Patricia Sherlock

“Don’t hire people based on your instincts. Have a process in place to research and test applicants thoroughly” — Peter Drucker At financial firms large and small, I hear from managers who are struggling with how to increase individual production on their sales teams. This may seem like a development issue but the heart of […]

“The ability to connect and thus, to raise the yield of existing knowledge is learnable.” — Peter Drucker For managers, the pressure to push sales teams to achieve optimum performance has never been greater than right now. While it’s tempting to look for a “magic bullet” to correct performance problems, the most effective approach is

“What does the customer consider value?” — Peter Drucker Value creation in marketing and sales is a fundamental issue that companies must address for long-term success. From what I’ve observed in my consulting practice, marketing and sales are typically separate silos. The all-too-common debate between the two boils down to this: Marketing argues for more

“Specialized knowledge by itself produces nothing.” — Peter Drucker During interviews, one of my clients asks sales candidates if they communicate with customers via a blog, Twitter or other social media. This can be important but not for the reason you might think. Technology by its very nature is always evolving so being technologically savvy

“All organizations must be capable of change.” — Peter Drucker In my travels, a number of people have been talking about how many more prospects they need today to result in a successful transaction. For example, in the past, if it took 10 prospects to achieve a certain conversion rate, now it requires five times

“Establish specific numerical criteria and goals to measure results.” — Peter Drucker In today’s business climate, it is more important than ever for managers to understand their costs and sources of profitability. One common mistake managers make is analyzing marketing and selling costs only at the gross levels. When aggregating at a gross level, management

“The test of an innovation is whether it creates value.” — Peter Drucker Managers who want to improve their sales results often look at the sales funnel first. The problem with this approach is that a sales funnel is not precise enough for an analysis and improvement process. Only a sales process can be managed

“The organization’s function is to put knowledge to work.” — Peter Drucker There is no doubt that ongoing training is essential for better sales performance but how and when sales training is implemented can make a difference in the final results. In my travels, I still see companies using a one-size-fits-all approach and throwing away

“Take steps to expose your people to the best ideas and see to it that they are trained in how to apply them.” — Peter Drucker In today’s limited-resource economy, managers are challenged to get more production from fewer sales professionals. Training can help a company instill change but two important factors must be taken

“Know the strengths of each person you hire.” — Peter Drucker One hot topic among financial companies is how to use technology (such as CRM systems) to achieve a “deeper dive” relationship with the customer. The truth is: If the initial face-to-face or phone contact with the sales person isn’t a “Wowing” experience, the best