Daily Real Estate News  |  November 21, 2007  |   Improve Your Likeability Factor
Don’t take your likeability for granted. It’s the first step in the process of building a successful real estate business, said Mary Ann Bush, ABRŪ, CRSŪ, GRI, of Bush real Estate/Bush Training in Kalamazoo, Mich.

At Friday’s presentation “Connecting With Your Clients: What’s Your Likeability Quotient?” Bush and co-presenter Rhonda Hamilton, ABRŪ, GRI, of Rhonda Hamilton Learning Services in Longview, Tex. shared tips on turning prospects into loyal clients.

Why is likeability important? It’s the essential for connecting with other agents and clients. “Rapport and trust are keys in developing any relationship,” said Bush. “Developing new clients takes greater time, money, and energy than nurturing existing clients.”

She cited statistics showing that 15% of business success comes from an individual’s skills and knowledge, while a full 85% is derived from the ability to connect with others.

Bush offered several points about the human mind that can help you align your prospective clients’ interests and styles with yours as you strive to position yourself as agent of choice:

• Minds have limits what they can absorb and retain.
• Minds resist change.
• Minds are insecure.
• Minds cannot function in a state of confusion.
• Minds often lose focus.

There are steps, Bush noted, that you can take everyday to improve your likeability:

• Develop a friendly mindset; it’s all about attitude.
• Quit worrying about being interesting to others and start being interested in others.
• Get up in the morning and decide then and there to enjoy yourself.

Hamilton noted the power of non-verbal communication in bolstering (or thwarting) your likeability. Of the factors that make up effective communication, the content of your words is responsible for 7 percent. Body language and facial expressions make up 55 percent, while vocal intonation makes up 38 percent of the pie.

In the end, how you deliver a message to your clients or colleagues may be far more important than the precise words you choose.

— REALTORŪ Magazine Online