Patricia Sherlock

“Neither studies nor market research nor computer modeling is a substitute for the test of reality.” — Peter Drucker When creating value for the customer or eliminating any waste in the sales arena, too often what I see is that each group in a company (marketing and sales in particular) comes out with a definition […]

“Know the strengths of each person you hire.” — Peter Drucker Last week I noticed an increasingly common scenario in our industry: inconsistent sales performance from an established sales staff. One manager I spoke with had recently been hired to oversee numerous branches over a multi-state region. Six months later, the individual realized that there

“The ability to connect and thus to raise the yield of existing knowledge is learnable.” — Peter Drucker In our industry, I still encounter sales professionals who see their job as getting as many people into the sales funnel whether the prospects are ready or not. According to this “sales is a number game” theory,

“Take information responsibility by getting the right information to the right people at the right time’” — Peter Drucker In my conversations with managers on the current challenges facing our industry, one particular insight has come to light: Gone are the days when a sales person simply made the sale and walked away. Customers are

“Look at every change, look out every window and ask ‘Could this be an opportunity?’” — Peter Drucker In recent weeks, one of the observations I’ve heard from sales managers is that there are a lot of A players out there and a lot C players or underperformers but no sales people in the middle

“Don’t hire a person for what they can’t do; hire them for what they can do.” — Peter Drucker What I’m hearing in the field is how difficult it is to hire good people. Some financial firms are having to interview 50 candidates before hiring one good sales person. While this means more time and

“The most effective way to manage change successfully is to create it.” — Peter Drucker I recently read a comment by economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman that I found interesting. In essence, he said that many of the major players are warning against unconventional measures regarding the national economy but Krugman says,

“Every organization needs one core competence: innovation.” — Peter Drucker In my travels, I’m hearing a lot of discussion about the Federal Reserve’s recent compensation changes for sales people in the financial industry. There seem to be two camps of thinking on the topic. One group believes the changes foretell the end of our industry

“Find out what needs your customers want fulfilled today.” — Peter Drucker On the surface, it may seem like the relationship between the sales person and the customer has changed over the years. Certainly it’s true that customers have unprecedented access to information that can help them during the buying process. In addition, the sheer

“Does your organization sacrifice the long-term wealth-producing capacity of the enterprise to produce short-term results?” — Peter Drucker Recently, I spoke with a top producer who in the last few years has moved from wholesale to reverse mortgages and now is going back to wholesale. Even though she has not done wholesale in two years,