Master the Art of Questions to Unlock Meaningful Conversations

want to ask some questions of you folks questions that you've been asked before let's see if we can play along who do I want to pick on I'm going to ask you questions you've been asked before in your life you should be ready to answer your name sir is Dave Dave hey Dave how are you I'm great so I just asked Dave hey how are you a question he's been asked before and Dave's little voice kicks up in his head and says I know this one and he says great questions create conversations that lead to

relationships to create opportunities that's what drives actions and change Dave has just proved to me that we are so efficient with language we fail to be effective cuz what he did is he answered the question and shut the conversation down you gave me a level one answer that was exactly what I was looking for at this part of our time together you did it perfectly let's see if I can get somebody can get me to level two on this question who's got the power to get me to level two I think you can get me

to level two your name sir is Lawrence Lawrence Lawrence hey how are you awesome great event see what we got is we got level 1.1 so efficient language he fails to be effective he's like awesome great let's run this straight down to a period you got level two for me right your name sorry Kimmy Kimmy hey Kimmy how are you I I don't have any other answers for you the collective incompetence of this industry is embarrassing all of you I'm not picking on one of you I'm biging on all of you you sir hey how

are you great how are you we got level two level two great he got I know this one great then he realized that questions great conversations so he's like what question can I ask in this point so he repeats the question to me and he's great so therefore how am I funny that right funny that however the other person is feeling is the same way you're feeling what a coincedence and did you know in this hey how are you exchange there are only two levels that is both of them yet we are so efficient with

language we fail to be effective are any of you leaders in this business you wander through your office on a Monday and you're seeing people in the office you're like hey how are you doing they're like I'm awesome and you're like hey how are you doing you're like awesome like me too hey how are you doing you're like I'm I love how much I care about my people I'm so compassionate I'm so kind we don't know you know nothing because we're so efficient with language we fail to be effective it happens all the time I'm

going to show you something else we do young man you're going to help me with this your name is Austin Austin will you tell me about the last place you went on your vacation uh sure so I went to Sedona Arizona stayed at the wild Resort we swam in Oak creek and and just had a great time over oh man I love it out in Arizona I get to go there there a ton um it's a great venue for events a lot of people are using Arizona I think as an event space right now because

of the tax advantages in a and I was there recently actually for an event in Phoenix I wasn't out as far as where you were but I was like in Scotsdale was a cool Resort I can't remember the name I go there so often but I don't know if I told you I'm a professional speaker I travel all the way around the world I go to all these different places I wouldn't say Arizona is my favorite I'd probably say maybe maybe Sydney is is is where I went that I like the most I was there

for a big event with a company called Volkswagen they were they were they were pretty awesome and um yeah I've been all around the world I've worked in 60 different countries I've worked in six different continents I've written 11 best-selling books I'm not sure if I told you how freaking awesome I am that's a lot that was fun for you right yeah Austin's like like well wow at what point is he like where's the exit right where's the exit Austin can we try this again sure tell me about the last place you went on your

vacation well I went to Las Vegas here for a mortgage conference and uh and it was just fabulous you know a lot of great keynote speakers and like drinking from a fire hose like you had mentioned earlier so it's great yeah but how about for you where's the last place you went oh man I get to travel around a ton as well I know Vegas well but what are some of your favorite things to be able to do when you're in Vegas oh man well I always like to come to a concert or or just

get out in the community a little bit and uh maybe visit the Oldtown strip or see what local uh the resort has to offer yeah what are some of the concerts that you've seen in Vegas then uh what are some of the the concerts the last one was journey and de leopard oh wow what the same event same event wow that's a combo who was better Journey or de leopard like who was it oh man they were both so good so good de leopard was still big hair the whole night was yeah like I I

can't stop believing that that's amazing it's amazing and who were you traveling with who were you there with oh I was there with my wife and and the in-laws and uh was our first my first concert ever actually so oh my goodness my goodness how long you guys be married now is uh seven years okay I've just had a n nmon old baby oh congrats yeah congrats boy girl baby girl oh beautiful ARA like the resort ah is that what you named her after that's where she was conceived you're good but no no my wife

my wife actually had a dream that we named her that so we did oh okay same moment though right yeah got it got it see this is just lost in an eye in a very casual natural conversation right surrounded by a couple of hundred people it's fairly fairly casual but how much more information did I get second time round how much more information a lot of questions a lot more information was a touch more fun as well right how many questions I prepare where did the rest of my questions come from his answers right which

meant I had to do what actively listen actively listen possibly one of the most underrated skills in this profession is our ability to listen and let's just take a look at the word together the word listen because it's interesting the word listen look at it it has an L an i an s a t an e and an n in it here's another word it has an L an i an s a t an e and an n in it coincidence well yes actually it is makes one heck of a point though right I wonder

how many times that you folks for fear of being salesy become sales prevention officers that you deliver too much information you don't leave a pause long enough for somebody to sit in it you don't create a space that is open enough for people to tell you their truth and that you think that you win by sharing how much you know silence is a superpower your ability to listen is the same you're probably hearing from me at this point in time I care a lot about this information I care a lot about your industry I could

sit and talk to you folks here for days but I think perhaps the most important thing for us to think about when we finish our time here together is this point in the market that we're in right now our job is to give people enough information to make a decision there's one word up there that I believe is worthy of the most Focus what do you think the word is the word is the word enough how much information is enough the answer is it depends this was perhaps put best to me by a huge Mentor

in my life my late Grandma my nan my nan once said to me she said Phil if everybody thought in the exact same way then wouldn't the whole world like to marry your granddad see we need our information packaged in slightly different ways enough information is different for different people but for our realtor Partners right now and for yourself one thing that we've got to get really good at talking about and delivering enough information is the is the money conversation we're going to be able to talk about money with confidence if I have the word

price written in my right hand and the word value written in my left hand and price comes out ahead of value which one looks bigger and if I get the word value out in head of price which one looks bigger now who in this room has spent more money on something than they thought they would and we think budgets are real H articulating our value is the most important skill that exists for Real Estate professionals and Loan Originators today and I'm going to try and just show something in a very simple exercise before I bring

us towards a close and who do I pick on who do I pick on who do I pick on young lady your name is Laura Laura can I borrow your pen Laura absolutely this is Laura's pen I want you to imagine Laura's pen is just thrown on a table at a yard sale how much is the pen it's a nickel 75 cents wow now I'm going to take Laura's pen the exact same pen this time what I'm going to do is I'm going to place it in a stand stand is made of acrylic I've got

10 adjacent compartments in it other pens from the same manufacturers it's all beautifully merchandise manufacturer's name sits across the top of the stand stand sits on the counter of a mid-priced department store like a Macy's in the stationary Department how much is the pen $20 it's the same pen what I'm now going to do is I'm going to take Laura's pen the exact same pen this time I'm going to lay it down on its side I'm going to place it in a box and the box is made of mahogany mahogany box is Velvet lined so

I have a pen in a mahogany box it's velvet Line This sits in a cabinet and the cabinet is made of glass the glass cabinet is spotlit this two sits in the department store not just any department store department store is in London it's not anywhere in London it's in night bridge and the store in question is called hars so I have a pet in a mahogany box it's velvet line sits in the cabinet cabinet is made of glass glass cabin it's spot lit it's in a department store not just any department store department store

is in London it's not anywhere in London it's in nightsbridge the store is called herods and they get to the pen I need to speak to a member of staff member of staff is wearing a black tuxedo has white gloves on and his name is [Music] Pierre how much is the pen it's the exact same pen what is the difference in each of those scenarios perception what is the difference see all the things that you're muttering right now they're all true all of them did you know the thing is never worth the money what's worth

the money is the things that go with the thing so the clearer you can get on the things that go with your thing the more money people will value your thing got it that's the work to be able to do right now for you and your realtor Partners is what are the things that go with your thing that make your thing unique so Laura this is your 1750 pen you enjoy don't lose it it's very precious I know that I've jumped a little over on time I've had fun out being here with you folks and

I know that some of you are probably wondering like yeah but what do I do from here what do I do with the words how do I turn this into something that I master you can't you cannot Master word choices you cannot Master scripts it's like I crushed my yoga today no you practice your yoga you practice meditation you practice your word choices what professionals do is they practice the best golfers in the world aren't like I'm great at golf I'm just going to try harder on Sunday they practice and practice and practice so on

game day when it really matters they've got their best game face and and and they're working on something specific so my invitation to you is that if you are coming from this presentation realizing how important words are in moments that matter and realizing that there's a skill gap between where you are and where you'd like to go to do this for me and decide to elevate your practice