Yesterday while teaching a class at Olathe’s Keller Williams Realty I was reminded of how the default for most people is to tell rather than to ask when it comes to helping people discover what is best for their future.  While role playing I would wonder “What questions are you asking?” only to realize that most weren’t asking any more than one.  So I’ll ask you, “What questions are you asking?”

Whether you are working in real estate with a buyer or seller, whether you are a recruiter attempting to attract top talent to your office or, frankly, whether you are raising teenagers who need to learn how to make good decisions it is my belief that this can be better accomplished through questions than directives.

A very wise KW MAPS Coach once said to me “What people author, they own.”

Think about that for just a moment. Have you ever gotten to a place when working with a seller that the seller believed against all mathematical evidence that his house was worth “X” while you and the math were telling him it’s worth “Y’?  What happened?  Who won? (Usually.)

In many (most) cases the seller will “out-script” the agent because the seller came to their own conclusions and believe it must be correct, because it’s what they figured out on their own.  And sometimes, well, they may be right.  And yet any experienced real estate agent, and Zillow, will tell you that Zestimates and neighbors are not nearly as reliable as the local expert realtor.  Still, since it was their conclusion it’s hard to change that in a “selling” environment.

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