Wired
by Bill Gladstone


Effective communication is an extremely important tool in the sales industry, regardless of the product. People need to talk with each other to relate ideas, concepts and feelings about the products and services in front of them for review or purchase.  

Having the tools to communicate effectively is a misunderstood concept, one that we have grasped with intensity at the Bill Gladstone group. We have always believed in focused and meaningful conversations in an effort to bring the maximum amount of service to our clients and customers. Although real estate is our product, service is our business. The key component of providing a high level of service starts with effective communication and the tools involved.  

Within our group, MSN Messenger is one of the most effective tools. Rather than stop during a project or phone call to ask a question, an instant message to the required team member usually produces a quick response and allows the person who sent the question to proceed with his or her activities uninterrupted.  

Although CIR has its own server for use by all agents, we developed our own proprietary server that allows us to communicate with each other 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at the office or at home. A simple dial in from any remote location allows us to communicate with our office network. Although we are using the term “dial in” as though this was a phone connection, we have our own DSL service and use the CIR T–1 line as a back- up. We typically have no down time on our server with this redundancy.  

Even our website, www.billgladstone.com, allows clients to contact us immediately if they see something on the site that is of interest to them. With the live chat feature, the visitor can have a discussion with Beau, Ida or myself.  

We are also trying to advance to the most cutting edge mobile phones. I currently use the Nextel Blackberry 7510, which is capable of sending and receiving e-mails as well as phone calls. I was teaching at the SIOR function in Baltimore and saw an e-mail come across my Blackberry. It was from Charla in the office with a specific question about a task. I hit reply and sent a simple three-word message back as I was walking to the podium to begin the class. That message allowed her to continue her work without waiting another few hours for me to get back to my computer. In another instance I was out of the office when I received a call from the Mayor’s office on a Thursday afternoon asking if I could make a presentation Monday morning. I responded that I could and sent instructions via our network to Beau and Chuck regarding what needed to be done on Friday. When Beau and Chuck arrived the next morning they read the tasks on their computers. I followed up early that afternoon with a conference call to both of them and a CD was left for me to review when I returned to the office on Sunday. Monday morning there were a few things to correct on the CD, which I had ready for Chuck when he came in. The multimedia presentation took place at 11:00 that morning. I am pleased to say the presentation went off without a hitch.  

Having communication tools such as these allow us to perform at the level of service people have come to expect.

Copyright 2005 BillGladsone.com. All Rights Reserved.

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