When I started out as a real estate agent, I wasn't really sure what everyone meant when they talked about "motivation." The word kept floating around the office and in training. You have to find out if people are motivated. Read a person's level of motivation. "MOTIVATED SELLER!!!!"
As I spent more time as a realtor, it began to make more sense.
These days I'm reading The Motivation Code by Todd Henry, and it has been an amazing discovery for me. The book lays out how different people are naturally motivated. As I read about the different motivation codes, I started seeing different people I know in the different profiles.
When you are working in line with what motivates you, you are filled with energy and ease. When you find yourself doing something that doesn't align with how you are motivated, you will feel drained and slow.
I didn't start the book by taking a test to determine my code, partly out of a desire to read all of the profiles and see which ones rang true to me. I'm really glad I approached the book that way.
Everyone has three codes, and they modify each other to create a unique end result. One of the main codes I identified with (and a possible contender for "most on-the-nose" title for this blog) is called "Comprehend and Express."
This learning ties in with and explains a lot of the sales training that I've done. Sometimes this training suggests that you speak at the same speed as the person you're talking to, or use similar words to the ones they use. The idea of understanding someone's motivation code is similar, but at a deeper level — a level of understanding the person in front of you.
Understanding what motivates other people in this way has already helped me communicate. When I can identify a code that might fit somebody, I can talk to them in terms of the things that would activate their motivation.
Now I like to ask myself what motivates the people around me. It has led to better mutual understanding. A lot of disagreements are not about people being needlessly stubborn. The disagreements may simply be about people being differently motivated.
Realtors get a bad rap. I tend to like realtors. Good salesmanship is really about being able to put yourself in someone else's shoes and see the world through their eyes. Once you can imagine that, you can begin to see how to best help them.
Life seems like a richer, vaster place to explore when you think about the ways other people can be differently motivated than you — but that just might be my motivation code talking.
