Derby Management's "Competitive Edge" Blog

I had just graduated from BC and had a ticket to go to  the University of Chicago for graduate work where I would have studied some dusty, esoteric slice of Elizabethan writing, ending up as an English professor in a small college somewhere.  I still remember the look of shock and dismay x number of years ago now on a hot July afternoon when I announced to my father that I was not going to Chicago (which I did years later) and that I was leaving for Peace Corps training that September.  135 of us began language studies and survival training that fall in Syracuse (no better place, of course, to train in prep for equatorial Africa) and about 80 of us finally made our way to Tanzania's Dar es Salaam the following January.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, sales management training, selling skills, sales optomization, closing sales, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans, jobs, finding sales jobs

I had the privilege of being the keynote speaker at Middlesex Bank’s CEO Forum last week.  A great bank, superb guests and for me, a fun opportunity to talk about something that I've fervently believed in ever since I started the company 22 years ago- how to build your competitive edge.  Aptly named, our long running newsletter, The Competitive Edge, and this blog speak to what I carry around as a religion in how I think about business in general and especially the world of sales.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, sales optomization, closing sales, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans, business coaching, leadership, economic stimulus, The Competitive Edge, strategic planning

On the way to NYC this morning on the 5:30 Acela out of Boston. No better way to travel. Nice and quiet, surrounded with Wi-Fi, food and great service for a three hour trip with lots of work to do. What’s not to like? A superb way to travel, an efficient way to get work done, plus I really like trains, which are by now baked into my DNA, perhaps just like Vermont has become part of my six generation heritage.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, sales management training, selling skills, sales optomization, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans

     SUMMERRRRR...

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, closing sales, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans, meeting networking, networking

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, sales optomization, closing sales, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans, sales optimication, marketing management

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans

The last class of the semester was this past Wednesday.  Actually, it was one of the two exam presentation days-this past Wednesday plus the prior week-when the management of the project companies returns to Tufts for their final presentations.  30 students organized into 6 teams, companies with complex, semester-long marketing projects and a ton of work over 13 weeks of lectures, field work, road trips and four HBS case studies.  We do a lot of “real world” in my class, and, this year’s students in both semesters were outstanding.  

Since much of the course focuses on not only the strategies and execution tactics of the rapidly changing world of marketing, but also on tying that content back into how the students need to be marketing themselves, one of my personal deliverables is to make sure that the graduating seniors end up with the best jobs.  Good news is that I’m pretty well connected and can open a few doors so that my graduates can now be found in sales and marketing jobs at great companies like HubSpot, Brainshark, Brown Brothers, Fidelity, Monitor, Siemens, Digitas, Jones Lang LaSalle and numerous other businesses among our customers and friends in the community.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, sales optomization, closing sales, marketing effectiveness, marketing productivity, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans, finding sales jobs, marketing management, finding marketing jobs

Beautiful day yesterday even though the only initial glimpses I got of it was as I and the team raced from various hotels and offices in Boston and Cambridge, jumped into careening cabs as we shuffled from one venture fundraising pitch to another.  Good for the team as we scored great insight and a couple of “c’mon backs”, and good for me to get down on my knees again searching for funding-always an exciting…and humbling…learning experience. 

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, closing sales, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans

Had lunch with Jerry yesterday.  One of my favorite venture guys in Boston.  Bright, energetic, a great sports guy, but there we both sat on State Street eating salmon and not wolfing down Fenway Franks and attending Opening Day.  My excuse was that I opted for the root canal that I had just had yesterday morning rather than watch the Sox.  Jerry’s was that he felt guilty after we had both broken numerous prior meeting plans, but that really can’t be true about feeling guilty, since, as I mentioned, Jerry’s a venture guy.   By the way if you want to watch a point-counterpoint discussion/argument between Jerry Bird from MTDC and me on “Venture Capital or Angel Funding-Which Money Should I Take?”, go to the 128 Innovation Capital Group site to register.  It’s on the morning of May 10^th and should be a lot of fun as I take these smart venture guys down a peg or two…or maybe not.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, sales optomization, closing sales, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans

$349.51. That’s the amount of my March electric bill in Vermont-the house that I live in at most eight days a month. BTW, I pay $84 in NH, where I live 20 days a month.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, closing sales, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans