In real estate sales it's easy to get wrapped up in doing a lot of talking. We talk to people about property, keep them informed as to what's happening in the marketplace, and do our best to inspire them to buy, sell, and lease through us when the time is appropriate. But the real key to building relationships with the people we'd most like to work with is in our ability to listen to them.

We've all been around people that we think talk too much, but has anyone ever told you "You listen too much?" When people feel that they are being listened to and fully understood therein lies the key to solidifying a wonderful business relationship with them.

People want us to understand clearly exactly what they need. They don't want us telling them what we think they need and then trying to sell them on it. When we try to sell them on what we think they need, if we've incorrectly assessed their true needs it becomes very easy for them to associate us with those old, horrible stereotypes of bad salespeople. Yeah that's right--those guys!

Listen to your clients and feed what they say back to them for clarity and understanding so you know exactly what it is that they want. When you feed what people say back to them in exactly their own words, they feel that you understand them and that you are just like they are. And there is nothing more powerful in moving towards building a successful business relationship with someone than having them feel that you are just like they are.

Whenever you've bought products and services through salespeople in the past how have you felt when they did most of the talking? Now compare that with how you've felt when they've listened to you and made you feel that they truly understood exactly what it is that you wanted.

While selling and leasing real estate definitely involves talking, it's your listening skills and your ability to have your clients and prospects feel that you genuinely understand their needs that will make the bigger difference in your success in your real estate sales career.

Published: February 20, 2003

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Jim Gillespie, Ph.D., is America's Premier Real Estate Coach℠. He has over 20 years of experience in real estate sales and is a past president of three different real estate companies. His FREE real estate E-newsletter with tips and creative ideas to help agents make more money is now read by over 35,000 agents nationwide. You can subscribe to his FREE E-newsletter by visiting RealEstateSalesCoach.com or contact him at Jim@RealEstateSalesCoach.com.