Are you communicating effectively with your customers right now?
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed life as we know it, especially when it comes to communication channels. It is likely to still be some time before we resume, as a community, a level even close to anything considered normality when it comes to business and customer meetings. Emotions are running rampant as we one by one experience 'cabin fever' and a state we all know as 'stir-crazy'.
As a mortgage broker, I believe there is no one skill more important than communication. This stands with internal and external communication, and both customer and lender communication. If you were to pick just one skill to improve and enhance - this is it!
Enhancing our communication skills has benefits for everyone. It can save you time and minimise stress & fatigue.
image courtesy of Unsplash
Not only do you need to be communicating regularly with all channels, but you also need to ensure your skills are sharp and your communication is clear and effective. I'll put my hand up first and admit - I am continually challenged by the world of communication mastery. My level of communication effectiveness can vary from day to day and even hour by hour. This can be determined by how I feel, my emotional state, how tired, stressed, or agitated I am, how busy I am, and even what the weather is like. It's also determined by my physical health and fitness.
But there's one thing I know for sure... if I am NOT focused on and attentive to my communication effectiveness, it will be only a (relatively short) matter of time before my effectiveness is 'out' of tune.
I recently went through a patch of feeling stressed, frustrated, and exhausted... and the result was a severe drop in the effectiveness of my communication and of considerable importance - how I was being perceived. Internally - I was reactive, emotional, short with others, and felt I was not being heard. Externally - I occurred as argumentative, aggressive, and demanding. Two completely different worlds.
On a positive note, I arranged a coaching session with a couple of my personal mentors and began to reflect and grapple with my inner self in a commitment to restore my communication and the core of my state of being. Mental health is a critical element of all of our lives - of yours, mine, our families, colleagues, peers, and of our customers. The result was a significant, clear, and certain transformation of how I was occurring, being perceived and received by others.
One of the best and easiest ways to maintain good or great levels of communication is to use these skills regularly. You can 'get out of your own head' by shifting your focus and attention on others. Pick up the phone and call a loved one and ask if they are well and safe, call a friend and ask how their weekend was. The same goes for your customers - call your customers and check in with them, ask about their lives, their family. Ask from the heart, this is not a sales call.
The benefits are immense for all involved. It can improve our mental health, our state of being, it will give your mind a much-needed break (You need this! especially if you are crazily busy). Whilst you're talking, take a stroll around the house or go outside in the garden or to a nearby park and stretch your legs - get a glass of water as well. Your mind and body will thank you for it - we need to nourish them very regularly. You may even win some new business with your customers, but that is not the intention of this call.
As a mortgage broker, communication is an everyday thing. Make it your best skill and share it with others. We all want, need, and crave some from each other - especially if we don't say or ask for it.
Note: Don't forget to maintain regular stretching and exercise routines every day and at intervals throughout the day.
John J Maxwell, Cocalex Consulting - Director & Senior Consultant