We all know a sales manager or two like Brad Hutchinson, the main character in Brian Souza’s new book. Seems like they always have three things:
Image credit: Evolve Publishing
- amazing numbers,
- endless confidence,
- and no clue how to manage people.
But how do you break it to them that they should be more concerned about leadership than their own leads?
In The Weekly Coaching Conversation: A Business Fable About Taking Your Game and Your Team to the Next Level, Souza has created an short, breezy tale in order to teach such managers how to become true leaders. The story begins with Brad heading out to a local bar to toast his “Sales Leader of the Year” award, as well as his general awesomeness. He invites his whole team out to celebrate, but when he gets stood up by the lot of them, he’s forced to question all that he set out to celebrate. Luckily, “Coach” Mick Donnelly is at the bar and easily explains why Brad’s all alone.
“You said that you crushed your number, right? Well… how many people on your team crushed theirs?” Coach asks. Continue reading »
By Brian Summerfield, Online Editor, REALTOR® Magazine
We need to talk.
Those aren’t my words. It’s from Catherine Blyth’s recent book, The Art of Conversation: A Guided Tour of a Neglected Pleasure (Gotham Books, 2009). In fact, she starts it off with that sentence.
According to Blyth, an English writer, the decline of this “art form” is more than just a mere cultural problem; it represents a nearly existential challenge to civilization itself. If a society doesn’t emphasize skill in conversation, it can result in social fragmentation, personal isolation, and a general loss of humanity.
Fortunately, the book is not all about making a case for conversation as a source of civilizational salvation. That would probably make for a heavy, tedious tome. Instead, most of it covers — in a light and humorous way — practical methods for improving one’s ability to verbally connect with others, from “Hello” to “Goodbye” and practically everything in between.
There are plenty of interesting suggestions here, but Blyth’s overall point can be summed up as follows: Great conversation does not equal great talking; it’s not a scripted performance, but rather a spontaneous, open give-and-take between two or more enthusiastic participants.
For real estate pros, who are ultimately in the relationship business, conversation can be a powerful tool for achieving success. Below are some of the key ideas they can take away from reading this book.
FROM THE BOOK: 5 LESSONS FOR THE REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY
1. Silence is (or can be) golden: Silence gets a bad rap, mainly because an overly long break in a conversation can create immediate discomfort among the participants. But disciplined, confident speakers know silence can be used to their advantage. Pauses can be a great way to emphasize a point, and an effective method for putting pressure on another party in a negotiation. Continue reading »
Whether you’re trying to motivate a team, negotiate a contract, or make a sale, the conversations you have will either help you succeed or undermine your goals. Communication expert and leadership coach Shawn Kent Hayashi has spent more than 20 years studying how the things people say impact their business and professional lives. In her new book, Conversations for Change: 12 Ways to Say It Right When It Matters Most, she not only identifies the 12 most important types of conversations people have, but shows readers how to reach their maximum potential by using conversations effectively.
Foundations for Every Conversation:
In order to communicate well, you must first master three fundamentals, says Hayashi.
1.) Building emotional intelligence. “When you are aware of what you are feeling, you can begin to speak about it in a way that builds rapport,” explains Hayashi. Emotional intelligence is not only for understanding yourself, but for recognizing your emotional wake — the affect your words have on people. For example, at the end of a meeting, are team members angry because they think they haven’t been heard, or do they feel excited about what they’re doing?
2.) Understanding workplace motivators. Figuring out what motivates you, and what motivates others, will help you build connections. Whether you’re trying to land a sale or gain permissions for a flextime arrangement, recognizing what drives those you’re seeking to convince will increase your chance for success. Hayashi discusses the six basic motivators, or values, that show up in the workplace, and how to identify them in yourself and your colleagues. Continue reading »
By Melissa Dittmann Tracey
QUICK SKIM
If you’re not one of those people who naturally oozes charisma, communications expert Mark Wiskup has good news: Being likeable is learnable. In his book, The It Factor: Be the One People Like, Listen to, and Remember (AMACOM, 2007) Wiskup doles out advice for perfecting your elevator pitch, mastering small talk, giving good compliments, and steering clear of annoying patronizing patter. The advice may not be groundbreaking, but this quick read’s practical scripts and sample scenarios are great refreshers before any client meeting, party, or networking event. Buy the Book
FROM THE BOOK: 5 WAYS TO BE MORE LIKABLE
In real estate, being a “people person” is core to your job. You must forge relationships quickly and earn the trust of those you meet. Say the wrong thing, and you can kiss that first impression goodbye. Wiskup offers these ideas for boosting your likeability factor in almost any situation:
1. Be specific with compliments. Vague, lackluster praise (“I’m really happy to meet with you today”) comes across as insincere, insensitive, and can even leave the other person feeling resentful. Make your compliments stick by being descriptive and showing that you did your homework. Instead of: “Great job on the marketing report. Keep up the good work,” try “Good job on the marketing report. The third-quarter demographic stuff really helped me focus on where the money is for us. I was really impressed with your analysis of the competition.” Continue reading »
By Kelly Quigley, REALTOR® Magazine
Green Weenies and Due Diligence: Insider Business Jargon—Raw, Serious and Sometimes Funny by Ron Sturgeon (Mike French Publishing, 2005)
Buy this book from Amazon.com
Ever been stumped by a phrase you heard on the job? Maybe a colleague told you that he suspects his new customer is a “looky loo,” or your broker says his twice-delayed deal is getting “nibbled to death by ducks.” A normal dictionary won’t be much help, but this book will be. Although there are some serious and better-known business terms such as “exit strategy,” most of the terms covered in this book are more unusual—and in some cases, downright silly. (Equally as silly are the illustrations by Gahan Wilson, whose work has appeared in The New Yorker magazine.) The author got the idea for the book after first hearing the phrase “green weenie” while conducting business. “As I sat in on meetings with other dealmakers … it became obvious that they had many words and sayings the rest of the world likely didn’t use or even understand,” the author writes. The result of his research is a fun-to-read book of business lingo that will no doubt expand your vocabulary and make you smile.
Definitions From the Book:
- Looky loo—A person who only wants to browse properties despite putting up the pretense of being a serious buyer. The term also applies to curious onlookers of traffic accidents and hardcore window shoppers.
- Nibbled to death by ducks—A project getting killed little bites at a time. Problems can nibble, time can nibble, colleagues can nibble, and suddenly the project is no longer viable.
- Green weenie—An unpleasant surprise discovered late in the course of a transaction.
- Chipmunking—The act of holding a PDA or other handheld device and feverishly typing with your thumbs, usually sending a text message or entering data.
- See-through—A home or building that has been vacant since it was constructed, allowing you to look in a window on one side of the building and see through a window on the opposite side.
- Fish in the boat—Based on an old fishing saying, this refers to the notion that you don’t have the fish in the boat—i.e., you haven’t reeled in a customer—until you close the deal.
- Cappuccino cowboy—You know who you are. This is a nickname for someone who makes a faithful stop at Starbucks for that venti skim latte every morning to start the work day.
- Get pregnant—A situation in which the parties are so invested in the transaction that they can’t back out. You want a successful real estate transaction to get to this point.
- Don’t change the dog food without talking to the dog—The act of going into the market without completely understanding what your customers want.
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