Keeping Clients Underwhelmed.

(LIFE SHOULD BE PLANNED INNING BY INNING.)

For most people, buying or selling their home is their biggest monetary move.

It is potentially an emotional feeling to commit to a  investment decision that large.

It means that both you and your client will be working with a lot of other people during this process.

Making sure everything happens safely, without overlooking any costly details.

It can be overwhelming.

Especially if the client thinks of all the things that need to happen all at once.

That is where you come in.

Much like a parent cuts food into little bites for a child to eat.

You must break up the process into smaller compartmentalized to do lists.

Tiny bites until the meal is finished.

And as you know...

There can be a lot on the plate.

To lead a client does not mean they need to know everything you know.

That is something we get wrong sometimes.

For us, we are used to the massive checklist while conducting a transaction.

And like with most things in life that were once overwhelming...

Do it enough...and it becomes much easier.

Sometimes so easy that we don't recognize when other people around us are getting overwhelmed.

But the client has not done this as many times.

So your capacity for what is "to much" is going to be different.

How different?

That is something you can discover early on in the relationship by asking questions.

But in general, treat a client as if they could become far more overwhelmed than you .

When you feed a child by cutting the food, you do not explain when you are cutting their first meal HOW you are cutting it.

You do not explain how the hand is anatomically designed on a way that allows for you to hold a fork while cutting at a 30 degree angle with the other hand!

That isn't how to start their mental absorption of the situation.

You simply "cut" and present them with the pieces they can easily manage without being overwhelmed.

If you are at the beginning of the transaction, don't give them the entire checklist that you use.

Come up with several small lists for the client.

Ditch the industry lingo, and keep it light and specific.

Your extensive vocabulary isn't always impressive, it can be overwhelming.

Send them on one mission at a time.

No need to tell them in one foul swoop to do 9 things before you talk again.

Give them a few important details to do/think over, then touch base a little later.

If they want more, then give them more.

But start small.

It is harder to come back from overwhelmed than it is to "add" more information as needed.

It is easy to get wrapped up on what we do day in and day out.

We get desensitized about how it feels to go through something the first few times.

It is natural to lose sight of what others would consider overwhelming when we are no longer overwhelmed ourselves.

Take a moment and think about how well you cut the food for your clients.

Are you cutting it and presenting it?

Or are you explaining every nuance of the mechanics behind it?

The same information is involved in both deliveries, but it feels very different to the client.

Remember, if they want to know more you can always tell them.

But in general,

Just give them tiny pieces.

Small amounts at a time.