“What we’ve got here is … failure to communicate.” This of course is a famous line from the classic movie Cool Hand Luke, but it also might describe what we have in many client-agent relationships.
Carolyn Roberts has been a consistent, tremendous producer for many years. Her clients, well, they love her: she has a tremendous repeat and referral business. I worked in the same office with her for many years and got to see her secret first hand, so I am about to share it with you, right here in this blog – Sorry Carolyn!
Ready? She listens. In fact she listens as well as any agent (as well as anybody, for that matter) that I have ever met. I don’t exaggerate when I say that Carolyn probably listens ten minutes for every one she spends talking. It’s not because she doesn’t have anything to say: if I were as knowledgeable as she, I believe I would be tempted to spout my wisdom incessantly. Not Carolyn.
And then there was Charles Chatham who was known as the grandfather of real estate counseling. His premise was that you can’t begin to serve clients until you understand their needs. And the only way to understand their needs is to ask questions – lots of them. He never prescribed a solution before he defined the problem. And he would never define a problem based upon a 5 minute conversation with someone; he’d set an appointment, and asked many questions before he set any plan into motion.
Listening, asking questions: these are ways to show clients that you care about them, and not only about closing. In fact, your clients will judge you on how much you care perhaps more than any other thing. Listening is hard work, but it’s easier to stand out by listening than it was for Paul Newman to eat those 50 eggs!
Comments(3)