The client whisperer

As some of you reading may remember from previous posts, I met my husband at work. Not surprising, given that I’ve spent my life from about 15 onwards starting and working furiously in my own small businesses.

One day, almost a decade ago, a very spunky man came in and bought a property through my real estate agency. Mistaking me for the receptionist we struck up a conversation, lit a spark and… the rest is my own beautiful love story.

We were chatting recently though and he reminded me of the very wise friend he had brought in to the office one day while we were, for want of a better word, “courting”.

Unsure if I felt the same way he felt he asked a mate to come into my office on one of his (then very regular) visits. When they left – he asked for his friend’s honest assessment of my romantic interest in him.

His friend told him unequivocally that I was interested. How did he know? He hadn’t watched me one bit during the conversation I’d had with my future husband that day.

Instead, he’s watched the other three girls in my office. While my future husband concentrated on trying to glean my interest in the purposefully muted conversation I was having with him. His friend watched my workmates, knowing that if had an interest, I would have surely told my workmates. The giggling, whispering behind hands and intent glances from my workmates was all he needed to see to confirm that, yes, in fact, I had a massive crush on his friend.

Clever right? Intuitive, sensible, logical. This guy was a “girl whisperer”.

Some of my favourite mentors and role models have had this sort of intuition when it comes to clients and buying signals and even staff members. They’re client whisperers.

They know when to stop pitching and just allow clients to sign the deal. They know when a client isn’t really telling you a million small details, but telling you they want you to be extremely careful of how you handle their property because they are going to list it with you (right now if you give them the chance). They know when a staff member’s work quality is dropping because they have personal issues and how that differs from someone who is just dissatisfied or even to someone who is just not feeling challenged and needs more work stimulation.

Subtlety and knowing where to look are often very underrated. Rather than just knowing your ABCs (always be closing) – perhaps also remember who you need to be closing (I’ve seen hundreds of salespeople try to close me when it’s my husband making the purchase and vice versa). Good luck in your journey towards becoming a client whisperer. I’ll let you know if I ever find someone as good as the girl whisperer!

Kirsty Dunphey is the youngest ever Australian Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year, author of two books (her latest release is Retired at 27: If I Can do it Anyone Can) and a passionate entrepreneur who started her first business at age 15 and opened her own real estate agency at 21.

Now Kirsty does lots of fun things which you can read about here. Her favourite current projects are Elephant Property, a boutique property management agency, Baby Teresa, a baby clothing line that donates an outfit to a baby in need for each one they sell and ReallySold, which helps real estate agents stop writing boring, uninteresting ads.