Attention is a powerful word. In the military, soldiers stand still at attention, listening to their leader. You probably have not thought about attention lately, but it might be the most important thing that a leader needs to focus on. Do you command attention with the people that are important to your success?
In the last day or two, have you picked up your phone to do something and wind up doing something else? A friend of mine who came over to watch the Buffalo Bills game confessed that she deleted Instagram, “I found myself spending twenty minutes scrolling through photos and watching reels every time I picked up my phone.” She had to tell me this twice because I was scrolling through Snapchat posts while watching the game and listening to her. Do I have your attention yet?
Have you ever heard the saying that realtors don’t read? It is a very common complaint from brokers and MLSs who are trying to inform real estate agents about all sorts of things. Communications are difficult, especially if you have a lot to say. Most brokers have about 20 software products available to agents, whereas MLSs have a dozen more, and franchises offer their own pile and REALTOR Associations have a handful, as well. All these offerings come with notifications and trainings. Real estate agents live in a noisy inbox.
Getting Attention
The truth is all of us have attention deficit disorder these days. In our efforts to stay connected, we connect to everything and often connect to many things at once. Our efforts to stay connected are notably separating us from the strong bonded connections that we need to succeed. As leaders, getting attention is about the quality of connection you are creating when you communicate. Here are a few things to consider that will improve your connection quality.
- Engage the senses – touch, sight, hearing, smell and taste. An in-person meeting with food hits all five!
- Create a Frame of Reference – if you can relate to the book about knowing your why, or a purpose driven life, you understand that reference drives clarity, infuses passion, focuses on goals, develops resilience.
- Break Expectations – surprises are great, and people pay attention when you do not give them what they expect. Drop templates and focus on variety.
- Reward! Deliver rewards in two ways: extrinsic and intrinsic – money and self-improvement rewards deliver the best results.
- Reputation – remember, just because you are the boss does not mean that you have established credibility.
- Mystery – never give out the entire answer. Create some mystery by leaving things a little bit incomplete so that you reduce certainty and encourage discovery.
- Be Vulnerable and Personal
One of the most interesting and unknown service offerings at WAV Group Communications is reviewing and editing. We write news releases, blog posts, and newsletters for brokers, MLSs, Associations, and technology companies. These are things that we encourage companies to learn how to do themselves, but we jump in when the skill set is not available. A better solution for companies is to draft your communications yourself, and send it over to us for editing.
