Why Being Meticulous Matters
My daughter recently graduated with her Master’s Degree from the University of Denver, Josef Korbel School of International Studies. As you might expect, there were students from all over the planet who were graduating. To ensure every student’s name was pronounced correctly, a couple of weeks before graduation, the university sent each student a request to have them phonetically spell their full legal names in writing and record them saying their own name. Then at the graduation, each graduate was given a slip of paper with a QR code on it. Before they walked up on stage, they gave the paper to people who fed it into a computer.
A professional announcer had meticulously recorded each name ahead of time to ensure they were all pronounced correctly, and the event coordinators ensured each name was spelled accurately on the big screen. It showed the kind of respect that DU has for the importance of the simple act of pronouncing some very complicated and long names correctly at this key time in their life. Could someone have stumbled through those 800+ names live? Sure. But they know that a name is a representation of us and it deserves to be accurate.
They deserve accuracy.
It is much the same when we embark on anything that is important to us. We deserve accuracy. It’s not that hard to ensure that when we produce written materials they are accurate and correct. Nothing breeds distrust like mistakes or sloppy work. We can spend a lot on marketing, but if the message and product aren’t strategically created to appeal to the audience, then it is a wasted venture.
While people may not know they are making mistakes or delivering an inaccurate or unclear message, it doesn’t take much to do the extra work to put our best foot forward. Our industry demands attention to detail. The people we work with are spending a great deal of money and entrusting their employees and clients to us. We are competent, but if we can’t display that competency through every interaction, then we will lose their trust.
We owe it to every file we touch to present a professional image as we are a reflection of all of the stakeholders. This includes your agent team. If they can’t write a clear sentence or communicate effectively then maybe they shouldn’t be on the team. In today’s world, there are enough free or affordable resources to ensure competent messaging from everyone involved in the complicated process of real estate and the services that surround the transaction. If we say we are going to do something, we have to do it. And do it well.
Hit delete.
Some may overlook grammatical mistakes or incorrect word usage, but they shouldn’t. When I was regularly hiring if I ever got a resume with a typo on it, I hit delete. If they can’t get a resume right, they won’t get anything right. And I encourage my clients to do the same. If someone shows up for an interview (video or live) dressed inappropriately, ill-prepared, or late, that’s a no-go.
A friend told me the other day they were interviewing a guy via Zoom and the candidate had not blurred his background or used the green screen background. His roommate was sitting in the background playing a computer game and got up and had no pants on. Needless to say, it went no further than that.
It’s ok to get help.
Being meticulous isn’t about being picky, it’s showing respect for the audience. It’s not about us, it’s about them. If we don’t have the skills or insight to write something correctly, there are a myriad of resources to ensure accuracy. Have a colleague or friend proofread for you. Run it through Grammarly or another free resource out there to clean it up. There is nothing more jarring than reading something and stumbling on a misspelling or confusing copy. It detracts from the message and loses the audience. Use the resources available on the magical internet to ensure we are regurgitating honest and accurate content. Use your systems fully to deliver services as promised.
For example, nothing irritates me more than seeing a social media post that is so clearly false information, it makes me shake my head in wonder. How can people be so insular that they can’t take a minute to validate information? If I see one more person post on Facebook to say that if you hold your finger down on some button on your FB profile you can reset your profile and see all of your friend’s feeds I will scream. That was an urban myth from about five years ago. It just makes people look dumb. Do we really think Facebook is going to let us control anything? There are thousands of FB technicians constantly changing and monitoring their algorithms…we don’t control anything.
People are worried about Artificial Intelligence. Maybe they should be. AI doesn’t misspell things or generally do dumb stuff like send out sloppily written emails or made-up statistics (unless you tell it to). It uses billions of validated data points to ensure its accuracy. But with that being said, it still needs a human to ensure that the tone is correct and resonates with the intended audience. That’s why we won’t be out of jobs because of AI. But, at the least, it should make all of us better writers.
Clarify the message for the audience.
Just because documents don’t have typos or grammatical issues, doesn’t necessarily mean they are clear to the reader. I have reviewed many documents whose message is so convoluted, it is mind-boggling. And that can be because we like to speak in a manner comfortable to us. It is written from a perspective that is so removed from the audience’s wants and needs that it doesn’t translate well. We assume they know what we mean. Or our view is how we think they should feel about something. Or it is about why we are so great instead of why they are. Our message should be why it is our privilege to serve them and how we are going to solve a problem they may not know they even have.
When writing anything for external consumption, ask someone from the target audience to read it. Someone who will be honest and give meaningful feedback. Assuming that our message resonates is a grave mistake. Investigate their pain points and hot buttons to show them that their concerns are our concerns. Less about us and more about them. Having attention to detail shows respect for our audience and helps build a trusted brand. It may be as simple as pronouncing a name correctly.
“Meticulous planning will enable everything a man does to appear spontaneous.” ~ Mark Cane, American Climate Scientist
