Thoughts On Leadership: Strategies To Connect

By Gino Blefari

This week my travels find me first in Northern California for a visit with the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Drysdale Properties team and then to San Diego for the 2015 National Association of REALTORS^® Conference and Expo. (If you’re planning to attend, stop by and say hello at the HSF Affiliates Booth No. 1615!) As my team prepares to meet and greet hundreds of real estate professionals, sharing our network stories and listening to theirs, it’s essential we remember the very basics of genuine connection in order to create lasting, memorable impressions in the minds of all we meet. Here are some ways to truly connect … whether you’re attending NAR, taking a business meeting with a potential new client or participating in a networking event, these strategies always apply:

• Be yourself. Talk real, act real, be real and you will find that others will do the same in return.
• Be friendly and smile; when you smile you’re much more approachable than when you don’t.
• Connect without motive or need; take a genuine interest in other people before you ask them to take a genuine interest in you.
• Find common ground; the sooner you do, barriers to connection disappear.
• Provide value; it’s the surest way to garner a positive perception that will last.

So what’s the message? As we attend NAR Conference & Expo to learn from and interact with fellow industry professionals, it’s important to remember that traditional values never go out of style. Real estate is and always will be a people business perpetuated by genuine connection and the more we can foster those authentic connections, the better leaders we’ll be.

GINO BLEFARI is CEO of HSF Affiliates LLC. You can follow Gino on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.