Page 6 - JUNE 2022

or understanding the other person’s One of my colleagues, Anthony photos for her on the home as well
emotions while listening to, under- Iannarino, who has written several as the neighbors’ properties. She
standing your own emotions, and books, stated in Chapter Three of The truly appreciated that effort.
then managing both sets of emotions. Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need, “Yet The next day, I emailed all infor-
With the emphasis on social media, some things never change…people mation including photos of the home
and technology, by the stroking of tend to like and trust those who care under construction as well as a second
the keyboard, the emotional element about them, genuinely care about completed home with the same floor
is usually not present or even unfor- them.” Another colleague, Charlie plan. The listing agent, a consummate
tunately misunderstood. Green, who co-authored The Trusted professional, volunteered to show me
Given that people buy from people Advisor shared this equation: “Trust the completed home.
they know and trust, what is often = (Credibility x Reliability x Intimacy/ President Teddy Roosevelt said,
ignored in these interactions is how Self Orientation”. “No one cares how much you know
emotions and character are at the The importance of this equation is in until they know how much you care.”
intersection of trust. This intersection the words above the line. How often are By demonstrating I cared, the buyer
with the buying and even selling relationships in sales lost because of a appreciated my effort and asked to be
process helps to better explain the failure of any one of these three words? my client. This interaction confirmed I
importance of consistent, outstanding Now in the real estate industry, was both credible and reliable by doing
customer service. I have transferred my “caring what I said I would do.
Returning to the earlier example approach” to each outreach. This As to “intimacy”, during our
of the national retail mobile provider, I past month, I received a call from conversation, I said I would secure
came into the store because I have had a potential out-of-state buyer who an appointment after I had lunch
five years of positive emotional experi- was interested in a new construction given, I had been out for five hours
ences. The salespeople had some tech- home. The call came at noon as I without breakfast or lunch. The buyer
nology experience and helped me with was closing up a property after laughed and said, “please have lunch.”
my issues. I expected the same custom- inspections. Given that I had been on Of course, intimacy requires some in-
er service. Now with a new franchise the property for five hours without tuitive knowledge as to how intimate
owner, those previous positive customer any breakfast or lunch, I was truly one can be on a first call. To begin to
interactions were non-existent. looking forward to returning home establish intimacy requires CLEAR
As to the national big box store to have lunch. The buyer had some communication.
which we have patronized and questions. I asked her to give me ten In my book, Be the Red Jacket in
consequently trusted in different minutes to research the property. a Sea of Gray Suits, I created an acro-
states during the last 30 plus years, Within those 10 minutes, I did nym for C.L.E.A.R. that is: Clarity,
the poor customer service began to the MLS research, called the listing Legitimize, Emotions, Agreement,
establish distrust. Yes, we will still agent for an appointment, and and Retention. What I have learned
buy from this franchise, however, we returned the call to the buyer telling and continue to have validated, is
will be more cautious when it comes her I would be at the property at CLEAR communication is essential
to any communication. 3:00 pm that afternoon. I took in human interactions and especially
in sales. How often does communi-
cation fail and we as small business
owners lose a potential customer or
worse yet have some negative review
posted online?
With the emphasis on social stated, “Got Milk?” Today, possibly
Years ago, that TV commercial
media and technology, we can consider updating that
commercial to “Got Feelings?” when
by the stroking of the keyboard, we are looking to increase sales and
have consistent and sustainable small
the emotional element is business success. N

Leanne Hoagland-Smith is a clarity
usually not present strategist, solving people and process
problems. As a thought leader who
or even unfortunately challenges the status quo, she turns
tomorrow’s goals into today’s results.
misunderstood. Follow her on Twitter @CoachLee.

6 NBIZ ■ June 2022