The
other day I was on a
conference call with a few of my investors who were introducing me to a
new
“Savvy Investor” who was looking for a new agent. His
agent just wasn’t
doing
it for him and they knew I could wow him, as I had done them.
So
far so good, we got to the
basics, I talked about short sales, REO, Tax liens, Deficiency, 1031
exchanges
and any thing else that may come up when it comes to trying to get the
best
deal for them on an investment property. I even sent them a link to my
new
property analyzer page hoping to really impress him with how fast he
could find
out information about a property without even having to call me.
I thought everything went
smoothly until about an hour after the call
was done.
One of my investors called and told me I had overwhelmed the person.
They were
impressed with my knowledge, but didn’t understand half the things I
was
talking about because I was using terms like REO meant Real Estate
Owned (Bank
Owned) and he was afraid to sound stupid on the phone and ask questions.
That is when I realized
that like blogging, I may need to sometimes take it
back a notch even for those who I think may know a lot,
they may not know everything.
It is best to talk in non real estate terms and further the
relationship and
find out what they understand about the process instead of assuming
they know
more than they actually do.
Because I did this today, I may have lost a great client, but my investors stood by me and said, “Use, Todd, he is very knowledgeable and if ever says something or uses a term you don’t understand, don’t hesitate to ask, he will never make you feel stupid. Todd is one of the kindest and most warm hearted people I have ever met. You can’t go wrong using Todd.”
When I heard this, it made me realize that sometimes doing the right thing can go a long way in this business, but sometimes I need to take it back a notch. Not everyone lives real estate, even an investor!
So, if you are an investor and don’t want to be talked down to or want to talk like a normal human about investing, give me a call or check out the link below and find out how good a value that property you are looking at is a great deal or not.
Todd Clark - Broker / Sales Coach
Palazzo Realty Group
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739
©2009 Todd Clark - The Savvy Investor: Even they don’t always know our real estate terms (Part 2 in a series)
even I don't understand our real estate terms. REO-I knew that had to be some sort of foreclosure, right?
This is a reminder to do some research about the people we are talking to find understand their level of knowledge on a given topic.
Todd - Good advice... have to gear the presentation to the audience and their communication styles. I spoke to another brokerage about blogging and talked about SEO and RSS feeds only to discover that some (ok most) were totally lost when I addressed these items.
Sounds like a humbling experience but one that you can grow from.
Todd It is so true that sometimes we make assumption that people know what we are talking about. Like this investors they might be too embarrassed to ask for a clarification. In a face to face meet you can spot that glazed over look but not on a call.
Hey I appreciate you stating this . We are all guilty sooner or later. Sometimes tech savy folks make this same mistake with not so tech savey folks like myself.
I just tried your property analyzer. You don't have to contact me on Sewell Rd property but I wasn't sure how to read the outcome. Does it give you info on anyone using it?
Anyway - hope this investor stays with you! He will be missing out if he doesn't!
We get so caught up in our lingo we forget they don't deal with it everyday. Good to remember.
Good reminder for us to slow down and not take our clients for granted and think they know everything.
Tood, I am sure the investor client will stay with you, especially after what your investor friend said about you. Your client can not go wrong with you...
Sometimes I think we just for get that REO is not a "word" and not everyone knows the lingo or aconyms. Good lesson here.
It certainly was a lesson learned for me and I know have even changed the way I talk at our investor club meetings. I am hoping the change is something that is welcomed by those who do know the terms. I think more and more investors are coming out of the woodwork as we are getting more and more calls to join our investor meetings.
I have been on both sides of this fence. As a real estate investor and a CPA. As an investor, I realize that there is quite a lot yet to learn. Understanding the numbers comes easy, but there is more to it than that.
As a CPA, I find that it is important most of the time to use common language terms to express accounting and tax ideas.