Derby Management's "Competitive Edge" Blog

 A couple of days last week I went over to Vermont,
 explored the woodlot up on the ridge and basically locked 
 myself away during all of that rain to do some intensive 
 work. As I was working on material for the fall semesters at
 Tufts and MIT along with the new content for our October
 Boot Camp, it led me to really, really appreciate the sun at
 the beach.  I love Vermont-7 generations and all that-but for
 the choice of VT mountains or NH beach in the summa', I'm
 choosing the NH beach. Just don't let any of the good ol'
 boys on the bench know about this down at the Winhall General Store since I may not be allowed to bring my trash to the dump (sorry, in proper Vermontese, I mean "transfer station").

I've been spending a lot of time this summer thinking through the decision makers on the other side of the table.  As a salesguy, coach, blogger, I'm typically focused on "our side of the table"

Tags: Sales Optimization, sales, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales boot camp, sales management boot camp, sales producitivity

 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

 
 We're all squeezed for time. 

  No new news here.  We continuously balance our work and 
  personal time commitments.  We endlessly shuffle our
  schedules cutting off 15 minutes here and there to be able to 
 squeeze in another call, another meeting or just maybe a vacation day here and there.  We know that there is no such thing as Work-Life Balance except in the fantasy world of academics, and what always loses out in trying to create that balance is that over-rated sleep thing. 

Up at 4:00 yesterday, after a 2 hour trip, I found myself at a customer's at 8:00 and then spent the afternoon in Providence at a quarterly board meeting.  The company is doing great, and perhaps not coincidentally the meeting began and ended with comments from the senior management in this high-performing business about the fact that they were more stressed for time than ever before.  They commented that there customers' demands for their time were accelerating at a quicker pace and that those same customers were constantly being pressured themselves by their customers and the new normal of their retail markets for even quicker deliveries and faster design cycles. 

Arriving back in Boston just before a customer dinner at 7, I managed to squeeze in a few minutes with my friend Brian, a long term EVP at one of our customers.  With 5 weeks of vacation every year, he proudly told me that the only way that he had figured out how to use any of that time was to put himself on a regimen of taking Friday's off.  Cute idea, but in the reality of Brian's unforgiving schedule, let's see just how many weeks that works...as in NEVER!

Tags: Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, sales, sales management, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, closing sales, sales boot camp, sales management boot camp

  If it's summer, then it's time to do the annual rewrite of our
  free ebook-Writing the Winning Business Plan 

Tags: Sales Best Practices, sales, sales management boot camp, business planning, business plans, how to write a business plan, writing a business plan

For me, the most exciting thing about our Sales Management Boot Camp every six months is the diversity of companies and executive management that we have in these programs.  Our 24-30 attendees bridge across every vertical, geography and size that you can think of from fast growth tech companies such as Black Duck Software to Chase Corporation to Kayem Foods to Steinway and every possible combination in between.  All of which lends to peer-to-peer engagement and a big boost in the real-life learning processes that go on over two nights and two days.

Tags: Sales Optimization, Sales Best Practices, Sales Management Best Practices, sales, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales management boot camp

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

Find any salesperson, woman or man, and you'll find a person who cares about their shoes.

Tags: sales productivity, sales coaching, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management effectiveness, sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales tools, selling, sales management training, sales plans, sales boot camp, sales jobs, finding sales jobs, sales boot camps

Jack McAvoy, Lifeguard & Rock-Solid Marketing Guy!

A senior marketing executive at Parametric Technology, Jack and I met a few years ago out of our common love of caring for the beach.  Jack's been the senior lifeguard in Wallis Sands for a long time and is as passionate about taking care of this beach (Rated in the Top 5 cleanest beaches in the U.S. ) and its visitors as he is about the practice of marketing in the rapidly changing ecosystem of 2013. 

Tags: sales productivity, sales coaching, Sales Optimization, sales, sales management, sales management effectiveness, sales plan process, sales management coach, sales effectiveness, sales enablement, sales planning, sales tools, selling, selling skills, sales boot camp, sales listening, best sales practices;

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