In this month’s conference call I explained how my mind map is used to overlay long-winded scripts with sellers/buyers. A conversation can twist in different tangents at any moment, and even your well-rehearsed lines can suddenly go off-script. A mind map is the anchor to get you back on track!

The one constant is that, “People are people”, and they will often respond to specific cues, if you know what they are. People protect themselves with logic and expose themselves with emotion. Your Navigation Compass allows you to direct your engagement through the four quadrants of Rapport, Disturb, Solution and Close. You memorised your scripted questions, but do you know which quadrant you are in at any moment? We mostly are moving chronologically through each.

The next mind map is Study The Course, where you as the jockey control of the horse . Obviously, you must have studied the course, weather condition, visualising in advance each hurdle in order to arrive at the finish line. In preparation for your negotiation with a buyer or a seller, have you prepared for the hurdles (questions) most likely to be encountered? You too must negotiate one hurdle at a time on a course that usually limited the same number of hurdles for the entire race.

And finally, what can’t be found in a manual are the stories and anecdotes that make us human. To show empathy and allow the other person to feel emotionally engaged with me, I share common life-experience stories. It is no accident that I am constantly pulling on the emotional arrow as I Aim For The Heart by design. These stories include immigrant experience, family, health, interests, etc.