Ever wait by the phone or computer hoping someone would tell you what is going on with a transaction*. Maybe you have urgently needed a lender, agent, title officer, appraiser, or inspector to call back or send you an email about a deadline or a needed decision. Maybe you just needed to find out if a transaction had recorded so you could hand over keys to anxious new owners.
I have some points for all of us who have been on the "didn't call" side of the phone or email, and I occasionally include myself in this population.
- It's not fair and it's not right to be the person everyone else is waiting on.
- Every one of us has had hard phone calls to make with bad news.
- None of us are blameless in forgetting a call or an email.
- It doesn't matter if you don't have any news or progress to report.
You owe it to your fellow humans to tell them everything you can to help them understand what's going on, even if you don't have a clear picture of the situation yourself. Tell them what you know and what you don't.
Five Rules for Communication
1. Communicate in every direction as often as the pace requires.
2. Saying "I don't know" whenever it's true is both mandatory and praiseworthy.
3. For clarity and commitment, saying "I don't know" requires a "but here's what I'm doing" clause.
4. The pace of communication should always rise to match the need.
5. In peak pressure times, don't allow any assumptions. Communicate frequently.
If you're in real estate, you know how confusing a multi-party transaction gets. There are a minimum of half a dozen people critical to the workflow and that's not even counting the two key parties, the buyers and sellers. When communications break down, confusion, frustration, and frayed nerves are common. It's all so simple to avoid just by making sure everyone knows what is going on.
For those who think five rules is too many, I have a version of my communication philosophy reduced to nine words:
Nine Words to Guide You
Communicate Often
In Every Direction
Even With No News
I guarantee you nobody will complain about your communication skills if you commit to do business by these rules. They're not bad for your personal life either.
*Disclaimer. This post was triggered by a bank employee who didn't seem to think deadlines mattered...or communications. Everyone else in the transaction was great at communicating.
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