Active Listening 1: Meaning and Connection

REI Wealth Academy Frontseat Education

What’s going on, fellow real estate investors? Coming at you for the eighth secret, we’ve been going through all 10 and we’re building to the last three that we’ve got, eight, nine, and ten. We’ve gone through a whole bunch of different items for the ten secrets already and it’s been awesome, it’s been enlightening. Some of the best stuff that’s out there.

But the one thing that we’re going to get into with secret eight is going to be talking about active listening and this is vastly important, no matter where you’re at, what you’re doing, with any sort of negotiation you might be making. But you guys are interested in real estate investing and you’re going to be on the phone with potential buyers, potential sellers. You’re going to be on the phone with people that you’re going to be asking for money from, whether that be a hard money lender, whether that be private equity investors.

So you’re going to be on the phone with people because this is a people business at the end of the day. I mean, a property’s a piece of property but without somebody that values you at a certain point, that helps you make a profit, it’s just sticks, it’s just plaster on a wall, paint on the walls, and that’s it. You have to have the people that are inside of that, and with that you have to be able to listen to what it is that they need when they’re talking to you about it. And that’s really what comes into active listening.

And as most people know, this is a participatory way of doing it; you have to participate in the conversation. More specifically, what’s really most beneficial to you is to learn how to ask the right questions. You always want to make sure that in your active listening you’re repeating back maybe some of the things that they have to say to you, to make sure you understand.

Because at the end of the day, active listening and your conversation with them, building that rapport, is all about making the connection and understanding the meaning behind their words, because sometimes they’re not going to tell you exactly what it is that they want out of the transaction, out of the deal, why they’re even talking to you in the first place.

But there is something that you can read between the lines, potentially. They very well might come out and actually tell you exactly what it is that they want, and also at the end of the day they simply may feel embarrassed for whatever reason. I mean, if you’re talking to somebody that’s behind on payments, that is something that is emotionally, mentally very tough for people to get over. So you have to build that connection and build that rapport, and bring your skillset and show them that it is valuable for them to be talking to you about that. So asking the right questions, that type of stuff.

With active listening just remember you’re making the connection, you’re trying to find the deeper meaning over all. And we’re going to get into a little bit in the next time, because there’s a little bit more that I want to expand on that. It’s going to challenge you a little bit to get this done the right way. You absolutely have to take this and be a little bit of introspective on yourself and you also have to make sure that you are actually listening to what they’re telling you.

And we’ll get into some of the tips here in the third video in a second, but even if you’re the person that has to rehearse some of the things in your mind and go over the conversation and maybe even take notes after you’ve had the conversation, there’s no shame in it. As long as you’re being honest and presenting something to somebody that is an ethical way, in a truthful way, one that has their best interest and your best interest and seeing where those meet, I don’t think you’re going to have a problem at all getting through this active listening portion. But just remember, you aren’t trying to go just necessarily get something from them.

That very well might be the case, but in order to even do that you have to be able to listen, you have to be able to build the connection, and you also have to have their interest in mind as you figure out where your interest and their interest intersect.

With that, this is the first video for active listening and secret number eight. Make sure you’re following us on Facebook, reiwealthacademy.com. If you’re in the Roanoke group, Roanoke Real Estate Education group, it’s a great resource that you guys are going to be using, so make sure you’re hopping on that Facebook and engaging as weekly, biweekly, monthly, whatever it takes for you. Make sure you’re listening, make sure you’re tuning in with that.

This is John signing off, I’ll see you on the next video.