Realty411 Magazine Featuring Lori Greymont | Page 39

You see, authenticity is the new cur-
rency in business today!
Why? Consumers today are more
aware and hypersensitive to sales tactics
because they are bombarded all day
with propaganda from radio, news-
paper, TV and, now more than ever,
the Internet. The number of
marketing messages
we receive each
day is astounding.
Our phones ding
and ping all day with
incoming emails and
text messages. People
are not having effective
communications like
we used to, and whether
they know it or not, they
yearn for it.
So, I repeat: Authentic-
ity is the new currency
in business today!
Your authentic self
is who you are when
you have no fear of
judgment. It’s the person
you are before the world
starts pushing you around
and telling you who you are
supposed to be. And the truth
is that the real you is the best
you, and it’s the most powerful
tool for forming real connections that
will grow your business. One of the
keys to authenticity is being relaxed,
genuine and friendly. Another key is to
be informal. I tend to be very informal
with people I’ve only just met. I’ll start
talking to them as though I have already
had a warm introduction. I have found
that to be very effective and in fact it
tends to disarm people very quickly.
Rarely have I found resistance to this
tactic of using informality and literally
just striking up a friendly conversation.
So for me, when I’m networking, I’m
not trying to be impressive, but rather
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to leave an impression. In addition to
being authentic and genuine is that I
practice what I refer to as transparen-
cy. Some call it wearing your heart
on your sleeve. So, for example, when
I’m talking
to someone about my
business,
especially
my business
success, I
make sure I
slip in some
humility,
which
for me is
oftentimes
the story
of how I
ended up
in this ca-
reer, which
includes
how I ex-
perienced
failure
when the
real estate
market
turned in 2007.
Since many of the
people I network with
are in the real estate market in
some form or fashion, by revealing
some humility, I give them permission
to share their own particular experience
without shame or judgment. And thus,
we have a
bonding experience!
Sharing what is real about you is the key
to building real relationships with oth-
ers. When you show your authentic self,
people will respond in kind. Moreover,
being ourselves is our defining feature!
It’s what sets us apart from our compe-
tition!
I will tell you right now that if you
asked me what was the one thing that
helped me be most successful I would
tell you that it came from the fact that
PAGE 39 • 2015

I learned to become good at being
authentic and comfortable with being
transparent.
Many don’t realize just how attrac-
tive it is to others when you wear your
heart on your sleeve and you are ap-
proachable and disarming. Now I will
admit that transparency is not always
easy and for many it takes courage.
Wearing your heart on your sleeve
takes guts.
In networking, the goal is making
a connection, which then leads to a
relationship.
Communicating effectively is all
about how you show up in their world,
in their universe. Effective networking
is not about you. It’s about how you
make others feel about themselves.
Now a lot of networking experts will
tell you how to work a room as though
the goal is about transactions. In other
words, getting in front of as many peo-
ple as possible, making it a numbers
game. There have been books written
about this. But I disagree. Building re-
lationships, in my opinion, is not about
transactions, it’s about connections;
and not just any connection but effec-
tive connections. It’s about creating
opportunities for genuine and authentic
interactions that lead to advantageous
opportunities for both parties.
When I attend an event, my goal is
not a certain number of connections but
at least ONE KEY connection. So in
Effective Networking, the conversation
IS the relationship, and the result of a
continual flow of new relationships is
explosive growth in your business.
Excerpted from the program “The
Insider’s Guide to Attracting Private
Money” by Mark Hanf, available at
www.AttractingPrivateMoney.com.
Mark is broker and president of Pacific
Private Money, one of Northern Cali-
fornia’s most respected private lenders .

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