In commercial and retail real estate, as the broker or agent you really do need to know all the facts relating to the client and their property before you can successfully submit on the listing. The question and answer process between the commercial agent or broker and the client is critical to the listing process.

Top commercial agents place a high priority on being professionally confident and different in the eyes of the client. Their proposal needs to be exceptional in all respects so the client will find it hard to consider anybody else in the agency process.

Discounts offered in marketing and commissions to woo the client are really irrelevant when it comes to a positive end result; the client knows that, however you need to provide them with the confidence to take the step forward. Your sales pitch or presentation should be based on strategies and solid chances of success. Your confidence is the key to the process.

Certain Priorities

Every client will have certain priorities relating to the successful outcome they require. It is no secret that this property market can be a real challenge when it comes to property marketing and the final conversion of a property to a sale contract or lease.

Given that most listing presentations and sales pitches are highly competitive, you must make your property solution the best that is available given the attributes of the property and the local property market.

Understandings Property Owners

Presenting on the listing is not simply a matter of taking down the information about a property and going to work. Understanding the owners and the factors that motivate them is at least 50% of the presentation and transaction. At the point of sales pitch and listing, spend some time with the owners, and always list the property in their presence.

While listening carefully to the owners’ instructions endeavor to discover:

• Find out just how long the owners have owned the property. The timeframe will have some relevance to their price or rental expectations. They will also have impressions regards local property prices and competing properties in the immediate vicinity.
• Exactly how did they acquire the property and why did they choose the property initially? Their reasons for purchase may be suitable reasons for sale or purchase today. They will understand their property intimately. You will also understand the local property market, and on that basis two levels of understanding can meet for a suitable marketing strategy.
• Through a question and answer process, try to understand whether they are ambitious, conservative, or cautious when it comes to the listing and marketing process. You will not change their immediate position but you can offer solutions that match their personal traits and decision facility. Make it easy for them to formulate a decision.
• Seek to understand if they have the most up to date market information relative for the area. Always carry a selection of market comparison reports to use for this very purpose. Also carry a selection of digital photographs on a laptop computer so that you can show the necessary images and challenges of other properties today. Some clients think that they understand more about the market than you do. Whilst this may be the case, take the time to fully understand the client before you ask them to understand your solutions.

A successful sales presentation will be driven from a confident agent or salesperson connecting with the client with relevant strategies and solutions. Take the time to practice the process and improve at every opportunity.

I recently conducted a survey on how technical experts – like finance executives – can better present themselves to senior management. Here are some of the insights from the survey, the common problems faced by presenters and some solutions on making sure your next presentation to senior executives is received in a positive light.

Common problems faced by technical presenters

Technical presenters have a strong tendency to focus on the ‘how’ of the content rather than the outcome. Technical presenters tend to either over explain the technical aspects of their presentation, even though they are facing a savvy audience who have a good grasp of the technicalities. Or they get too bogged down in the numbers and miss the overarching purpose of the presentation, meeting or conference call which is often to help the senior executive to make a decision.

I would like to share four tips that you can apply to improve your presentation skills when communicating up to a senior executive audience.

Tip 1: Understand your audience’s motivations so you know why are in this meeting

In The One Minute Presenter, a key step is Treasure your Audience. The main purpose of understanding your audience in detail is to go deeper into their motivations and hot buttons. This understanding helps the technical presenter prepare for meetings. Ask key questions like, “Why is the senior executive joining this meeting?” Is it to gain a brief overview on a topic, an update, a summary or to receive your input on a critical time-sensitive business issue which needs a decision?

Tip 2: Technical literacy quick check

When thinking about your content and how deep to go into the technicalities, think about the literacy of the senior executive on this issue. Are they familiar in depth with the issue? If they are, don’t start from the beginning when introducing the topic. Is the senior manager highly literate but not as familiar with the local differences on which you are an expert? Then skip explaining broad concepts and get into the specifics. Don’t worry if you skip too far ahead, the senior executive will ask you a question.

Tip 3: Think through your presentation’s timing

When you are preparing your content or your slide presentation, ask yourself how much time you have to deliver. If you have twenty minutes and twenty slides of packed data charts, are you allowing yourself enough time for the audience to digest them? Is there a better way to extract your message from each slide and highlight it in a clear slide? Consider using handouts when you need to pass on a record of the data to your audience. Build in some time for questions into your presentation time in case you are asked a series of questions or time is cut from your delivery time. If you have twenty minutes to present, then arrange fifteen minutes of content.

Tip 4: Produce your message for every presentation

Even if you are delivering a frequent update for a weekly management meeting, think about what your message in a nutshell is for every meeting. Press yourself to find a link between your message and the motivations and interests of the senior executives. The more relevant you can make your message to their driving issues, the more likely you are get their attention and receive positive comments. You have to speak to the issues that are important to senior management. They often look at the same topics in a different light. They are more likely to take a broader look or apply a wider scope to the topic. Remember that they are likely to have shifting priorities based on the current state of the business. Are you able to link your topics to the major issues like total revenue, profit margins, share price, market share, and others. Can you fit your topic into those issues?

Conclusion

While you are a technical expert and are valued for the insights you bring, when facing senior management you may need to adjust your content and dig out a message that is in line with the senior executives current reality.

Reading body language when you negotiate can be very insightful and very beneficial. It gives the negotiator that can interpret the thoughts and gestures of his negotiation opponent an additional advantage. Once you’re able to read body language, with a high degree of accuracy, you’ll be on your way to achieving more favorable negotiation outcomes.

In my writings I’ve outlined the value of observing non verbal signals, also called body language, when negotiating. Many have asked, what does it really take to become keen at reading body language? To which I’ve responded, it takes practice, good observation skills, the ability to listen more than you speak, and a willingness and desire to really get good at reading body language.

I’m sure you’ve experienced situations when you knew what someone was going to say, before they said it. How did that occur? How were you able to tap into their mental state of mind and extract the thought they were about to pronounce, before they spoke? It occurred as the result of you being mentally synchronized with that individual. I’m sure you’ve also heard someone say to you, I had a feeling you were going to say that. A feeling … what aura were you generating to allow someone to hear your unspoken thought, to see into the hidden chambers of your mind, to experience that kinesthetic connection, before your announcement?

As we think about what we’re in the process of conveying to someone else, our bodies prepare to deliver that message by going through and evaluation of how that message will be delivered. At that point, in a nanosecond, our bodies go through the process of mentally delivering the message and imagining the response. All of this happens, literally, at the speed of thought. I’m sure at times in your life you’ve been told to hide your feelings and at other times, don’t hide your feelings. Your feelings about a subject convey emotions and your emotions can be read when you negotiate.

Years ago, I participated in a study that pointed out the ease with which you can tap into someone’s thoughts and emotions by observing their body language. In that study, two individuals sat straight up facing one another, with their knees approximately a few inches from each other. The first subject was instructed to close her eyes and mentally enact a situation, with the degree of realism as though that situation was really occurring. The second subject was instructed to mimic the actions of the first person, which included breathing to the same rhythm of the first person. After a short period of time, in most cases, the second subject was able to feel and announce with a high degree of accuracy, what the first subject was experiencing. I walked out of that study thinking, ‘Wow that was mind expanding.’

Below are two exercises you can practice to enhance your ability to become more perceptive and enhance your ability to read body language …

· Sit in a quiet environment and listen to the sounds around you. Take note of what you hear and see. You may be thinking if the environment is quiet, I’m not going to hear anything. That’s not true. Even though there’s quietness in the environment, there are still sounds to be heard. Can you hear them? Once you begin to hear the sounds of quietness, your listening skills will become sharper and your negotiation skills will become keener.

· In a very noisy and active environment, focus on one conversation or activity that is slightly out of your hearing range, but close enough that you can make out some of the conversation that’s occurring between the participants. See how well you can focus on that situation while blocking out other activities and noises going on around you. Once you’re able to mentally hone your observation skills, to the degree that you can block out all of the external noises around you, your observation skills will begin to become more impeccable.

Once you become good at deciphering the unspoken word that conveys a hidden meaning, you’ll be on your way to getting more out of every negotiation session. You’ll also notice that your negotiation outcomes will become more favorable to all parties involved … and everything will be right with the world.

The negotiation lessons are …

• Before your very next big negotiation session, take the time to learn how to read body language more accurately. The benefit of doing so lies in the outcome.
• When you negotiate allow your negotiation partner the opportunity to look inside your mind by showing him your mental makeup. If you show your state of mind through your body language and he observes it accurately, he’ll think he’s uncovering an advantage. The thought then becomes who’s really at an advantage. The answer is, you are, because you know the purpose of your thought and in which direction you wish the negotiation to travel.
• Make reading body language a game. Play it often and you’ll be amazed at how quickly your abilities will be enhanced and the benefits you’ll reap at the negotiation table.