Have you ever had a client who seemed hesitant to trust you? As a salesperson, it is your duty to create a reputation and an environment where people feel comfortable trusting you within a few minutes of meeting you. It is also your duty to always act with utmost integrity and honesty so that your clients have absolutely no reason not to trust you. Remember that trust is earned, not given. In this article I will share ways you can use communication to help earn the trust of your audience, clients, associates, and partners!

As a real estate or sales professional, building rapport with those you work with is crucial to establishing trust and closing successful deals. In most cases you will be handling your clients’ personal and private information. They need to know without a doubt that you will act in good faith and do everything possible to protect their information.

But how do you create and build trust within a short period of time so that your clients will commit to working with y...

In the ever-changing world of real estate and sales, effective communication is the key to success. The first step in understanding how to use communication to attract and convert your ideal audience is to learn the importance of connecting with that audience on a deeper level.

To achieve this, you must first work to define who it is that you serve or wish to serve in your business. When you understand the demographics, lifestyle, stage of life and business, preferred information channels, and communication preferences of your ideal client, you can tailor your communication to effectively convert them into paying customers.

When you communicate with your audience’s needs and wants in mind, this is called client or customer-centric communication. In this article, we'll explore why a customer-centric communication strategy is vital and how it can help you reach and serve your audience in a way that will convert them into paying clients.

Failure to communicate in a customer-centric man...

It’s inevitable. You will undoubtedly lose clients over the course of your career. There are many reasons why we lose clients. Some aren’t a good fit, some aren’t ready to buy, some can’t afford to buy, etc. But there is one reason for losing clients that should never occur: poor communication.

Like I said, there are several reasons why we lose clients. Some people don’t work well together. Different personalities, values, and demographics can influence the way you work with certain people, and that is absolutely okay. Only you know the kind of clients you can and want to work with. If you don’t, you should start defining who those ideal clients are for you. (Pssst, I can help you with that!). Once you know the clients you want to work with, you will be able to align yourself with those clients and determine when someone isn’t a good fit for you. You also have the right to “fire” clients that are difficult to work with or treat you and your team poorly.

Other people will not be ready...

Have you ever interviewed a client, all was well, you started their transaction, and then later on you get the “I didn’t know you needed to know that” or “by the way…”?

When you get these responses, it doesn’t mean that you did anything wrong. In fact, you may have executed your initial interview flawlessly and your transaction is going smoothly. But, when you get a message like this, you have to stop and think, why didn’t I already know this?

It is all about asking the right questions the first time you meet with a client.

Quick disclaimer – this article is aimed at real estate and lending professionals but applies to other sales-based businesses. Be aware that we will be talking in terms of real estate transactions throughout the article! 😊

Anyway, asking the right questions in your initial interview can make all the difference in your deals. You probably have your standard set of questions, but I urge you to get to know your prospective clients so you can drill down on what is i...

Lately we’ve been discussing the importance of small talk, follow-up, and connecting with people. If you are in any industry that is considered a “people business” (psst, most of us are), mastering your communication skills and follow-up strategies is a MUST.

You likely know that getting leads is just half the battle. The other half is following up on those leads effectively so that they can be converted from a lead into a paying customer. But not all leads are created equal, and they require different follow-up strategies. Cold leads, warm leads, and hot leads require varying amounts and types of follow-up.

In this article, we will discuss some of the strategies you can implement for each degree of leads you get for maximum likelihood of converting them into paid clients!

Typically, we classify our leads into 3 categories. Sticking with that model, we will start with cold leads and work our way to hot ones!

Cold Leads

Cold leads are potential customers who, at some point, have...

The response from my last article about the value of small talk has been amazing! It got a lot of you asking questions and wondering HOW to effectively engage in small talk. I love the conversations around this topic because for some reason, even the most confident experts and leaders can struggle to make small talk when in new environments or networking situations.

Humans are social creatures by nature, so why do we get awkward and uncomfortable in social situations? I can’t answer that question, but today I am giving you 6 ways to engage in small talk or ease into a new social situation that can help you feel less nervous and more confident. 

1. Bring a friend: The easiest way to feel more comfortable at a networking event or in an unfamiliar social situation, is to bring a friend. By bringing a friend you ensure that you know at least one person in the room and will have someone to talk to if you aren’t able to break into a conversation with others. Having a friend also provides a...

I have never been a fan of small talk. I’m kind of impatient and I like to get into the good parts of conversations quickly. However, when your business depends on networking and building connections to grow, small talk is a valuable tool in your arsenal! I have learned over the years to slow down and enjoy the mundane parts of conversation, the parts where you get to learn about people and get to know them, with no pressure, and no expectation!

Building connections with people, especially potential clients and referral partners, is a process. It takes time to build the know, like, and trust factor and you can’t just jump right into business with people…at least not usually (we all hope for that one client that instantly wants to work with us…it happens, but not very often! 😉).

Back to small talk. Does anyone really care what the weather is doing or who won last week’s basketball game? Probably not, but general topics like weather or sports are terrific ice breakers. Most of the time...

As a business owner, following up with clients and prospects is essential to your success. You can meet thousands of potential clients over the course of your career but if you don’t put in the work to follow up and convert them to paying clients, you will never grow your business.

Your follow-up strategy can make all the difference in whether you gain a client from an interaction. Let’s say you meet someone at a networking event, and you really hit it off. You both agree that you should meet for coffee or lunch to discuss ways to support each other. You leave the event feeling jazzed at the prospect of a new client or referral partner, and then, nothing happens. Weeks go by, you lose your jazzed excitement, and you think, hmmm, I really should reach out to that person. But by then it feels awkward, so you don’t do it. Sound familiar? I too am guilty of this. But I am here to tell you that your follow-up strategy doesn’t have to be boring, cumbersome, awkward, or scary!

As with just ...

Consistency is a key component of a successful business communication strategy. The uniformity and delivery of your brand message should always be at the forefront of your communication. In this blog post, we will discuss the importance of consistency in your business communication strategy and how it can help you grow and scale your business.

Consistency refers to the structure of your messaging, brand colors and appearance, tone, frequency of contact and posting, your process of communicating with your clients and non-paying audience, and the media via which you choose to communicate. 

You can have the most robust communication strategy but if you don’t implement consistent contact, interaction, and follow up with your audience, your business will not grow the way you want it to. If you are unsure why consistency is so important, here are 4 reasons to keep in mind when planning out your content strategy:

1. Builds Your Trust and Credibility – Building your credibility should be o...

If you have been around here for a minute, you have probably heard me talk about the 5 Cs of communication. (If you are new here, you can learn more HERE)

One of those Cs is Credibility, and it is one of the most important traits for you to develop as a business owner. 

Credibility is simply the quality of being believable and trustworthy. As a specialist in your chosen field of business, it is of utmost importance that you ARE knowledgeable and worthy of the trust of your clients. 

But how do you develop that quality?

Through communication.

Effective communication is an essential aspect of building credibility. When you are credible, people are more likely to respect you, listen to you, and utilize your services. 

Whether you are communicating in person, face to face, virtually, or on social media, there are several ways to build credibility through your communication. 

Here are my four favorite ways to do so:

1. Be honest. Tell the truth, always. People appreciate honesty an...