Book says adapting to changing selling environment crucial to successful sales
By PAULA PARISOT
2/22/2005

Good loan originators understand their customers' needs and available mortgage programs. But the authors of one book believe success in sales is based on three premises that focus on the ability to adapt in a changing environment.

The key to securing referrals is to manage every sales objective as a joint venture -- a mutually beneficial transaction where both buyer and seller "Win," according to The New Strategic Selling: The Unique Sales System Proven Successful by the World's Best Companies, Revised and Updated for the 21st Century.

The book, written by Stephen E. Heiman, Diane Sanchez, and Tad Tuleja, promotes a non-manipulative selling philosophy based on the principle that getting an individual sale is never enough.

buy The New Strategic Selling : The Unique Sales System Proven Successful by the World's Best Companies, Revised and Updated for the 21st Century
Strategic selling includes understanding three key premises, the authors wrote.

Premise one of strategic selling is, "Whatever got you where you are today is no longer sufficient to keep you there." It explains that sales environments are constantly evolving -- requiring that a successful originator recognize these changes and update his or her sales strategy accordingly.

"The person who refuses to alter his or her "time-tested" methods to adjust to this reality will soon be left behind," the authors explain, "Because one fact is plain: Even if you've been selling for only a few years, the selling environment in which you learned to operate no longer exists."

The second premise states, "In the Complex Sale, a good tactical plan is only as good as the strategy that led up to it." Good tactics (the techniques used when face-to-face with a borrower) can be learned, the book states. And while good tactics are important, strategy is the prerequisite to tactical success. In other words, the authors explain, "tactics will get you nowhere if you present them to the wrong person, or to the right person at the wrong time."

Premise three of strategic selling says, "You can succeed in sales today only if you know what you're doing and why."

As obvious as it sounds, the authors say it's not. They reportedly interviewed hundreds of prospective sales representatives, most of whom were already successful in their own right and found that the person with the best understanding of his or her own effective way of doing things was the one who proved to be the most productive.

The book concludes that success today depends on using a clearly defined, professional sales methodology. "Knowing what you're doing and why is fundamental to the strategic professional's profile."

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