4 Ways to Improve Your Presentation Skills and Wow Your Audience

It was that far away look in my students’ eyes that told me something was wrong. I was teaching grade 8-mathematics and trying to show the kids how to solve expressions with exponents. But what I didn’t realize was that they didn’t know how to solve algebraic equations yet, so I might as well have been speaking to them in a foreign language. As a newly minted teacher, early on in my career, I hadn’t yet learned that before you start holding forth you’d better find out what the students already know! Otherwise, you risk losing them, and your lesson flops.

In many ways, this same principle applies to business communication. If you want to be an effective communicator – whether it’s a presentation or a written document such as an email message, a letter, or a report – you really do have to know who your audience is and what their needs are.

We’ve probably all experienced opening an email from someone who is anxious for our business only to find the message is totally irrelevant. What’s the first thing you do when this happens? Right! You hit the delete button. No doubt you’re grumbling why this message was sent to you in the first place, since its content clearly doesn’t apply to you. And that’s not a good start for building a business relationship!

The fact is; it’s hard to persuade your audience to respond to your message if you haven’t done your homework. The Plain Language and Action Information Network (PLAIN) which is at the forefront of a movement promoting communication that’s clear and simple, makes the idea of focusing on audiences their first defining principle:

“Written material is in plain language if your audience can:

  • Find what they need;
  • Understand what they find; and
  • Use what they find to meet their needs.”

Or if you think of it in retail terms: the customer truly does come first. As I like to put it, “It’s not about me, it’s really about you.”

So how do you figure out who your audience is? Do a little homework.

Here are My Top Tips for Getting to Know Your Audience:

  1. Talk To Me: A good old-fashioned conversation is frequently the best way to find out what your audience knows, doesn’t know, and wants to know. Whether it’s a casual chat or a formal interview the goal is the same – find out who your audience is, and what their needs are.
  2. Make Google Your Friend: Do a little research online before you write that proposal or send that email message. If you’re working with a new company, their website may reveal a great deal about their current status and future goals.
  3. Survey The Crowd: Much like a pollster or a broadcast measurement organization, you may want to send out a survey to your audience. It may be the best option when you have a new client with a complex catalogue of needs, and limited interest in face-to-face or phone meetings.
  4. Get Social: Sometimes social media (Facebook and Twitter) are a good way to conduct research. Facebook recently introduced Facebook Questions, which some feel can be a useful tool for polling your already existing community.

Getting to know your audience so that you can be an effective communicator isn’t terrifically complicated. It’s more a matter of taking the time to do your due diligence. Of course, sometimes it’s tempting to skip this step. After all, many people find the thought of “research” and “interviewing” a little dry and dusty. But what outcome would you prefer – reaping the rewards because you put in the time? Or watching as their eyes glaze over?

Are Your Offers Even Getting Presented to the Seller?

If you’re trying to buy a house in Southern California, your realtor may be submitting each and every one of your offers to the listing agent but some offers will never be presented to the Seller.

The following are just 10 of several reasons why one’s offer may sometimes NOT GET PRESENTED:

1) Failure to provide the “cross-qualifying” Approval Letter from the Sellers Preferred Lender. What this means is: The Listing-Agent/Bank Representative has specifically asked that ALL prospective buyers “cross-qualify” with the seller’s preferred Lender to verify that the Loan Approval provided by Buyer’s Lender came as a result of the most thorough vetting process. (keep in mind, you’re typically not obligated to use the seller’s preferred lender in order to get acceptance, though I’m certain some will tell you that at times, it can be the difference maker)

2) Lack of LEGIBILITY of One’s offer. Sometimes, the offer documentation must be faxed to the buyer for completion and signatures, then it must be re-faxed to the buyers agent. The buyers’ agent must then take that and fax it for the 3rd time to the Seller’s Agent. Then the Seller’s Agent has to fax it to the Sellers. The sellers then fax it back to the Seller’s Agent. In many cases, the Seller’s Agent has to fax it for the 6th time when he sends it to the Bank’s Representative who reviews all offers. (When ever possible, it’s recommend that you and your realtor use electronic signatures at least for the submittal of initial offers. The method is not only faster, it’s completely legible and the Listing-Agents greatly appreciate not having to try to make heads or tails of the multi-faxed documents or poor penmanship of authors)

3) Incorrectly completed Offers or Misspelling of verbiage entered by Buyer’s Agent. These 2 mistakes often give the impression to the Listing-agent that the Agent may be New or possibly challenged in other ways. (Believe me, It matters!) Ps. YES, that is the correct way to spell VERBIAGE.;-)

4) Buyer’s Earnest money deposit may be too low. The average earnest money deposit sought by sellers in most areas is between 1% to 3% of the purchase price. (for Cash buyers, it’s almost always going to be at least 3%)

5) Buyer is requesting an Escrow timeline that’s too far into the future. Most sellers are genuinely interested in finalizing a transaction in as close to 30 days as possible. Though it can sometimes be tough to accomplish that with certain Loan types, it’s typically best to submit one’s offer with an illustration of as close to a 30 day escrow as possible. Extensions are often obtainable so long as reasonable progress is being made. (Keep in mind that in the case of Bank-Owned homes, most of the contracts aka “Bank-Addendum’s” that come back from the Seller, typically allow for up to a 45 day escrow even if buyer originally submitted an offer promoting a close of escrow of 30 days. Banks sometimes prefer to grant additional time from the get-go as a cushion because they’d rather NOT CHARGE the buyer the typically required per-diem fees when closing late without extensions. Banks know that additional fees may cause the transaction to fall apart because of a buyer’s possible inability or lack of willingness to pay those penalty fees so they try to avoid it when they can.

6) SHORT-SALE Approval is authorized at a particular price and one offers lower than the Approved Price. What’s important for Buyer’s to remember is: Typically it has taken several months and in some cases more than a year to negotiate and arrive at the Approved Short-Sale Price. It would stand to reason then that, in most cases, having just authorized the Approval on the Price after such a long time, the note-holding bank is not likely to ACCEPT an offer for less.

7) Buyer is asking too much in the way of Seller-Concessions for repairs or money for Buyer’s closing-costs. In the end, it’s all about the NET OFFER to the seller. In most cases, the Seller will opt NOT to accept THOSE offers because they perceive financially-challenged buyers {who lack the funds for closing-costs} as having a higher risk of having a minor financial need during the escrow period which could absorb or exhaust the money they set aside for down-payment or as cash-reserves. This would, of course cause the transaction to CANCEL in most cases. Regarding a requests for repairs, often the Seller is interested in finalizing the transaction in a much shorter time-period than what would be required if repairs need to be made. Consequently, you’ll find many of THOSE homes marketed at price-points low enough to allow for only Cash-Buyers or Cash-Investors who recognize the Seller has already priced the listing as per it’s current condition. (Some buyers walk in and say, “I think we’ll offer less because it needs all this work” —Attention Buyer’s… In most cases of Bank-Owned homes, the current condition of the home has already been taken into account in arriving at the list-price)

8) Buyer is Offering too much for the house. That’s right, TOO MUCH. In their desperation, often buyer’s and their representing realtors will choose to institute a strategy of “Let’s just write all of our offers at $10k, $20k or $50k over list-price” (depending on the area). This strategy will often back-fire. You see, the Seller knows that this strategy is most often used by buyers with weak financial profiles (i.e.: needing closing-costs paid) or those buyers who perceive themselves as NOT being able to compete in the open market due to the type of financing they require (i.e…: FHA or VA). As such, a seller is sometimes more inclined to ACCEPT an offer from someone who is within the range of reasonably anticipated Appraisal Value than to simply jump on the highest priced offer which will ultimately need to be reduced anyway.

9) Employing the strategy of “…Let’s start low and see what they say… they can always send us a counter-offer”. WRONG! Don’t fall for this trap. If one seeks to buy a home in some of the very competitive areas of Southern California, it’s important to know that in most cases, you’ll only get ONE-SHOT at submitting an offer. This is because the homes in good condition or with the lowest prices, or in the most desirable areas, will almost ALWAYS get multiple-offers. Sometimes as many as 30 to 40 if a listing-agent doesn’t check out their email in-box or fax machine over a weekend. In the competitive market climates, you’re almost always best to work closely with your realtor to prepare your HIGHEST & BEST offer up-front and submit THAT.

The Next Big Deal or Gnawing Dispute: 5 Strategies for Successful Negotiations

There is an old adage that when two opposing parties in a legal matter proceed to litigation, then they have both lost their case. Having negotiated thousands of real estate and finance deals in my career as an attorney, I have listed below what I call the 5 “B’s” of successful negotiation:

1. Be prepared. Know your facts and have the relevant information to support your position readily available. Nothing stalls negotiations better or undermines your position more, then when you have to scramble and seek out the information necessary to bolster your position.

2. Be Patient. With good negotiations, reaching a resolution takes time and is not like ordering “fast food.” Don’t feel compelled to make a decision right away. If you are unsure about something, there is absolutely nothing wrong with waiting 24 hours to make a decision. If there are several items to accomplish in a negotiation, focus on those points that the parties are more agreeable on, and tackle the more difficult issues at a later time.

3. Be Consistent. Have a goal of what you want to accomplish going into the negotiations. If need be, “map out” a strategy to reach your goal(s) and plan for contingencies. Most importantly, once you’ve reached an agreement regarding a point of contention, stick with it. Don’t agree to something with the real intent to address and “change up” the issue at a later time. That approach wastes time and undermines one’s own credibility.

4. Be Reliable. Imagine a car that starts only half the time. That’s how adverse parties feel about someone who fails to perform on past promises and then approaches their opposition for new concessions. Granted, in an ideal world, people would perform on their agreements 100% of the time. But in life “things happen” and parties are often called upon to make accommodations and exceptions to agreements long after the negotiations are over. It’s reasonable for a party to be less flexible in their accommodations for people who repeatedly fail to perform. It becomes increasingly difficult for repeat ‘offenders’ to persuade the opposition that “this time things will be different.”

5. Be Civil. This point should go without saying, but negotiations move towards success much faster when parties practice civility. If being civil to the other party proves difficult, then you have an excellent reason for engaging an attorney, a real estate agent, or any other professional intermediary on your behalf.

There are times when parties to a settlement leave the negotiation table not getting everything they wanted. That’s fine. In most good deals, the parties need to concede some, but not all, of their position in order to reach a resolution. Those people who insist on going to the negotiation table with an “all or nothing” attitude, do not make good negotiation partners initially, but by using the preceding 5 points, they will in time.