Derby Management's "Competitive Edge" Blog

I escaped from the end of the quarter Sales Crunch Time late last Friday, and went to Vermont this past weekend for the The Annual Fall Cleanup. It’s always a chore but also a relief to get through another summer season and start preparing for the winta'.   It’s just a bit of disbelief that the summer came and went, and I only made it back to my home state of Vermont once, and that trip was with customers for an offsite.  Those six generations who came before me were doing the proverbial rollover wondering what the heck happened to their Vermont son.  But my addictions to the NH beach and now Stratton’s beckoning snowboard trails help me put everything into perspective.  I just follow the seasons and the rhythm of our customer’s annual business calendars, and everything seems to fall neatly into place-very hectic and squeezed-but in place, all the same.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales effectiveness, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, Sales quota, sales training, business planning

Each of the three CEOs I met with on Monday used the same term, “crunch time” to describe the end of the quarter this Friday.   A software company, a financial services firm and a retail product manufacturer-the industry didn’t make any difference; it was the same phrase, “crunch time”.  Every month, every quarter, in almost every industry we work in, it always comes down to this last week.  It is what it is, and it’s what we deal with as managers every year, which, of course, doesn’t make it right or wrong, it just brings too many decisions down to too little time leaving no room for errors.  The bottom line of which, in any crunch situation, is that unfortunately something somewhere gets squeezed out and falls through the cracks.  I guess I could paint an analogy to the Red Sox here, but that crunch time story is just too depressing and painful.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales effectiveness, sales tools, selling, sales management training, selling skills, Sales quota, sales training

Last year was my first winter living on the New Hampshire beach.  Commuting to Boston for work and to Vermont on the weekends to snowboard proved not to be such a big deal, and I had this stupid belief that living on the ocean would not produce as much snow.  My brain kept tossing around phrases like "Gulf Stream"  which I then very nicely translated into "less snow". In reality, the beach yielded just as much snow as the 120 inches we received in Vermont.  The key difference (I learned the hard way) was that Vermont possesses one very important component that's missing in the tight confines of a NH beach, and that's plenty of space to plow and dump the stuff.  I also quickly learned that even in The Live Free or Die State, there are zoning laws about when, where and at what volume one can actually move snow.  In Vermont, snow is snow, and the only law is just dump it anywhere...and quickly...because there's more coming tomorrow.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales effectiveness, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, selling skills, Sales quota, sales training, small business management, October, strategic planning

With anxiety and the fear of the unknown, I headed to Vermont last Friday night for the first time since the floods to see for myself what had happened to our house.  Since friends had already walked the property and checked things out, I knew that we were one of the lucky ones and had no damage.  With our road now fully reconstructed, it was now time to venture into the bustling metropolis of Bondville, population 647, at the base of Stratton Mountain. After confirming that the house was okay, I drove to the general store in stunned silence shocked by the surrounding damage that our tiny river had caused ripping out bridges and tossing 100 pound rocks by the hundreds into our field which, at the height of the storm, had been under five feet of water.   

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales effectiveness, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, closing sales, Sales quota, sales training, management

With the passing of Labor Day, I found myself giving a sad “see ya next summer” to my friend, Jack McAvoy, the head lifeguard at our beach.  Older, serious, dedicated and always razor sharp, good weather and bad, Jack, on any weekend, is not only out there as the protector of the beach, but he’s often the diplomat and mediator between feuding siblings and sometimes forgetful adults.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales effectiveness, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, closing sales, sales training

“It’s been dirty, and it will be a little tough, but we’ll be fine.”

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales effectiveness, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, closing sales, Sales quota, sales training

In just 24 hours, I was instantly transported from Sunday’s watch and worry on our NH beach to yesterday’s calm of deep green oceans and blue sky, but the same was not so in our Vermont hometown.  With bridges and roads washed out, our little town of Bondville took the full brunt of 12 inches of rain blasting its way into already overflowing rivers.  The unfortunate result has been a real life, film-at-6, disaster with many towns under water, roads split in two and countless bridges destroyed-all of which in a couple of weeks will be forgotten except by the hardy Vermonters people who live here.  Kevin Cullen has a piece in The Globe today which puts everything into perspective.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales effectiveness, sales tools, selling, improved sales management, sales management training, selling skills, closing sales, sales training

 

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management effectiveness, sales effectiveness, sales tools, selling, sales training, management, business tools, business planning

As we wind down the last few days of summer, and I was reading The Globe on the beach yesterday, I was drawn to Red’s comment about the end of summer.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales effectiveness, sales tools, selling, selling skills, Sales quota, sales training

Walking along the beach this morning, I was asking myself “What’s it all about?” for a number of reasons.  Is my master plan to be the best sales guy?  Probably not-I’m good, but far from the best.  Is it to be the best sales manager?  It used to be, but time has passed me by on that, and I’ll never be as good as some of the people I coach.  Then maybe, it’s to be the best coach?  I think so, but I also realize that in many aspects, I’m still a student, not the Zen Master I want to be...yet. This actually drives me in a lot of what I do reading all of the time, studying harder, and it’s why I specifically teach at MIT and Tufts. 

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales effectiveness, sales tools, selling, sales management training, selling skills, Sales quota, sales training, small business management, management