A Good Way To Fail

We are odd creatures about price. When I had a flower shop in Santa Monica, on my first Valentine's Day I thought selling discounted roses would be the way to lots of orders. I answered the phone full of enthusiasm for my discounted humanitarian price that would drive romance to a new high. But a funny thing happened. 2 out of 3 people said "Thanks." and hung up. The next year I tried a different tactic. I used higher quality roses, better vases and silk ribbon. Then I doubled the price from last year. I answered the phone a nervous wreck, choking out the new price with dread. "Here's the address" they all said. Why? Because, they figured, if I was charging more, they must be better and because I was ethical and wanted them to come back next year, they were better. Consider a glass of wine. "How is it?" my friend asks. Well, compared to Chateau Haut Margeaux, not so great. Compared to Two Buck Chuck? Awesome! How do we quantify value? As a real estate business person, our brokerage fees are hard to quantify. If we do a superlative job, shield our client from stress, mask the difficulties, resolve all the discord and present a sale at the end of 45 days of our own hellish labors, they wonder what we did. If we involve them in the drama, offer them sleepless nights participating in the uncertainty of a transaction in this market, or blast the other agent so we look like heroes, they often wonder, "Why am I paying this guy to torture me?" Since homeowners on average sell only once every 6-9 years, they are not selling in the same market in which they experienced the last sale, so all of their expectations will be violated. Unlike going to the cleaners or grocer, which they do weekly, the consumer cannot compare their experiences tangibly and they tend to make choices largely on price of services. Once they realize they have chosen badly, they are in too deep. Our current market is NOTHING like anyone has experienced prior. Please find a full time, constantly re educating, active, engaged real estate business person. This person should also be networked to financial advisers, tax experts, lawyers and estate planners so they pick up on trends, problems and market conditions well ahead of the newspaper or colleagues. In addition they must now stay on top of on line marketing or pay dearly to have a service that provides SMM, RSS, blogging, syndication, hosting, photography, video, hosting, players and links, all so that your home shows up on Google! This all takes drive, and additional time, energy and resources to deliver a better outcome. So you can pay now or pay later, but I say pay for the best and get a superior outcome.