Derby Management's "Competitive Edge" Blog

Cold enough for ya’?

Last Saturday and Sunday were wicked cold on the hill.  Temp was around 10 when I left the house, about the same at the base, and who knows what is was on top since I couldn’t see anything due to the blowing snow from the 50-60mph gusts.  Wind chill?  Off the charts.  At the same time, perfect snow, great cover everywhere, but just wicked cold.  And, of course, to make it colder, we all told one another riding up the lifts that it was…what?  Wicked Cold.   This weekend, it looks like we're all going to be either complaining or rejoicing in the 15" of snow.  Glass half full, half empty? 

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management effectiveness, sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, improved sales management, sales management training, closing sales, sales plans, how to close sales

Last week, I hosted our annual CEO Forum, where we invited just 30 leaders from our customers to come together and talk about their perspective and outlook for the upcoming year.  Purposefully, the audience mix is always very broad ranging from heads of government agencies to CEOs of consumer product companies and every possible market in between.  Always for me, this is an exciting and entertaining event, as I attempt to facilitate ideas and comments among a diverse and energetic mix of leaders answering a series of broad questions…

Tags: sales productivity, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales management training

Deep into January, and already settling into the rhythms of the year...

Tags: sales productivity, sales coaching, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, sales management training, sales optomization, sales training, sales plans

-10 in Vermont this morning.  Not much better here in the sales world of Boston with the wind howling through the dark canyons of State Street.  BTW, remind to slap upside the head the first salesperson in July who I hear complaining about "Hot enough for ya?"

Tags: sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales management training, sales optomization

Yesterday was a great day for family, snow (at least here in Vermont), gigabytes of pictures taken with newly unwrapped cameras and iPhones, along with way too much food.  Just what Christmas is supposed to be.  I could have done without the 350 mile rotation to “therealworld”  commuting from "vermontwinterfantasyland”, however, other than that, it was all good.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales coach, sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, sales management training, sales training, sales plans

With everything going on around us…the pressures of the end of the year sales, the craziness of December in general, the senseless tragedy in Connecticut, and the continued stupidity of the party-entrenched Washington politicians carrying on ivory tower debates over what will determine the economic stability of our country for years to come, it’s hard sometimes to maintain focus on the things that really count.

Tags: sales productivity, sales coaching, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, sales management training, selling skills, Sales quota, sales plans

Dave Brubeck...

When I was 16, my friend and I hitchiked to Newport one summer heading to the NewPort Jazz Festival attending the free workshops during the day and sneaking into the concerts at night to listen to the true legends of jazz crossing the spectrums from Basie, Coltrane, Gillespie, and Monk to Dave Brubeck, whom I had never heard before. Five summers ago, I had the opportunity to be part of an intimate 90 minute session, where Brubeck, looking deceptively frail, once again took absolute command of the keyboard as he started the set with that same mystical lilt heard right at the beginning  of "Take Five".  I vividly remember Brubeck both back in the early 60's in Newport and also in a small art center a couple of years ago in Vermont and was saddened to hear about the death of this true legend last week.

Tags: sales productivity, sales coaching, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales coach, sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, selling, sales management training, selling skills, sales training, Zig Ziglar and sales

With now just 16 selling days (and that's stretching the reality of real sales time) until the end of the year, the pressure’s on, everyone is heads down, and totally focused on that one simple thing-QUOTA-before the end of the year.  Statistics tell me that in a B2B world, only 67% of salespeople make their quota every year, which I always find curious…and shocking…since in my companies, on average, that number is up in the mid 80’s.  With only 67% as the average, that means that there must be a lot of salespeople really struggling down in the 30 and 40 percentiles.  No wonder the turnover rate is so high among salespeople taken as a total. 

Tags: sales productivity, sales coaching, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales coach, sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, improved sales management, sales management training, Sales quota, sales jobs, jobs, finding sales jobs, how to close sales

How many times a week do you hear that request for "just five minutes" of your time?  Maybe it's from your boss or a co-worker, or maybe it's a non-business friend or your spouse as in... "Can you help me for just five minutes?" (spouse translation: "Can you go to the drug store/shopping/cleaning out the closet for me?")

Tags: sales productivity, sales coaching, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales tools, selling, sales management training, selling skills, sales training, sales listening, sales jobs

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.

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