Derby Management's "Competitive Edge" Blog

Broccoli !

The high-antioxidant, nutrient-rich, heart-healthy poster child of new age eating, or the scourge of every child and teenager who has heard the battle cry of “You have to eat your broccoli” ?

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales management effectiveness, sales effectiveness, sales enablement

The 2 C's:  Curiosity & Comfort

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales management coach, sales effectiveness

I still remember that Saturday training session as a young associate at Honeywell Computer Systems back-in-the-day when I learned about BANT.

Didn't know that Honeywell made computers?  Well, they didn't do it very well...but they tried to with the wrong product at the wrong time and got smoked by DEC and every other mini-computer manufacturer up and down 128, known at that time as America's Technology Highway-the precursor to Silicon Valley..."back-in-the-day".

To get into the mini computer business, Honeywell bought a young startup, CCC, in Framingham, MA, once again proving that most M&A deals never realize their potential.  Less than 10 years later, Honeywell quietly exited the market after losing hundreds of millions, while up the road in Maynard, startup DEC quickly became the largest computer company in the world for the next 15 plus years...until they also got smoked by that other little startup...Apple, and then everyone else as the lines became increasingly blurred between minis and the ultimate entry of personal computers.  Anyone remember Apple's Newton?

From back-in-the-day, you can throw in Wang, and I guess you could also do the same with Polaroid, and you would have a solid string of "Lessons Learned" of what not to do regarding proprietary, inward-focused businesses to keep in mind as you kick of your own 2017 business planning sessions later this month.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization

As a sales pro, what am I really selling?

Is it my shiny new bag of beads?  Maybe, assuming it's really, really shiny...at least for a while

Tags: Sales Optimization, sales management boot camp, improving sales productivity

Fall has officially begun, and we're deep into it already
Summer's gone with a snap of the fingers and a turn of the page of the calendar with lingering self promises that "next year, I'm going to plan my schedule better."  

Good luck on that btw...

Tags: sales coaching, Sales Optimization, sales coach, sales enablement, sales management boot camp

I'm now going to date myself, but it's an important perspective in understanding just why I, you and the entire profession of sales need to keep rapidly evolving while it focuses, not on the practice of sales itself, but on the value that we bring to our customers.

Tags: sales productivity, sales coaching, Sales Optimization, sales coach, sales planning, sales tools

It doesn't matter whether you're a Democrat or a Republican;  we are now faced with an interesting management problem.

Tags: Sales Optimization, sales management, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales management training, sales leadership

By now, I figure I've taken over 2,400 trips to Vermont over the years traveling back and forth from either Boston or NH.  At three hours, the trip takes about the same amount of time from either starting point, and the distance evens out between 150 and 180 miles.

The problem, as the Boys on the Bench down at the Winhall General Store frequently tell me is that "you can't get there from here" whenever I mention that I'm leaving the mountains to drive to the NH beach...and they're right.  There's no easy way to go east and west between Vermont and New Hampshire, and every trip presents a variety of decisions that ultimately end up just frustrating me.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales effectiveness, sales tools, improved sales management, sales management training, closing sales, how to close sales, best sales practices;

I was at a board meeting a few weeks ago as a new director for a well established public company. As I sat there at my first meeting thinking about boards, board roles, board interactions and a myriad of other director related stuff, I reflected on what I've learned over the years about being a director.

Tags: Sales Optimization, Sales Management Best Practices, sales management, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, selling skills, Sales quota, sales training, sales listening

Every morning, I leave the beach very early and make the one hour trek into Boston so that I'm able to be at the club when it opens for my daily workout . Good to start the day off with a bit of structure, plus the drive gives me the opportunity to think through the day while listening to Bloomberg News from London.  For the last couple of days, a good portion of those news stories have been about the massive Greek debt problem which everyone, except the Greek government, seems to understand.  Pretty simple problem to understand-less than 50% of the population doesn't pay any taxes.  All I know is that this problem, created by a second-rate country 10,000 miles away, has had a negative effect on everyone's stock portfolio and is a speeding train wreck headed for the cliff.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales management effectiveness, sales management coach, sales planning, sales management training, sales plans, sales management boot camp