One of my favorite inspectors does something when he’s explaining inspection items to my real estate clients who are couples that makes my toes curl up into little fists of despair:

He makes eye contact with the man about 70% of the time, with me about 20% of the time, and with the wife only about 10% of the time.

I don’t care how much he looks at me, but wouldn’t you be seriously annoyed if you were the wife and only got spoken to directly a small part of the time?

(I I did finally say something to him about it.  He had no idea, of course. )

So while this might seem like a no-brainer to some people, it’s still worth a reminder:

• Be aware of how much eye contact and interaction you have with each person in a group.

This includes older people in a family who might not come across as a primary decision-maker.  (My mother was appalled when at the age of 75 she was looking at condos with my sister, and the agent, after pretty much ignoring her and  then seeing a rabbit on the lawn, asked her if she liked bunnies.)

• Never assume that one person or another is the primary decision maker.

Just because one person is more reserved doesn’t mean the mental wheels aren’t churning.  Disregard that person at your own risk.

This isn’t a strategy, or a women’s empowerment thing.  (After all, a female real estate agent who connects more with the wife might have to make an effort to ensure that the husband doesn’t feel left on the sidelines.)

It boils down to common courtesy and smart business practice.  So yes, it’s normal to sometimes ’connect’ more with one person or the other.  Just remember to occasionally ask yourself, “Who you lookin’ at?”

Have you ever gone on a long-awaited appointment to a professional, like a doctor or counselor, and ended up disappointed because after all that build-up you felt like that person hadn’t really listened to you?

Well, I remember once as a pretty new agent I was being interviewed by prospective buyers who made me nervous, and almost as soon as they sat down I started in on my big buyer agent spiel -- complete with workbook, etc.

I could feel them disconnecting from me with every passing minute, but I didn’t know what to do.  It was like being some kind of horrible Broadway tap dancer who couldn’t stop tapping.  (Except there was no big cane to reach out and pluck me off the stage.)

Here’s what I learned from that:

When people sit down with you for the first time, they’re full of hopes, concerns, fears and dreams.  They’ve been thinking about these things for a while, and they’re dying to share them with someone who can really help them.  So LET them!

A great way to start out a meeting is to:

• First explain that you know they have questions about specific topics (name them) and that you’ll be covering those.  Mention anything else they can expect during the meeting.
• Then, ask them to first give you an idea of where they’re at.  Even if they gave you information over the phone, you can repeat some of it to let them know you remember it, but explain that you want to make sure you’re clear on things.

You’ll be amazed at how the floodgates open (so take notes!)  You learn a lot of information that lets you help them better as clients, and at the same time you show them that you know how to tune in to their needs.

Last week a friend of mine in the health care field emailed me a sample of a logo he had just had created through a professional service.  He wanted my opinion on it, and as soon as I looked at it I winced.

I had to write back and tell him (gently) that the colors were totally wrong for his industry, the design was confusing and detracted from the message, and even the type didn’t tell you much useful about the business.  Aagh!

As agents we often make the same type of mistakes with our logos, website colors, etc.  Here’s what I recommend:

Before you spend any money on a branding strategy, read this excellent blog post from Entrepreneur.com called “Business Branding by Color“.  It tells you what emotions are evoked by various colors.

Then read David Airey’s blog post “What Makes a Good Logo Design“ -- also extremely important (this page might take a little longer than usual to load, but it’s worth it.)

Since our toolbox logo gets a lot of good comments I’ll tell you the person who did it is Bojan Stefavonic, owner of www.logoholik.com.  I just looked at his project sheet and he might have raised his prices -- right now it looks like his projects start at $700.  (His site has great links to logo galleries though, good for ideas.)

Most agents will want something less expensive.  John Williams, who wrote the Entrepreneur.com article, is the founder of www.LogoYes.com, a do-it-yourself logo creating site that I recommend checking out.  Looks like a logo there is $69.

For an intermediate option, check out www.Logoworks.com -- they’ll come up with the logo design for you, and packages start at $99.

Bottom line?  Any designer is going to ask you what you want to convey.  The great ones will know much better than you do how to get that across, but you’ll always save yourself time and money by having a grasp on the basics.