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Practice Aggressive Listening
By arlene | January 22, 2008
When most people “listen” to someone else, they’re actually focused on things like what they’re about to say next, how much they’d rather be someplace else, or what to make for dinner that night—anything except what the other person is saying. In property management, this attitude is a sure path to trial, trouble, and tribulation. Most people are not effective communicators. A good property manager knows how to make up the difference by employing effective listening skills. Call it aggressive listening, to differentiate the process from the glazed- stare nodding that often passes for listening. A good property manager is a good aggressive listener.
Sometimes your conversations will be purely social. You want to build and maintain a good rapport with all your tenants. The rapport is the grease that keeps the wheels of our society rolling. You don’t have to have long, boring conversations with a blabbermouth of a tenant either. You always have the perfectly natural exit line that you have to take care of another tenant’s problem. Just keep it friendly and move on. That gets you out of the situation and at the same time confirms that you’re a good and attentive landlord.
Other conversations will be all business. Of course, keep these as friendly and as pleasant as the situation allows. Aggressive listening is key because a tenant may not be able to express himself or herself clearly. “We have a heating problem over here” may mean the pilot light has gone out or that the building is on fire. An inconvenience to one spouse may represent a major disruption of lifestyle to the other. Some people may even minimize a bad situ& tion. “No . . . gasp . . . problem . . . gasp . . . I can hold out … gasp
. . . until you call the gas company.” It’s your responsibility to discover the true nature of any complaint before you decide on a course of action.
Ask Good Questions
One of the keys to aggressive listening is to ask good questio so that you get accurate and up-to-date information. In case you have trouble coming up withdirect questions, here are a few:
- Could you give me a better description?
- What exactly do you mean?
- How bad is it right now?
- When did this start?
- How extensive is the damage?
- Are you the only one affected?
The nature of the complaint will lend itself to all kinds of questions and follow-up questions. Be sure that you ask them.
Assign Tenant Responsibilities
Let the tenant know that he or she is responsible for a certain level of basic maintenance. If someone doesn’t understand how a circuit breaker works, take a moment to conduct a demonstration. If you live in an area where ice can be a problem, make sure the tenants keep a bag of salt handy to sprinkle the driveway and sidewalks during winter storms.
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