Hey Moguls, oooh-wee are we excited for today’s lesson! Why? We have a brand-spankin’-new Mogul Faculty Advisor. Yay for us.
We are so pleased to introduce this youngin’ – Mr. Doug Van Buskirk.
Doug, who’s a spry 27, has only been in the REI business for 2 years, but quickly rocketed to HUGE success and financial freedom. And we think that anyone who reaches such monumental success so rapidly at such a young age is someone we should listen to.
When Doug was working a ho-hum 9-5, he started analyzing the patterns in how people behave – specifically people’s psychology and real estate – and applied that science to networking, negotiating, and marketing.
Doug then quickly built an online marketing company and real estate coaching program to help others achieve the kind of success he reached. Specializing in single-family wholesaling and mobile homes, Doug uses one of the lowest risk, highest ROI investment models for his deals in Charleston, SC where he lives.
Today, he only spends about 45 minutes to an hour PER MONTH on his REI business, and the cash flow still rolls in every month.
Sounds awesome, right? Well let’s let this savvy investor take it away…
From Doug Van Buskirk..
The way you communicate with buyers, sellers and other investors will make or break your success in real estate.
It’s a well-known fact that people do business with other people that they know, like and trust.
So the question is:
What are you consciously doing to trigger the people you deal with to know, like and trust you?
Or better, yet…
How many more deals could you do if you were able to build peak levels of trust in a matter of minutes?
By implementing the concepts we’ll discuss in this lesson, you can become a communication ninja who people can’t help but want to do business with.
Holistic Principles
To be clear, this applies to all areas of your real estate business.
Sure, your sellers need to feel comfortable with you before you can get a deal under contract. That one’s obvious.
But you also want other investors (who are potential lead-sources or cash buyers) to enjoy working with you, right?
What about if you’re trying to find a title company that will do double closes? Obviously, trust is important there, too.
I could go on and on, but you get the point…
So wouldn’t you love to have a few tricks up your sleeve to bridge the gap between these folks and speed up the trust-building process?
Of course you would!
Because that means doing more deals, negotiating better prices and terms, and experiencing much less friction as you put all the pieces of your deals together.
The level of trust you build with the people you come into contact with doesn’t happen by accident. The investors who are routinely closing multiple deals each month do certain things to build trust ON PURPOSE – and these things set them apart from you.
First, they are great listeners.
Talk Less, Listen More
Part of being a great listener is learning how to ask a lot more questions.
And not just any old questions – specifically open-ended questions, and questions about them. People love to talk about themselves and the more questions you ask them about themselves – their lives, family, hobbies, circumstances, or whatever – the more they’ll typically just talk and talk…
And the better you actually listen to them, the more they’ll feel heard, understood and affirmed by you. And that builds a connection, which builds trust and rapport.
Remember, God gave you two ears and only one mouth for a reason. Practice asking good questions, then shut up and listen well.
Also, while you’re listening well, pay attention and make mental notes of how the other person communicates so you can use that later in building trust and rapport.
Different Styles?
To make it simple, we can break people down into 4 types of communicators/ personalities (based on the DISC Personality Profiling):
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Dominant: Confident. Powerful. Results-oriented. Straight to the point, not concerned with details. Goes with his gut. Can make quick decisions without a lot of information.
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Influencer: Driven by connections with other people. Confident. Positive. Energetic. Life of the party. Easily distracted.
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Steadiness: Thrives on consistency. Calm and supportive. Needs time to make decisions. Caring. Dependable. Great follow-through.
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Conscientiousness: Analytical. Detail-oriented. Needs a lot of info to make a decision. Driven by logic and reasoning. Formulaic.
Where do you see yourself fitting into these categories?
Too often, we communicate with people in the ways that we like to be communicated to.
For example, if you’re personally very detail-oriented, then you probably feel the need to communicate all those details to people around you.
The problem is, if the other person doesn’t care about all the details, they’ll tune you out and a communication canyon will form between you two.
You’ll be less in sync, and subconsciously, your default trust level drops. And you didn’t even realize it – you were just doing what felt natural, right?!
On the Flip Side…
Have you ever met someone who you just ‘clicked’ with right away? Most likely, they remind you a lot of yourself (or who you envision yourself to be).
Even after knowing that person for only a short time, you’d be ready to vouch for them. You feel like you know them really well, even though you’ve only spent a few hours together?
That’s the kind of impact we want to have on the people we cme into contact with.
So once we’ve done a little reconnaissance by asking questions, listening and observing, we are then prepared to move on to Step 2…
Strike Their Pose and Model the Other Person
Mirror their communication style.
People trust other people who are similar to them. Use this to your advantage when you’re out in the field.
And you have to be paying close attention to the other person in order for this to work. Get out of your own head and get into theirs – pay attention to their persona.
If you sense that a seller is a Dominant CEO-type who only needs a bullet-point synopsis to make a decision, then be concise. Give him the bullet list, tell him what he needs to know and leave it at that.
When you’re making a lowball offer, sometimes you need to explain your reasoning (if the person is analytical), but sometimes the seller just wants to hear the offer, without any commentary, so they can quickly say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and move on.
Your job is to be able to identify which person is which and then adapt your communication style to the situation.
This also applies to meeting with other investors and networking connections.
Are they outgoing and social? Then set up a face-to-face meeting with them to talk about working together.
Or are they withdrawn and maybe a little socially awkward? Then correspond via email. That’s probably where they’re most comfortable.
Some people want you to call when you have a potential deal. Other investors NEVER want you to call, just text, even if it’s urgent.
The point in all of this is to pay attention and resist the urge to force your communication style on other people.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T Communication
If you’re already doing deals, this will help you do more, easier, and quickly grow a strong network along the way.
If you’re working on getting your first deal done, this will speed up the process.
So remember, this approach only works if you do the upfront work, which is asking good questions, listening, and keeping a high level of awareness.
If you want more information about personality profiling, do a Google search for “DISC Test.” There are tests you can take for free online to get your own profile.
Good luck!
Talk less, listen more in networking and negotiation.
Focus on the other person’s communication style.
Be aware of your own communication style and how it fits in with your counterpart.