How have you and your company adapted to the changes in the marketplace? Change is hard. It requires one to think differently, to let go of the comfortable and embark upon a new path.
The one thing we should all be old hands at accepting is change. Life is about constantly changing.
The tide of change has swept into the new home sales arena and brought with it a distinctively different method of selling and closing the sale. Throw out those old tapes and videos! The revolution is here! Sales personnel who sell the old way will be left in the dust of unrequited commissions.
So what’s new? With today’s markets, everything is in a state of flux. So change is inevitable. However, knowledge of the game with its new rules, new playing field, and new players is critical to success today. Has selling really changed? Perhaps not that much. The blocking and tackling are still the same, but boy, has the playbook changed.
John Kotter wrote a short book, a business fable about a colony of penguins, Our Iceberg is Melting. One astute penguin notices the iceberg is melting. He must use all the tools in his arsenal to convince the town elders, the critics, and the masses that the iceberg is melting and that they need to move.
He gathers a group of penguins each with a different skill set and infuses them with eight principles of problem solving. After much problem solving and communicating, the colony did move and was saved.
The eight principles Kotter espouses are:
- Set the stage – create a sense of urgency.
- Pull together the guiding group – make sure there is a powerful diverse group guiding the change.
- Decided what to do – develop the change vision and strategy, clarify how the future will be different from the past.
- Make it happen – communicate for understanding; make sure that as many as possible understand and accept the vision and strategy.
- Empower others to act – remove as many barriers as possible.
- Create short term wins – create some visible, unambiguous successes as soon as possible.
- Don’t let up – press harder and faster after the first success.
- Make it stick – create a new culture; hold on to the new way of behaving.
Use these eight principles to pull together your sales team and head for more profitable grounds.
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