What We Forget We Know
I recently boarded a flight to Denver to attend a real estate conference, playing the usual game of seating roulette, when a woman and her young son worked their way to my row. She was obviously a native Spanish speaker and I quickly realized she spoke little or no English, so I greeted her with a “buenas dias” as she got settled.
As we were preparing to take off I realized she had not fastened her seatbelt, nor stowed her bag, nor put up her tray table. Evidently, she had never flown on an airplane. I pointed and helped and rummaged through my brain for some simple Spanish words like “aqui” and “ahora” while her son guided her through fastening her buckle. Looking nervous and seeming maybe a bit understood, she started speaking to me enthusiastically in Spanish and emphatically held up her baggage claim stickers. I didn’t process much of what she said but understood she was asking what the stickers were for. After locating a few more Spanish words like “ticket,” “baggage,” and “lost,” during which I meant to tell her IF her bag got lost, she’d use those tickets to claim them, she popped up from her seat, squished by me in a hurry, and ran to the front of the plane in a panic just as the doors were closing. You can imagine the chaos. Turns out she thought I told her the bags were lost. And maybe I did.
After a fluent flight attendant settled the issue, my seat mate returned and got comfortable. Throughout the flight I interpreted for her that the earbuds were free, the drinks were also free and she could have the whole can of Coke, and changed the television settings to Spanish so she could browse. She was fascinated with the map tracking our flight, and until I showed her how it worked, she thought we were about to land because she could see rooftops, even though we were only over Ohio.
I was fascinated by what she did not know. I thought about how we take novice homebuyers who have one goal, owning a home, and during the purchase process stuff them full of market statistics, technical vocabulary, and legal contracts, then strip them of every accumulated dollar and ask them to incur a lifetime of debt in the process. And I thought about the trust we must build in order to do that to everyone’s satisfaction.
We forget what our clients don’t know, that they may be seeing this system we know so well for the first time. Or maybe the second time but can’t really remember how it goes because it was all so new before. This is the service they need, and that makes us worth paying for. It’s the reason our profession won’t be replaced. It may go the way of the self-check-in kiosk, but there will be an agent standing by for all the situations that don’t exactly fit the decision tree – the human factor. We are the interpreters. So let’s:
Slow Down
When Esperanza fired off Spanish at her usual pace, I was completely overwhelmed not only by her speed but also by her accent and native vocabulary. Even in a hot market, we have to take time to prepare our clients for what they’re about to face and reduce interference. People acclimate at different rates, and those who can’t do it fast enough may miss out, but we still owe it to them to make sure they’re comfortable and move at their pace.
Turn Chaos into Order
Everything Esperanza didn’t know represented fear, nervousness, and chaos. We can reduce miscommunications or errant interpretations by asking questions to make sure our clients understand the technical terms and make sure their goals haven’t changed with each new piece of information we’re providing.
Use Multiple Communication Methods
Esperanza and I communicated best when I wrote down the words I knew and she confirmed her meaning or wrote an alternative. We should provide our clients with multiple sources of information. Videos, articles, and take-home brochures all speak to different communication styles and allow clients to absorb at their own pace.
Build Trust
I learned Esperanza is from El Salvador, where I had been deployed with the Army in 1998 to help with relief efforts after Hurricane Mitch devastated the region. Talking about that commonality put her at ease and let her know I understood her in human terms, if not always in language. Personalizing our relationships with clients buys us the trust we need to make it through the tough moments of a real estate transaction.
Toward the end of the flight, Esperanza asked the fluent flight attendant what to do when she arrived in Denver and needed to find her connecting flight. The answer was what you’d expect: check with the gate agent and they’ll direct you. Now knowing how much she didn’t know, that wasn’t going to work, so I asked the flight attendant to tell her I would take her to her gate. We disembarked and started to walk to the connecting gate, which was in a separate terminal. We had to ride a train to get there. She was first surprised to find a train underground, and then a bit dubious about getting on it. She nervously questioned me and held tighter to her son, wondering if we were having another “lost baggage” miscommunication. I tried to assure her that yes, we really do have to take a train to get to a plane, and no, I am not a trader in human lives.
Esperanza was the bravest person on the plane that day. She was brave to trust me and to trust the system, even though she did not belong to it. Our clients are equally brave and we need to remember how to honor their trust.
Whose angel de dios will you be today?