Real estate coaching isn’t just about business strategy. You can be the world’s greatest entrepreneur—with an unmatched mastery of the housing market—but lacking emotional intelligence will leave you confused and unmotivated. Here are a few strategies for becoming more emotionally intelligent.
Outline the Concern
When your client describes an issue or problem, even if you have 30 years of experience and think you’ve seen it all, you shouldn’t assume that you know everything about their specific situation.
Don’t try to fill in the gaps in their story. Instead, allow them the time for a complete explanation of the problem and its context, then ask as many follow-up questions as necessary to get a complete understanding. Once you’ve heard the whole story, you can offer solutions. But it’s important to first let your client explain the problem in its entirety.
Clarify the Emotions
Emotions impact business decisions, so you’ll need to understand how your client is feeling about their successes, failures and everything in between. Once you know how someone truly feels about something, you can create a stronger connection and provide solutions that are tailor-made for their situation. When a client feels happy about their past or current results, you can slip in a challenge to double or even triple their revenue…but only if you’re in an emotionally intelligent spot.
Be sure to focus on both positive and negative emotions. You can work on overcoming negative emotions and set new growth targets, both professionally and personally, even when emotions are high.
Make a Connection
When a client describes an issue they need help with, the best way to help is to empathize. Think about a time when you experienced a similar situation and what you did to get through the experience. Also remember how you felt. What emotions did that situation create? Having empathy will help you better understand the needs of your clients and the best ways to make improvements.
If your client’s issue isn’t similar to something you’ve experienced, it may be beneficial to expand your thinking to past clients or colleagues who may have had a similar issue. If those colleagues or clients confided in you and described how they were feeling while experiencing that problem, use that information to better relate to your client.
Practice Emotional Intelligence
If the idea of discussing personal details and emotions sounds uncomfortable, set aside some time to practice. Improving your emotional intelligence is as simple as learning listening skills and scripts to collect information. Email me at verl@workmansuccesssystems.com and I’ll send you a script you can use with new clients to connect on a more personal and emotional level.
Verl Workman is the founder and CEO of Workman Success Systems (385-282-7112), an international speaking, consulting and coaching company that specializes in performance coaching and building successful power agents and teams. For more information, visit www.workmansuccess.com.
