My favorite blogger, especially at this time of year as we prepare to celebrate the 4th, is Benjamin Franklin.
An amazing patriot, which is why I always tie Franklin to the 4th. An inventor, an entrepreneur, the creator of Poor Richard's Almanac (the leading blog of his day), an extraordinary statesman, a lover of good food and wine, and provider of wonderfully simple quotes such as...
Tags: sales coaching, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, sales management training, selling skills, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans, sales boot camp
I was sitting with the senior team at one of our most successful customers last Friday, and we were prepping for an upcoming sales and marketing planning meeting later this week.
Status: Solid first half performance
Status: Great processes & people
Question: How does everything fit for the 2nd half?
Tags: Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, selling, sales management training, sales training, sales listening, sales culture, sales boot camps
I open each semester at Tufts by asking my students what my job is. After a couple of awkward minutes including... "to teach us about marketing", to which I respond, "That might be a problem because I don't know that much about marketing", my real answer is..."to make sure that you get the highest paying jobs that you're going to find to be the most rewarding". And, at the end of the day, that's really the most important result from any university.
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I was walking around Kendall Square late yesterday afternoon. A perfect spring day with the added electricity in the rarified air of Cambridge due to the normal abnormality of MIT, multiple graduations happening this weekend, and entrepreneurs doing more deals than I've seen in years fueled by big money happenning on Wall Street. A perfect day...until I realized that I was not hearing my normal, "Hey Jack..." Not at CIC, not at Dunkin's, not even walking through the Cambridge Marriott's lobby.
Tags: sales productivity, sales coaching, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management effectiveness, sales coach, sales enablement, sales planning, sales management training, sales training, sales boot camp
Lessons Learned from my Students #2...and Sales
Classes are over, final presentations to the management of this semester's companies are completed and, on Sunday, I finally...and reluctantly...punched the 'SUBMIT" button for submit grades. For me, grading is always the worst part of being a professor. With complex marketing projects this semester from companies such as Black Duck, Accounting Management Solutions, Nameplates for Industry, Paytronix, Boston Financial Management and Fraser Engineering, it's been an exceptional period with a very strong class of students. Hence, my problem with having to define the exactness between a B+ and an A-.
Tags: making great presentations, sales coaching, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management effectiveness, sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, sales management training, sales training, sales boot camp, sales checklists, Tufts ELS
The Winhall General Store, my friend, Mike...and Sales
Late Friday afternoon, I managed to squeeze into the Winhall General Store minutes before closing time and found myself waiting in line beside my friend, Mike, to order takeout.
Tags: sales coaching, Sales Optimization, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, sales management training, selling skills, Sales quota, sales training, sales plans, sales listening, sales jobs, sales boot camps
When I first began working with the senior command of the Boston Police Department about five years ago, I needed to change everything that I knew about doing strategic planning with companies. Suddenly, I was working with a heavily experienced senior management team where there were no revenue streams to increase. No sales channels to modify or expand. No pricing strategies to think about either outside or inside any boxes. No corporate ROI metrics on gross assets or debt. Just the deliberate strategies and highly practiced tactics of good old community policing and being measured by the reduction rate of violent crime.
Tags: sales productivity, sales coaching, Sales Optimization, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales planning, sales management training, sales training, business tools, business planning, sales boot camps
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Impossible now to look out my home office windows in Vermont. Snow drifts cover the window, and even if I were crazy enough to try to shovel them away, the 50 feet between the windows and the driveway is one giant ice cube of snow packed 3 feet deep. Spring? Maybe in August. My great-grandfather Horace, who lived up the road a piece in the town of Poultney during the late 1800's , wrote often about living in Vermont with its 11 months of winta' and one month of damn poor sleddin'.
Tags: sales productivity, sales coaching, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales coach, sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, sales management training, selling skills, sales training, sales plans, sales listening, sales jobs, sales boot camps, sales checklists
Vermont this past weekend probably had the best back-to-back two days on the hill for this season.
Superb blue skies, warm temps, perfect snow, smiling faces, barbecue on the deck. Exceptional! There was nothing better than Saturday...except Sunday.
Tags: sales productivity, sales coaching, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales coach, sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, sales management training, sales training, sales plans, sales boot camp, sales checklists