Mastering Direct Communication: Key Strategies For Leaders With Geraldine Serrano

Hello dear listeners, welcome to the Speak

In Flow Podcast. Today I have a special guest on this episode

and all like all our episodes were focused around sharing

unique experiences that will help you unleash your leadership

voice as a leader as a team leader. Today, we have Geraldine

Serrano, she's a specialty tax consultant working at Vera tax

advisory. Hi, Geraldine.

Hi, Melinda, thank you for having me.

Thank you for having thank you for being here.

I find you vary your confident your direct you lead teams. And

so tell us a little bit more about what you do in the test

specialty area.

Sure. Yeah, so I help both residential and

commercial real estate investors lower their tax liability with

an under utilised tax strategy called cost segregation. And I

also help companies that are creating or improving a product

or service qualify for the research and development tax

credit.

While it's very specialised in niche no wonder

why you're busy?

Yes. We just got a lot.

I love good, sorry. Keep going. Oh, we

just got past I just got past the April

deadline, but I'm still busy. And will I'm gonna get even

busier as we approach the September and October deadline.

Oh my gosh. Well, that's why you have a team. And

I love your analogy about a team. Tell us more about that.

Yeah, so I love playing and watching

soccer. And I had a teammate during a game. Tell me, I

watched him take that the soccer ball, go through all 11 players,

including the goalie, and score. And so after he scored, I said,

Great. I don't have to do anything. And he said, No, no,

no, there is no I in team that we still have to be a team in

order to win the game. And that's the mindset I have, when

with the people that I work with, to do this specialty tax

work, that it's not just me, that is able to do the work.

It's my entire team, I bring in the person that needs our

services. And then it's my team and I that work together to make

sure we're able to provide them what they need in order to

reduce what they're going to owe in taxes.

Mm hmm. So it's really there's a lot of

deadlines, there's a lot of people involved. And it's a

we're not an eye to make it super efficient and effective.

And, and so there's a lot of communication that needs to

happen effective communication. And what I found is since

getting to know you more is that your communication, your direct,

and you're confident. And so we talked about what that feels

like when someone approaches you, you're doing a lot of

things you sell for the company, you bring in clients, you're

talking to high net worth clients. So you're busy, and

someone comes to you. And they are long winded. They have a lot

of detail. And they're not getting to the point like what

does that feel like for you?

For me, because naturally I'm impatient.

It's really hard for me to sit there and listen to someone that

just goes on and on. But I do it right, because I feel like I

have to somehow process what they're telling me. I my mind

works in bullet points. So after I listen, Oh, interesting, they

have to say, Then I repeat it back to them in bullet points,

like so for example, I was talking to a referral yesterday.

And they were going on and on and on. And in, in this in what

they were saying. There wasn't like how I told you I work in

bullet points. So it wasn't like Geraldine. Here's question one.

Here's question two. Here's Question three. So when, in this

whole huge talk that they had, I had to figure out by paying

attention and listening and repeat it back to them that I

feel like you have three questions. And here are the

three questions that I think you have. Is that correct? Or did I

miss something? And so that way, they can tell that I'm

listening, and they can tell me if I right or wrong of what

their questions are? Because it wasn't succinct. Yeah. Yeah. And

I Yeah, and the reason why I'm bringing this up

is because I get this a lot. So I get from my clients and these

are VPS executives who are pitching to probably owners of

the company president level and they need support because they

do want to bring in a lot of information. To the CEO, and

just like you, you're the company owner, you have a lot to

do. And so for you to have to work hard to listen to somebody

and find the bullet points of three key points. It just it

feels like the I want them to people to understand the

listeners to understand on the receiving and you're giving the

other person more work. Right. Right. So yeah, like, Okay, I

really think hard and really listen hard. What is this

person's point? Right, when, when they're including too much

detail, I think the sender or the communicator feels like this

other person needs to hear everything, when they don't,

especially

right. And to put that to also add to that,

Melinda is, so for example, today, I'm going to give a five

minute presentation on cost segregation to the Chinese Real

Estate Association of America, I've only got five minutes. And

so if I were to barf on that audience, right now, I want to

give so much information, nobody's going to understand one

word that I said, Because I'm speaking too fast. And it's too

much information. However, if I know what I'm going to say, and

I'm very, and the way if I know what I'm going to say, and I

present it in a way that people can easily understand, then that

five minutes is going to be useful to them, because I made

sure ahead of time that I prepared on what I'm going to

say in those five minutes, and how I'm going to present that

information so that the audience is left with valuable

information that they can use after hearing me speak for five

minutes. And that's what I mean. So that's why it's really

important how we communicate. Because if you want the receiver

to get the message that you want them to have, then it's really

important how you communicate that otherwise the message never

gets to them. And it's just lost.

Right? Right. And we overthink it, or we think

they need all the details. And that actually waters down the

message. So how did you prepare for your five minute today?

Well,

so last year, I read a I read a book that

taught me how to give a TED talk. Oh, nice. What is it

called? How to how to talk like 10? I think, yeah, I read. Uh

huh. And so a TED talk is supposed to be 18 minutes.

Because if you give, if you're under 18, you don't have enough

content, people feel like you didn't provide enough content.

If you go over 18 minutes, then it's information overload. So my

presentation is 18 minutes. Also, it teaches you how to tell

stories, because that's what people relate to. So in my TED

talk, I give, I tell three stories. So in these five

minutes, I'm only going to tell one story. And I'm going to, and

I'm going to end it with the way I end my tech talk, because I

only have five minutes. And the organiser of this event asked me

for my PowerPoint slides, and I only have I only have one, and

it has my contact information on it. And she was surprised and

worried because she's used to people having you know, such you

know, so many slides, you know, that are filled with text. And I

just had my contact information. Because if you see a TED talk,

typically there is no PowerPoint, there is no slides.

And if you and if you think about speakers like Steve Jobs,

if there is a slide or anything in the background, it's just a

picture. Yeah, that will help explain what he's talking about.

So that's why I don't have any slides. But I can understand

that most people are used to someone having a PowerPoint

filled with text, because that's what we're used to. Oh, totally

Oh, my gosh, and we need to overfill are over again.

And there's so much that we know, especially as experts, and

we have the chance to talk we want to share so much. And I

think that we just don't, we have to remember that one point.

And going deeper into one point is so much more valuable to the

listener. And I love how you're what you're doing tonight, which

is just one slide, one story and then a closing that's so perfect

and right like how to be direct how to really hit home on your

message. Just having one point. If you have five minutes. That's

one point. In a story or a story, it's even better. Yeah,

engaging.

And it's also important, how I present that

and What I mean by that is I took communication in college.

And there's something called the speaker's triangle. So I don't

stay in one spot. All right, so I'm going to move, I'm going to,

I'm going to start out in the middle. And then when I move on

to the story, I'm going to move to one side of the room. And

then when I close, I'm going to move to another side of the

room. So that's one way I communicate when I do my

presentation. Also, I like because I don't know who's going

to be in the audience. I get to know my audience upfront. So I'm

going to ask, does anyone know about cost segregation, so I can

get the audience engaged? Because what do you typically

see anywhere? Even if you're not at a presentation, people are

always on their phones. And if they're not, in, I can see who's

paying attention or not paying attention, right? But if I

engage the audience, because I'm asking them a question, then

that's a great way to make sure that I know people are gonna pay

attention to what I have to say.

Right? Right. It's more like a conversation, trying

to engage the audience and using movement to connect with people

on the left side or the right side, depending on what point

you are at in your story. Yeah,

and I'm also going to have people that I know

in the audience, and I'm going to call on them, so that people

aren't, always aren't looking just at me, I'm going to point

somebody, someone I know out in the audience, and they're going

to stand up and I'm going to refer to them as Miss, I hate

the IRS, then, then, then I'm going to have another friend who

will be on the other side of the room. And I'm going to refer to

her as Mrs. I hate the IRS too. So it makes it fun. Right? Yeah.

Wants to just sit there and be bored.

Right? Right. And creative and fine. Yeah,

awesome. Do you just come up with that? Like, do you? Do they

know? Does the audience know that you're gonna do that your

friends? The audience doesn't know. But my friends know, your

friends, though. Your friends, though. Okay, good.

Yeah. And then also, towards the end of my

presentation, I'm going to explain to I'm going to tell the

audience what they actually do for work, and then have and then

associate it with the work that I do, saying that the results of

the work that I do this specialty tax work is going to

be applied differently in their tax situations, it won't be

applied the same. So it'll get them thinking, right, like I

pointed somebody out in the audience, and their eyes are not

just on me, they're able to not sit there and be bored, they

have to be paying attention to who I'm pointing out and what

I'm saying about them.

I love that. I love that. Yes, so many great tips

and insights. Can you share with us? What are three things if you

have someone that tend to share a lot of details? What are three

tips that you can share with them to help them because they

don't know what details to share? And what not to share?

What what could you help them with? With tips?

Um, I think, you know, one tip, I would say

because I'm impatient, and I don't like it when people are

long winded, but I feel like, you know, you're gonna come

across those people. And I think what's really important is you

have to make sure you listen well, because you have to sift

through the information, you have to sift through what they

tell you and figure out what what is their point? And or what

are there questions? And then, and then I feel like to make

sure I understood what they said to me, then I either one, repeat

it back to them in a succinct manner of what I think they

said. And or to figure out if, tell them what I think their

questions are. And then I tell them to tell me if I understood

what they were telling me. Right. Yeah, right. That

provides that provides them the opportunity to tell me if I

understood what they said or not. And if I did great, if I

didn't, then they can try a different way. Or repeat what

they said and maybe, you know, I can figure out what I

misunderstood. Right?

Right. And then what about people on the

opposite side? How do they prepare to talk to you? If they

have way too many details?

What do you mean if the way someone

someone says okay, I'm going to talk to Geraldine,

and I've all this information? How can I best prepare?

Oh, yeah. Well, you know, the example I

give is, you know, when I work with my assistant, you know,

he'll, I'll ask him to draft an email to follow up on payment.

And he'll write a long winded email saying I hope this email

finds you well, and I'm following up on, you know, the

invoice that was sent to you, and you should have received it

by bla bla bla. And he'll just go on and on and on and on. And

all. I'll tell him to that I want two sentences. I want Did

you receive the invoice? And if so, when can we expect payment?

You know, and that and so that's extremely shorter than his long

winded email. Right, right. So I feel like, especially in our

world here in the States, not like other countries, you know,

here, we're, we live in a fast paced environment, right,

everybody wants, you know, things done, and answered

quickly, right. And so I feel like, if I or a client were to

open up an email, and see a long email that they would have to

take time to read, if there were so busy. What, then that's

probably going to go on the back burner, because just from the

look of it, we'll think, oh my gosh, this is going to take so

much time to write this. And so I feel like but when I give a

short email, right, the two sentences, did you get the

invoice? When can we expect payment, it's gonna be it's

gonna get read. And that goes into the, you know, and study,

research shows that a text is answered quicker than an email

or a voicemail. So because we want those quick conversations,

right. So I think the shorter so a saying I like is word economy

is key. I may not be the greatest at it. But that's what

I like. And I think it's great when people have that.

Oh, you're great at it. You're great at it. Even you

know, just when I met you really quickly, I can get the sense

that yeah, word economy is key. Thank you. Oh, thank you,

Geraldine. I think those tips are very, extremely helpful.

Because it puts us in the other shoes where the receiver if I

see this long email, I can picture myself getting

overwhelmed. So I think the leaders out there who have a lot

of details and don't know how to sort through it. Just imagine

receiving a long email and having to sort through it, like

how would you feel? And then just try to get down to the one

or two points. If it's an email, maybe two points. At the most,

you can just do just what are your key points? What are the

bullet points and then just put it into the email? Or even when

you're speaking to somebody? What if you have five minutes

one point, right. But if you're gonna say three points, just say

the three points, you don't have to give details, just the the

three points. Right. If you have one point, you can give a little

bit more detail in five minutes. That's a rough estimate. But

just be very specific and be very specific to the point,

right. Yeah. Love this. Thank you, Geraldine. And if people

needed to reach out to you for some support for some tax

advice, like what can we put your email address? What's the

best way? You

can either call or email me? My phone

numbers? 510-386-0872. And my email address is Geraldine at

their attacks. advisors.com.

Awesome. Thank you so much. Thanks, Geraldine.

Reach out to her. And thank you so much for being on the

podcast. We we got a lot. I got a lot out of it. That was great.

Well,

thanks for having me, Melinda. And I hope

that the listeners get a lot out of what we talked about.

I think so I think they did. Yes. Thank you,

listeners for joining us. Appreciate you being here. Until

our next episode. Take care. Bye. Bye. Hi.