Maybe it’s me, yet one of the most consistent and continual communication frustrations is the inability of people to read.
Just this morning I sent out an email to our local realtors who participate in a monthly informal learning session entitled “Breakfast Breakout.” The focus of this one hour monthly professional development is to breakout from the flow and stay ahead of current real estate trends by sharing our experiences and knowledge. Informal learning, learning from others, is where we gather 70% of our knowledge.
Within this email I wrote “Office will send out an invite late Tuesday afternoon. The ZOOM meeting will start at 7:30am and open at 7:15am.” In less than 15 minutes I received this email from one of the recipients “Have they sent the invitation yet? if so, I have not received it.”
Of course, it is more common than uncommon for sales leads not to read emails. Even after I have shared with clients "I will be sending some emails, please read them,” I have had clients tell me “Oh, I just delete all the emails as I don’t have time to read them.”
Then there are those Realtors who also fail to read email communicationa as well as text communicationa. These folks will also delete emails even without reading them.
Beyond the frustration, the failure to read creates additional work for all parties involved. Sometimes what happens is the receiving party of the communication starts to disagree to even argue because they have not read the entire email communication. What should have taken at the most five minutes now has turned into back and forth exchanges which double if not triple the involved time.
Yes, everyone is busy.
Yes, some are busier than others.
Being busy is still no excuse for NOT reading.
In real estate, reading is essential from closing documents such as Title Commitments to legal descriptions to Contracts to Listing Agreements, etc. The skill of accurately reading is probably one of the most critical sales skills in real estate. Dollars can be easily lost because of the failure to read.
My simple sales coaching tip is to slow down. Invest the time to read. If you have the habit of deleting emails before reading them, maybe you may wish to re-consider that habit. Your fellow Realtors will appreciate one less communication frustration on their plates.
Graphic courtesy of Gratisography.com
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