Brought in the last of the wood from up on the ridge last weekend. Now, if Tom the Wood Guy shows up next week, four cords should do the trick for what is being forecasted as a heavy winta’. Last Saturday, I asked the Boys on the Bench (all of whom were dressed out in various shades of camo given huntin’ season) down at the general store, and they’re all predicting a long season of tough storms. Actually, I’m not really sure that I got a very accurate forecast since everyone, including the Chief of Police of our town (population 647), was embroiled in a hot and heavy debate regarding whether it was a good thing or not that the combination Mobil station/gun store down in Bennington was now selling modified AK47s. Vermonters… you gotta love ‘em.
Read More
Tags:
sales productivity,
sales coaching,
sales,
sales management,
sales management effectiveness,
sales coach,
sales effectiveness,
sales enablement,
sales tools,
sales management training,
sales training,
sales listening
Off to the woods this morning to bring in the last of the wood before this incoming storm on Monday. The Boys on the Bench having coffee this morning down at the general store are predicting heavy snow here in our little valley, so I know that unless the two cords that are still piled on the upper ridge come in right now, it's highly likely that the next time I'll be able to get the tractor and cart up there will be next April. Just the same time 9 months ago, that I stacked the same pieces of wood up there...one stick at a time, after one stick at a time, after one stick at a time.
Read More
Tags:
sales coaching,
Sales Optimization,
sales,
sales management,
sales plan process,
sales coach,
sales management coach,
sales effectiveness,
sales enablement,
sales planning,
sales tools,
improved sales management,
sales jobs
With snowboarding just around the corner…in 35 days (but who’s counting?), I happened to take a trip to 1 Derby Lane in Waterbury, Vermont to see the boys at the best snowboard company in America, Rome Snowboards. I’ve been riding Rome gear for 10+ years now, and it’s far superior to those other guys who also make a couple of boards in Vermont. Having said that, I also need to mention that I do have a very strong bias toward Rome since I'm on their board of directors, and greatly enjoy working with co-founders, Josh and Paul. Great company, great product and great management! Come ride with me this winter at Stratton, and I'll show you.
Read More
Tags:
sales coaching,
sales,
sales coach,
sales management coach,
sales effectiveness,
sales enablement,
sales planning,
sales tools,
selling,
sales management training,
selling skills,
sales training,
sales plans,
how to close sales
Most days, I commute back and forth from the NH beach on the left to our sales office in Boston. For most of the year, the commute is not an issue since I leave early and can usually squeeze in a quick walk on the sand at dusk. For the rest of the year, I come and go in the dark, but since that particular seasonal shift also marks the snowboarding season, I know I'm headed to the mountains at the end of the week anyway, which takes the edge off the commute.
Read More
Tags:
sales productivity,
sales coaching,
Sales Optimization,
sales,
sales management,
sales management effectiveness,
sales plan process,
sales coach,
sales management coach,
sales effectiveness,
sales enablement,
sales planning,
sales tools,
selling,
sales management training,
selling skills,
Sales quota,
sales training,
sales plans,
sales enablment,
sales jobs
With the big Vermont “Cut Down Day” behind me last weekend and a refrigerator list of only 14 items to complete before the end of the month and the first of the November snows, the daunting tasks of getting ready for another Vermont winta’ seem to be relatively contained. But then, this is Vermont, and just like my perfectly-planned schedules at the beginning of every month always look, well… “perfect”, shortly into the fall season or into every business quarter, there’s always reshuffles and “squeeze-me-ins”, and the only thing that I can really control is how many hours I can work.
Read More
Tags:
sales productivity,
sales coaching,
Sales Optimization,
sales,
sales management,
sales management effectiveness,
sales plan process,
sales coach,
sales management coach,
sales effectiveness,
sales enablement,
sales planning,
sales tools,
selling,
sales management training,
selling skills,
Sales quota,
sales training,
sales plans,
sales jobs
Every good sales organization is charged with tension...especially right now. Here we are only a couple of days away from closing Q3. Friday night will define the tale of the tape against which we measure both our company's objectives and our own personal quotas. Then, just to punch the tension up a notch, next Monday morning, at the crack of dawn, with a turn of the page and a click of the mouse, we're immediately thrust into the super-critical 63 selling days of Q4.
Read More
Tags:
sales productivity,
sales coaching,
Sales Optimization,
sales,
sales management,
sales management effectiveness,
sales plan process,
sales coach,
sales management coach,
sales effectiveness,
sales enablement,
sales planning,
sales tools,
selling,
sales management training,
selling skills,
sales optomization,
Sales quota,
sales training,
sales plans,
sales jobs
This past weekend was spent at my high school reunion. With an open house reception at the town library Friday night extending to a Town Day parade, receptions and a town hall party on Saturday and finally to a “See-Ya-in-5-Years” brunch on Sunday morning, the town of Arlington welcomed back its returning artists and dancers, pilots and soldiers, nurses and docs, professors and teachers, business leaders and tow truck drivers with open arms.
With high school yearbook pictures hung around our necks, each of us bravely entered the uncertainty of greeting friends and lovers who we may not have seen since graduation decades ago or at least since the last reunion. And what did each of us learn and take away from those three days of sharing stories and pictures, laughs and tears and absorbing an overall superb experience? I think that it is that real friendships never go away. No question, you can go home again, take a trip back into nostalgia and history and then jump ahead to the fullness of exploring that newly kindled relationship one more time. Why? Because it’s part of the DNA that exists in our head and is baked into who we are and not what we are.
Read More
Tags:
sales productivity,
sales coaching,
Sales Optimization,
sales,
sales management,
sales management effectiveness,
sales plan process,
sales coach,
sales management coach,
sales effectiveness,
sales enablement,
sales planning,
sales tools,
selling,
sales management training,
selling skills,
closing sales,
Sales quota,
sales training,
sales jobs
