By Brent Duncan
Introduction
Communication is vital to the survival and success of mortgage professionals.
In spite of this, few understand what communication is and how it
works — opening a competitive opportunity for the mortgage origination
marketers who master this most central process of building lucrative
customer relationships.
This article will: first, explore general definitions of communications
and analyze those definitions from a mortgage origination marketing
perspective; second, examine the communication process from the perspective
of interpersonal and marketing communicators, and; finally, offer
suggestions for enhancing the interpersonal and marketing communication
process for more successful mortgage origination.
Defining communication
Organizational psychologists Katz and Kahn define communication as
the exchange of information and transmission of meaning. In interpersonal
communications we communicate to exchange information with others,
direct action, share information, build trust, and foster acceptance.
In mortgage origination marketing environments we communicate also
to inform, impress, persuade, generate a response, and build relationships
that contribute to personal and professional success.
Communication is a cyclical process that involves exchanging messages
between senders and receivers. However, effective communication requires
much more than just talking at someone. To more effectively communicate,
mortgage origination marketers should gain a working knowledge of
the communication cycle, build a solid understanding of barriers that
prohibit communication, and master basic skills required for successfully
managing the communication cycle.
Understanding the communications cycle
Sender and encoding. Communication starts with a sender and
a receiver. The sender formulates ideas into a message intended to
draw out a response from the receiver. In this stage, called encoding,
the sender puts the message into a format that the receiver can recognize
and understand. In other words, the sender encodes the message using
language, words, pictures, actions, symbols, and events that are meaningful
to the receiver. In interpersonal communications, the message can
take the form of written, verbal, and nonverbal communication. In
marketing communications, the encoded message can take also the form
of brand messages, advertisements, press releases, signage, and sales
scripts.
It’s not what you say, but how you say it. At this stage
it is important to understand the degree to which nonverbal communications
affects relationships. In Applying Psychology, Andrew DuBrin defines
non-verbal communication as “the transmission of messages through
means other than words.” Dubrin describes nonverbal communications
as a “silent message” that accompanies verbal messages but
that also can stand alone. Nonverbal communication conveys the feeling
behind a message and is typically seen in a person’s posture,
facial expressions, appearance, vocal inflections, the interpersonal
distance between the communicators, and the environment. Cross-cultural
differences can also affect nonverbal communications.
Research consistently shows that at least half of all meaning is transmitted
nonverbally. One classic study by Albert Merhabian and M. Weiner actually
concludes that 93% of all communication is nonverbal. In their analysis,
Merhabian and Weiner focus only on three elements of communication:
words, voice tone, and facial expressions. However, their study helps
to dramatize the importance of understanding the role of nonverbal
communication in establishing effective relationships. In short: it
is not what you say that matters, but how you say it. Oftentimes,
how you say something is all that matters. For example, during a loan
consultation a loan officer in shabby clothes might mumble from behind
a disheveled desk that he or she will “deliver the best service”.
Regardless of whether the loan officer can deliver, the contradictory
communication elements will likely result in the customer’s “hearing”
the non-verbal cues and dismissing the verbal declaration.
Media
channel. The sender sends the encoded message through a media
channel to the receiver. In interpersonal communications, common media
channels include face-to-face, telephone, letter, and email. Additional
media in the marketing communications mix includes print, broadcast,
and Internet.
The channel directly affects the quality of communication between
sender and receiver. Researchers L. Daft and R.H. Lengel found that
channels differ in their capacity to convey information; in other
words, some channels are more effective than others. Daft and Lengel
found that some channels are “rich” in that they have the
ability to support multiple cues simultaneously, facilitate rapid
feedback, and are very personal. Their research identified the face-to-face
channel as the “richest” because it provides for the maximum
amount of information to be transmitted during a communication event.
In other words, face-to-face communication provides multiple information
cues (words, postures, facial expressions, gestures, intonations),
immediate feedback (verbal and non-verbal), and the personal touch.
On the other end of the scale, they found impersonal communication
channels, like written reports, memos, and email to be the least rich.
While Daft and Lengel’s results might seem intuitive to mortgage
origination marketers, they highlight the importance of understanding
how choosing the right media channel — or combination of channels
— can enhance communication results.
Receiver and decoding. The receiver is primarily the person
for whom the message is meant but is also anyone who is exposed to
a message. In marketing communications, the intended receiver is often
called the target audience, which is the group most likely to positively
respond to a message. The receiver reconstructs the message into something
that resembles the sender’s original idea, a process called decoding.
Noise. Unfortunately, the information sent is not necessarily
the information received. All communication takes place in environments
containing distractions that hinder successful communications. This
“noise” can severely hinder successful communication if
not addressed and minimized. In interpersonal communications, common
sources of noise include other conversations, ringing telephones,
blasting boom boxes, traffic, and crying children. Non-verbal and
environmental elements can also contribute to physical noise. For
example, the layout of an office, flashing fluorescents, hand gestures,
and vocal intonations can add to or detract from successful interpersonal
communication. In marketing communications, noise can be distorted
and unwelcome sound, competing messages in the communications channel,
poor timing of the communication, bad messaging, inconsistent branding
elements, and the receiver’s level of satisfaction with a competitor.
Psychological barriers also create noise that can hinder communication.
Once a message passes physical barriers, it must filter through the
receiver’s personal perceptions. The individual will attempt
to interpret the message in a manner that is consistent with his or
her field of experience. A person’s field of experience acts
as a codebook by which he or she decodes the symbols that compose
a message. Since field of experience is unique to each individual,
psychological barriers cause frequent disconnects between a sender’s
intention and the receiver’s comprehension. For successful communication,
the sender and receiver need to share common understanding of the
symbols the receiver used to encode the message.
Other common barriers to successful communication include: semantics,
nonverbal communication, ambiguity, and defensiveness.
Feedback. The manner and degree to which a receiver responds
to the message is called feedback. Feedback is an essential step for
transitioning from a one-way communication to a two-way approach that
can strengthen the connection between sender and receiver.
By soliciting and properly decoding feedback, a sender can understand
whether and how the message was received, and to what degree it was
effective. This allows the sender an opportunity to adjust the message
to better match the receiver’s needs. In a marketing communications
environment, feedback also helps the sender determine whether the
message touched the intended targets. Soliciting and properly interpreting
feedback are vital steps to measuring the effectiveness of marketing
communications activities.
Unfortunately, communicators often ignore or misinterpret feedback.
On the interpersonal side, a person might simply talk at people without
being aware of whether the people hear her, let alone understand what
she is saying. On the professional side, a mortgage professional might
conduct a loan application in his gym clothes, not being aware that
his customers are dismayed by his unprofessional demeanor. On a marketing
communications side, a company might pay for a website loaded with
glitz while failing to integrate a basic Internet lead generation
mechanism or search engine optimization strategy. The resulting absence
of web-generated leads becomes “no feedback”. No feedback
is actually feedback telling this company it needs to take a different
approach to the Internet communication channel.
Dynamically managing lucrative relationships. As a Mortgage
Origination Marketer who understands the process of how people send,
receive, and understand messages, you hold a powerful tool for building
personal and professional success. By effectively managing each step
in the communications cycle you will be able to:
- Fine tune your communication to match the unique needs of each customer, vendor, and associate
- More easily recognize issues that can threaten transactions
- Better anticipate and respond to customer needs and concerns
- Take a proactive approach to solving customer problems
- Proceed more smoothly through the origination process
- Enhance sales results
In short, by effectively managing the communications cycle you will
be able to develop a dynamic two-way dialogue with prospects and customers
that will evolve into more lasting and lucrative relationships.
About Brent Duncan. This article was adapted from Brent Duncan's
seminar titled “Communicating for Greater Personal and Professional
Effectiveness.” Brent Duncan is an adjunct professor at the University
of Phoenix School of Business and Management where he teaches management,
marketing, organizational development, and leadership. Mr. Duncan specializes
in developing and implementing strategic marketing functions for organizations
in the mortgage and high tech sectors. He provides a free Mortgage Origination
Marketing Resource Center at www.RealMarCom.com and produces the Mortgage
Note$™ Newsletter, which mortgage origination marketers use to build
profitable relationships with homeowners, homebuyers, and real estate
professionals. Contact Mr. Duncan through
www.RealMarCom.com or by calling 831-688-9520.
