After all of the new technologies, the market predictions, the industry ups and downs, and the changes in how your profession works, it turns out what really matters, what has ALWAYS mattered, is how well you continue to provide great value to your clients at a time when they need it the most.

Providing tremendous value is the one ability all great agents share. The good news is that it’s an ability that you can nurture and master.

• When you shift from prospecting toeducating, you’re providing more value to the people who might someday become your clients
• When you stop burying people in information and start offering them insight, you’re delivering value.
• When you stop focusing on the transaction and start becoming a trusted advisor, you bring more value.
• And when youspecialize in a specific area and truly master it, that’s more value still.

To really make it work, though, you need to remember two things about value: First, the best value is unexpected. When you experience the delight of great service that you never anticipated, that’s true value. Unexpected value can’t be beat.

Second, value needs to be communicated. Much of the change ahead is about perception. Buyers and sellers are trying to justify your value. With the tools to buy and sell real estate at their fingertips, clients perceive the value of real estate services as lower. Your job is to change that perception, and communicate it. Making your value apparent is your responsibility. You can’t expect it to make itself known.

The internet and the information age may have given consumers a fresh independence in their real estate transactions, but it’s also given them a false confidence. Your clients may have information and tools, but they don’t have you experience, wisdom or insight. The value you bring to the table is tremendous.

QUESTION:
Think about your last transaction. What did you do to add unexpected value? How did you communicate your value to your clients?