leads

Tags: Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, sales management effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales management training

Did you watch the Barbara Walters special Friday night?

Tags: sales coaching, Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, sales, sales plan process, sales enablement, sales tools, improving sales productivity