Listen more, talk less: sustainable success at prospecting and sales require more than a few training sessions and groovy technology. It calls for a commitment to a new way of thinking and behaving.

• Author: Hubbard, Jack
• Position: Sales - Cover story

The credit crisis has made the financial services market ripe for prospecting. There's never been better time win back share and wallet.

The subprime mortgage crisis has reshaped the competitive landscape, sending capital fleeing to the safety of traditional banks with clean balance sheets. "Lenders who lost share to those that got in trouble are getting it back," an investment manager told The Wall Street Journal in 2007.

But in spite of three decades of deregulation, the banking industry has a lot to learn about how to successfully compete in a crowded marketplace where the product is perceived as a commodity and where prospects have become sophisticated and independent.

Having trained or coached nearly 60,000 bankers over the past two decades, it's clear to me that prospecting and sales success begins with a change of culture at the leadership level. Many banks are frozen in the old mold of obedience to quotas and tick marks. What's needed is a change in focus to performance, and a radically different approach to prospecting.

The key is what I refer to as "conversations." Instead or product pitchers, relationship managers should be trained and coached to reimagine themselves as consultants with real value to add to the success of their business banking prospects and clients. This means, in its simplest form, listening instead of talking. Any bank that does this well is going to have a leg up on its competition, regardless of size.

Consider that fewer than one in l0 business owners choose their bank on the basis of products and rates, according to a 2007 survey by payroll services provider SurePayroll. The surety concluded, "It's no surprise that business owners are not spending much time evaluating a bank's services.

Customer needs, not product features, are what matter most, according to a 2007 poll of business leaders by Forrester Research. Banks aiming for organic growth must treat customer experience as a competence, "not a function."

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Meanwhile, prospects' time has become ever more precious. Executive decision-makers say they spend just 5 percent of their time dealing with vendors. If you're selling the same thing at about the same price as everyone else--if you're the fourth gas station on the intersection--you need to define how the experience of buying from you will be better than with the other guys.

A fresh look at the sales process

To take advantage of the current competitive opening and produce a...