If I'm being honest, it is really not a conundrum at all. Communication, regardless of whom you are speaking to, is a vital part of our everyday lives. Starting out in sales as a cold-calling robot, I learned quickly that small talk and asking strangers for their business was not a strong suit of mine. Breaking the ice with a decision maker is a challenging process riddled with countless nuances and split-second decisions. Now imagine trying to do that via text messages. Yikes!

Being able to read people's faces or at least their tone of voice is paramount to understanding the full context of the message being delivered. I am pretty good at reading people. I tend to lean towards the sarcastic side of things, so being able to quickly determine if my joke has "sunk in" or (unintentionally) offended someone is very important to me. My goal is always to make you laugh. If some random, obscure reference has alienated you or completely missed the mark, I want to be able to read that in your face and quickly explain or ensure that we're on the same page.

It is no secret that as our society moves forward in the communication age, texting and other "non-verbal" communication methods are growing in popularity. This is true across all areas of society. It is not just "kids" that are spending their days with their faces buried in their phones. This type of communication has moved towards business as well. In real estate, communication is one of the more important pieces of the puzzle. There are a thousand questions from both sellers and buyers. The agent in the middle is responsible for feeding both sides the pertinent information (Though not necessarily on the same deal. Don't get me started on dual-agency!) The trick is knowing how best to exchange that information.

First off, verbal communication is faster. There are those who say a quick text is much faster than having to dial the phone, exchange greetings, make small talk and finally get to the point. This is certainly true if the details of the exchange are a time and place. Small vital pieces of information can most certainly be more quickly communicated over text. But if you have any sort of question for the other party or there needs to be any sort of back and forth, there is no substitute for a real "in-person" conversation. The conversation can be much more detailed and loads of tiny details can be covered in a fraction of the time it would take for that to happen over text.

Aside from the use of an emoji to show anger, frustration, joy or excitement, emotional nuances are entirely lost in the texting world. "A simple phrase like 'OK' can be loaded with a bunch of baggage that is entirely unknown when it is communicated via text or email," notes Badger Peabody & Smith Realty agent (formerly Badger Realty), Ralph Cronin. Circling back to being able to "read" people's responses, it is actually possible to read emotions and reactions over the phone.

Tiny nuances like a pause, tone inflection, breath or sigh can contain a load of information for the receiver of that communication. We also have far more flexibility and freedom with our choice of words when we communicate verbally. Instead of being concise and efficient we are able to use our full vocabulary and really get across the specific message we intended. This inevitably leads to more clear messages being sent and received and far more detail being shared than would ever have been were it all written down.

One nice tertiary benefit of verbal communication is the ease at which you can multi-task. It is no secret that texting (or emailing) and driving is just a horrible and deadly idea. But you can easily talk on the phone (headset preferred!) and drive, walk across the street or even continue with your tasks around the house while still maintaining a conversation. For most of us communicating verbally is second nature. Continuing on with the task at hand while carrying on a conversation is rarely an issue or a challenge. Walking across a busy street while texting is much more likely to win you a Darwin Award (I'll let you Google that one on your own).

At the end of the day communication is key to our everyday lives and our success in business. Having spent a tiny bit of time overseas, I can't even begin to imagine selling real estate in a town where I did not speak the language natively. All the dialects and nuances (never mind the language itself!) would be lost on me and I would never have success. When you are communicating with an agent, a buyer, a seller or even the local butcher, be flexible in your communication. Try to be aware of how the person prefers to communicate, but don't lose sight of the fact that some things are simply best done "in person". Whether that means over the phone or over a coffee. Speaking of which…