By Daniel Levitan, Fellow, MIRM, CMP, CSP, CAASH

I recently ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant where the food was fair but the fortune cookie was outstanding. It contained a message that was actually worth reading and sharing.

Instead of the typical faux Confucian adage, my fortune was so relevant for the housing industry that I believe that it may have been selected especially for me. It read: “Pray for what you want, but work for the things you need.”

There can be no argument that this is the roughest new-home sales environment in at least the last 40 years. We are experiencing the “perfect storm” for housing: the economy is in shambles, personal wealth has been decimated, housing values have been shattered, foreclosures and short sales continue at record paces, and consumer sentiment is at a record low.

The fact of the matter is that these aren't things we can change.

But we do have the ability to change ourselves. This is the optimal time to work harder and smarter for the things we need — and what we all need right now is more sales.

Praying is good, but working to achieve that goal is even better. The best way I know to work toward that goal is through ongoing sales training and education.

Many of the large regional and national builders around the country have responded to the housing downturn by reducing or eliminating their sales management budgets for staff and training. Although I appreciate the logic of conserving assets and capital, the wisdom of this specific tactic escapes me.

Sales training works. And more sales training works better. Use the talent in your own organization and consider going outside for even more help.

Take the Certified New Home Sales Professional (CSP) courses and, if you took them in the past, take them again as a refresher. Attend all of the programs presented by your local sales and marketing council (SMC) and home builders association. And come to the 2010 International Builders' Show in Las Vegas in January and attend the Super Sales Rally, the Sales Management Summit and all of the other programs on sales and marketing.

Our industry is fortunate to have some truly great sales trainers and educators. Regardless of whom you decide to use in your own training, now is the time to purchase and read their books, buy and listen to their CDs, buy and watch their DVDs, attend their seminars, take their courses and learn all that can be learned.

After you’ve improved and refined your skills through education, don’t forget to continue to practice these skills on an ongoing basis with follow-up calls, e-mails and letters, prospecting, role playing, presentation rehearsals — even just getting yourself into the right attitude to succeed.

Business will get better, especially if we all work toward that goal. So let’s give one last good scream at the market and the economy — and then remember the fortune cookie and get to work selling homes.

Daniel Levitan, Fellow, MIRM, CMP, CSP, CAASH, is president of Levitan & Associates, a strategic marketing and development consulting firm based in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., that serves builders, developers and lender clients throughout the U.S. He is a charter member, past president and Fellow of the Institute of Residential Marketing and past chair of the National Sales & Marketing Council. He publishes an award-winning blog on residential development at http://daniellevitan.blogspot.com. For more information, e-mail Levitan, call him at 954-473-4244 or visit his Web site at http://levitanassociates.net.

This article originally appeared on the NAHB Sales and Marketing Channel.