“If solitude is an important key to creativity then we might all want to develop a taste for it. We’d want to teach our kids to work independently. We’d want to give employees plenty of privacy and autonomy. Yet increasingly we do just the opposite” - Susan Cain
Having announced the launch of my new venture in last week's blog post, this week would be a good chance to discuss;
a. The fact I’ve done my first deal
b. The fact I’ve launched my first listing
c. How the way in which we market properties is changing (hello Google Ads and social media)
d. That I’ve discovered that I’m quite possibly an introvert
No one sensible would choose the last option, right?
However I’ve probably been more efficient in lockdown than at any time since I was at University. I’ve gone from working in a medium sized office to working alone. From work which I had a fairly good understanding of, to things which are far outside my comfort zone. I’ve enjoyed this undisturbed time. A lot. Being away from the usual hustle and bustle of the office hasn’t bothered me in the slightest.
Then last weekend I started reading a book by Susan Cain which is brilliantly titled “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking” and it’s really resonating with me.
In life (and especially in residential real estate, where we’re selling people the largest and most expensive item they’ll ever buy) we’ve been told to “put ourselves out there” or as Alec Baldwin’s character in Glengarry Glen Ross puts it “always be closing”.
However no one really wants to be ‘sold’ a home, can you imagine a worse purchase to suffer buyers remorse from?
So perhaps Cain is right, and we should all start to seek out sales people who are really good at listening, not talking. People who are desperate to understand, not to be understood. Maybe companies should be employing them, maybe end users of our services should be asking for them and maybe we should promote a different set of skills when marketing ourselves.
Maybe we should start celebrating introversion more, or at least the qualities that those people have in abundance. Not that they'd tell you about them, even if you asked.
P.s. and yes, I promoted myself in my first paragraph, but I think I was quite restrained!