Patricia Sherlock

“Knowledge without skill is unproductive.” — Peter Drucker If you haven’t started planning on how to succeed in 2012, don’t wait another day. Early industry reports indicate that the year ahead promises to be just as tough as 2011. What will it take to move forward in 2012? In my opinion, it will be mandatory […]

“The more the individual grows as a person, the more the organization can accomplish.”— Peter Drucker Today’s consumers have access to an unprecedented amount of information when purchasing a house and shopping for a loan. This shift of power to the buyer of services requires a higher quality sales person to successfully capture the business.

“All that effective executives have in common is the ability to get the right things done.”— Peter Drucker Too often, I see companies taking a “one-size-fits-all” approach to sales training. However, educating the entire sales force on the same topic can be a waste of valuable time and training dollars. The reason is that every

“Anticipate the future and be a change leader.”— Peter Drucker Historically, the mortgage banking industry has been based on a “field of dreams” approach: If you build it, they will come. In recent years, that old paradigm has shifted from a “push” market to a “pull” market. Today, customers are more knowledgeable than ever and

“Management must enable the enterprise and each of its members to grow and develop as needs and opportunities change.”— Peter Drucker What does it take to retain top sales performers? While it may seem that compensation is a primary factor, there are many other reasons top producers move to another company. One often-overlooked component is

“Take responsibility for your own career.”— Peter Drucker It’s been said that change is the only true constant and that maxim certainly applies to the financial services industry. Top sales producers tend to thrive in times of change because they realize that what worked yesterday may not work today. Their willingness to let go of

“Outline the skills required in your work. Analyze and refine these skills for optimum quality and productivity.”— Peter Drucker Every completed sale is the result of countless small steps taken by the sales person to move the sales process to fruition. These sales activities can be grouped into six primary categories that are critical for

“There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer.”— Peter Drucker The housing finance marketplace is more challenging than ever before. Tough competition, tighter profit margins and changing industry regulations have cranked up the pressure on sales professionals. Many feel as if they have a seemingly endless to-do list with little

“People determine the performance capacity of an organization.”— Peter Drucker In my travels, one of the main complaints I hear from sales managers is that their sales professionals don’t prospect enough. Selling is about new customer acquisitions and prospecting is critical to long-term success in our business. While lack of prospecting may seem like a

“Know the strengths of each person you hire.”— Peter Drucker Is your sales staff made up of order-takers or lead generators? While these two groups share many of the same characteristics, lead generators have two traits that order-takers usually lack: resilience and self-reliance. Furthermore, research shows that the issue cannot be resolved with training. A