Derby Management's "Competitive Edge" Blog

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

As we move through March and the end of the first quarter, I always regard this time of year as a critical experiment of the new ideas, new strategies, new tactics, new activities and new people that you and the team planned for way back in October and November.  I like to think that both company-wide business plans and departmental-specific sales plans always work because, whether or not they result in the actual forecasted numbers, the planning framework that has been created is actually more important than the results since it provides a consistent process and structure that you can refine and refine again during the balance of the year.  By keeping to this process consistently, I guarantee that you will ultimately get to your goals and objectives.

Tags: sales productivity, sales coaching, Sales Management Best Practices, sales management effectiveness, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, selling, Sales quota, sales training, sales management boot camp, strategic planning

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

Happy 2015!  

And, with the coming of this new calendar year...of life, of Sales, of relationships, of exploring, and, most importantly, of learning, also comes the requirement to take a look around and assess where you personally are in your sales and marketing career.  Part of this personal responsibility comes merely as a result of turning the page in the calendar and being able to broadly look out over the landscape of the next 12 months that are about to unfold...whether you're ready or not.   Make a few resolutions if you must, but, most importantly, place a firm stake in the ground now, and take control of where you want be and what you want to have accomplished at this exact time in January, 2016.  

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, Sales Management Best Practices, sales management, sales effectiveness, sales planning, sales tools, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans, sales effictiveness

The semester is just about over.  11 weeks of classes and then two weeks of final presentations came to a close Wednesday.  

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Management Best Practices, sales management, sales effectiveness, sales tools, sales management training, selling skills, sales plans, sales listening, sales management boot camps

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

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

A 3 Minute Sales Management Course

A Vermont eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, 'Can I also sit like you and do nothing?'

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, Sales Management Best Practices, sales management effectiveness, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales tools, selling, sales management training, sales training

I had the privilege of having David Meerman Scott come to my Tufts marketing class yesterday and talk about the future of marketing.  Actually, to be truthful, his coming to the class had very little to do with me, and 99% to do with my students.

Tags: sales productivity, sales coaching, Sales Management Best Practices, sales coach, sales management coach, selling skills, marketing effectiveness, marketing productivity, sales listening, sales culture, marketing