Under NCCP, it's more important than ever to get complete and extensive comprehension from your clients - but this is often easier said than done. Communication expert Lee LeFever looks at the best ways to get your message across.
Under NCCP, it's more important than ever to get complete and extensive comprehension from your clients - but this is often easier said than done.
Communication expert Lee Lefever gives some practical tips for brokers on getting their message across.
- Step back
A common difficulty LeFever sees amongst professionals is a phenomenon he calls "the curse of knowledge".
“Mortgage brokers live and breathe the ideas of mortgage so much that it can become hard for them to understand what it’s like not to know about them, and it becomes easy for them to make assumptions about the knowledge of others.”
Taking a step back and “getting out of the weeds”, says LeFever, can help brokers to take a fresh look at the topic they’re trying to explain.
- Start with context
Don’t dive in and explain your ideas, says LeFever, but instead start by explaining “the world where your ideas live”.
Giving a context to the situation before you begin, gives your client confidence that they understand the big picture, he says.
- Make it real
Following up the context with examples of how a person, whether real or fictional, dealt with a similar situation gives another layer of comprehension to your message, says LeFever.
“It brings these ideas that often exist in an ether into the real world so that people can see themselves solving a similar problem.”
- Connect
Drawing connections between something that your client already understands well, says LeFever, can help to ground the ideas you are explaining.
“It’s about confidence and talking to them about the familiar first, then using that as a jumping-off point to a slightly different idea.”
- Watch your language
Just as it's important not to assume your cients understand the 'mortgage-ese' that you are surrounded by every day, there is just as much danger in oversimplifying, warns LeFever.
This kind of approach can come across as patronising and encourage your client to switch off to your message, he says.
A way to find the balance, suggests LeFever is to “assume people are smart, but just not informed”.
Seeing your role as an informer, and not an explainer, can help to build a relationship of respect and a better connection with your client, says LeFever.
- Don’t overload
Finally, if you feel your client isn’t understanding a topic, resist the temptation to add more information, says LeFever.
“It’s a bit like being lost on the road and asking directions and someone tells you every single possible thing there is to notice on the way to your destination, and all you really need to know is left or right.
“If you’re trying to explain something and it’s not working, don’t continue down that road. Back out and zoom way out and start from a whole different perspective.”
Lee LeFever is co-founder of instructional video company Common Craft and author of The Art of Explanation. He is speaking this week June 3-7 at AMP’s Amplify Festival.
