7L: The Seven Levels of Communication

Written and narrated by Leigh Martinuzzi

Seven Levels of Communication is a book written by a highly respected and successful Real Estate Agent. Michael J Maher is said to be North America’s most referred to Real Estate Agent. This book is written of the back of the strategies that allowed Michael to build a one-million-dollar relationship business by his third year in the industry. This isn’t a book on how to communicate better, it’s a book about how to grow a business and build high-quality, trusting relationships. Although written for Real Estate Agents, I feel the same strategies can be applied to any business.

The book is written in a story format about a central character Rick Masters who at a low point in his career, struggling to find success, was encouraged to attend a seminar and consequently a coaching program that teaches him the fundamentals of referrals, generosity, marketing and relationship-building. Sceptical to begin with, Rick soon discovers significant rewards receiving a consistent and abundant number of referrals that changes his life for the better.

Michael’s seven levels of communication are incorporated into a communication pyramid whereby those methods of communication higher in the pyramid drive the best results. From the bottom up it looks like this; advertising, direct mail, electronic communication, handwritten notes, phone calls, events/seminars, and 1-on-1 meetings. Michael suggests we spend the majority of our energy and efforts in those top three areas, – phone calls, events and seminars and one-on-one meetings.

To me, Michael’s pyramid makes a great deal of sense. Coming from a marketing background and having many years of experience in both marketing and sales I have found benefits of using these. I have learnt the hard lesson and that you cannot rely on only one. There are those who put a large investment into marketing and then expect the results to follow. After a period of time with no significant level of noticeable results, they become disheartened and reduce their efforts or end up leaving the industry altogether. I believe marketing is awesome for branding and building awareness, but it does very little to develop relationships.

This book focuses on the other side of the marketing coin, building relationships. Once you have someone’s trust, they are more likely to refer your business. Of course, there are exceptions. If someone already has a relationship or go-to person in the industry you’re in they may use them first. Michael suggests we arrange meetings with people in a public place, a local restaurant or café. In these meetings, we build rapport and find common grounds. Michael’s advice is to use F.R.O.G to build rapport which stands for family, recreation, occupation and goals. This is the key to strong, long-lasting relationships and perhaps the most beneficial skill for Real Estate agents, period.

In sales, we need to spend most of our time, no matter whom we meet in our day to day lives, in the rapport building phase. As I have learnt the best way to do this is to shut up and listen. Ask the other person questions and make it about them. People love to talk about themselves and when you can show genuine interest it makes them feel great. Quality relationships and building your success in business and life is all about how you make people feel. We do this best face to face or failing that over the phone. A flyer, brochure or email does not have the same effect.

After you’ve made a good connection you can then ask the persons if they already have a go-to person that they would use in your industry. After which you can educate them on what you do and are all about. If you’ve done the rapport building part of your meeting well enough, they will be more than happy to listen to you. Michel warns that we do not directly ask for referrals. They will come almost naturally. Close the meeting by asking them how you can help them. If you’ve asked good questions and listened well, you may even be able to guide them as to how you could possibly help.

The other meeting hack that I love is to ‘stack’ your meetings. Michael recommends we arrange a number of meetings one after the other at the same location. This saves us running around all over the place meeting people, but it also gives us longer presence ideally in the area we do business and it allows us to connect people that we are meeting offering extra value by making new connections. On that point, ask the person if they know other people of influence that they would suggest you meet.

There are many other strategies in the book and little tips that making it a worthwhile read. Personally, I find his ideas easy to understand and the concepts worthy of building a referral-based business but putting it into action harder. Perhaps it’s due to a slight fear of rejection or the investment of time. I am not too sure however am willing to start small and learn and improve as I go. Ultimately we want to spend the majority of our time doing activities that bring us the most results. The best kind of business whether in real estate or other is built on relationships and referrals. A key to our success.

If this book sounds of interest you can purchase 7L: The Seven Levels of Communication: Go From Relationships to Referrals here.

Please leave your thoughts, comments & questions below.

Peace, passion and purpose…

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