Derby Management's "Competitive Edge" Blog

 

Tags: Sales Optimization, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales tools, selling, selling skills, sales training, sales plans, sales listening, sales producitivity

When Hurricane Irene devastated Vermont, we became Vermont Strong!  We didn't wait for FEMA to show up to hand out blankets and food stamps.  That next day, we worked knee deep in the rivers with wheelbarrows and shovels to get Vermont back on the map. Even though 6 bridges had been totally torn away in the 30 miles between Brattleboro and Stratton, the road was open again in two weeks. Two years later, tens of thousands of Vermonters proudly display "We are Vermont Strong" license plates.
 

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Best Practices, sales and marketing best practices, sales, sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales tools, sales training, best sales practices;

Last week I celebrated my xx birthday.   No magic number.  No big celebration.  But, as a friend of mine from my daily high school email posse remarked... "Having birthdays is a whole lot better than not having them".  James Geshwiler and Maia Heymann began our 8:00 Monday morning  status call at Common Angels by singing "Happy Birthday".  Mike Schumann, VP of Sales at Salsify, asked through Linked In how it felt to be 49? I responded, of course, that "I wouldn't know...yet." 70 of my FaceBook friends chimed in with best wishes and another couple of hundred through Linked In. And, yes, I did get two actual paper birthday cards...from the cats.  And, oh yeah, I bought myself a car as a birthday gift.

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, sales effectiveness, sales management training, sales training, sales boot camp, sales management boot camps

Now that we've settled into the actual competition of the Olympics and moved past the media distractions of uncompleted hotel rooms and relentless weather reports of melting snow, the pure athleticism in Sochi is just outstanding.  World records and gold medals are decided in hundredths of a second after skiers and skeleton sleds plummet downhill at 80 miles an hour while hockey teams play repeated rounds of sudden death overtime.  So far, this Olympics has been both exciting and heartwrenching (my snowboarding friend, Lindsey Jacobellis ,falling) to watch.  

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Best Practices, sales, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales tools, selling skills, sales training, sales management boot camp

Cannot imagine what it would be like to become the CEO of Microsoft, but since my buds, Bill and Steve, once again passed over my application, I was reading up on Satya Nadella on Saturday morning (since this is a winta' without snowboarding), and I was struck my his simple, but provoking quote that...

Tags: Sales Optimization, Sales Management Best Practices, sales plan process, selling skills, sales training, sales management boot camps

Toward the end of a very hectic December, I was facilitating a series of 2014 sales plan reviews for the senior sales team of a new customer.  It was interesting for me to note that in a few of the presentations, even heavily experienced salesguys commented that although this was their plan for the year, there "are a number of factors that are out of my control".   Always the pain-in-the-neck, provoking guy that I am, I asked about those, and the responses were...

Tags: Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, sales management effectiveness, sales effectiveness, sales optomization, sales training, sales management boot camp, sales boot camps

I spend most of every day, most weeks (except a couple on the NH beach and a couple at Stratton snowboarding), every month and every quarter thinking about and working in the professions of Sales & Marketing. 

Tags: sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales management training, sales training, sales plans, sales management boot camp, sales producitivity

 Middle of September.  Definitely frost on the pumpkin this morning and, with
 the leaves already beginning to turn both in Vermont and on the beach, I  realized as I was driving into Boston today, the music switch inside my head
 had selected Donovan's '60s hit song, "Season of the Witch" to let me know
 that Halloween, the first of the fall holidays, was right around the corner.   Yea, good rhythm and mystical lyrics, but more importantly for me that "announcement" in my head was telling me that the fall selling season is well underway.  

Tags: sales productivity, Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales management training, sales optomization, sales training, sales management boot camp

 Speaking of time, did you notice, it's getting colder and darker 
 every morning.  Can't stop the seasons.  Can't lengthen 24 hours.
 Can't change the length of the month or the quarter.  All we can
 do is use our time more efficiently, effectively and comfortably.
   "I must govern the clock, not be governed by it"  -Golda Meir

Tags: Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales enablement, sales training, sales effictiveness, sales boot camps

John Landry and I had the opportunity to present the week before last to the 128 Innovation Capital Group at the IBM Innovation Center on the subject of angel investing.  Great group of entrepreneurs and Annette Reynolds, the Executive Director, runs a tight ship.  Check out her next Pitch Party at the Piranha Pond, which is coming up on the 30th at 6:00PM at the Tech Sandbox, in  Southborough  With the significant market shifts in angel investing in general and specifically regarding the very positive changes at Common Angels, where John and I are partners, it was a great time to wave the flag and talk about something we're both passionate about.

Tags: Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, sales, sales management, sales plan process, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales tools, sales management training, selling skills, sales training, sales plans, sales management boot camps