On the Sixth day of Real Estate, Seven Gables gave to me....Effective Communication!
What does this mean? Let's look at a married couple:
Wife says "Honey, it'd be nice if you took out the trash"...in her mind she has just told her husband he needs to take out the trash.
Husband hears "Honey, it'd be nice if you took out the trash..."
...in his mind he thinks, yeah it would be nice and I'll get to it as soon as I'm done doing (insert activity here). What he says is "Okay".
What you end up with is this:
So, where is the breakdown in communication here? In HER words or in HIS listening? The truth is, neither one is paying attention to the message they are communicating, but each thinks they are being clear! How many times has this happened to you as a Realtor...what YOUR CLIENT said and what YOU heard. How about in your communication with your manager, or with the other agent you are negotiating with?
Use Effective Language Constructs.
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all formula for properly crafting the perfect problem statement, but there are some language constructs that always help making it more effective:
Assume a myriad of solutions. An excellent way to start a problem statement is: “In what ways might I…”. This expression is much superior to “How can I…” as it hints that there’s a multitude of solutions, and not just one — or maybe none.
As simple as this sounds, the feeling of expectancy helps your brain find solutions.
Make it positive.
Negative sentences require a lot more cognitive power to process and may slow you down — or even derail your train of thought.
Positive statements also help you find the real goal behind the problem and, as such, are much more motivating.
For example: instead of finding ways to ‘quit smoking’, you may find that ‘increase your energy’, ‘live longer’ and others are much more worthwhile goals.
Frame your problem in the form of a question.
Our brain loves questions. If the question is powerful and engaging, our brains will do everything within their reach to answer it.
We just can’t help it: Our brains will start working on the problem immediately and keep working in the background, even when we’re not aware of it.
If you’re still stuck, consider using the following formula for phrasing your problem statement: “In what ways (action) (object) (qualifier) (end result)?” Example: In what ways might I package (action) my book (object) more attractively (qualifier) so people will buy more of it (end result)?
So sing it with me now...On the sixth day of Real Estate, Amanda gave to me...Communicate Effectively!
Amanda Wernick
Career Development Manager
Seven Gables Real Estate
714-837-7753
amandaw@sevengables.com
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