Last week I was at an NAR meeting in DC and heard a presentation from J.D. Power, the folks who hand out satsifaction awards.
For years we've all been able to repeat the mantra: "Under promise and over deliver." We all get that. But the JD Power's rep gave me a different perspective on it. Stick with me a bit for the explanation.
According to JD Power, Satisfaction equals Performance minus Expectation. In a formula: S=P-E. If you expect that piece of chocolate cake to be excellent and it is, you are satisfied but you probably won't rave. If, on the other hand, that cake was far better, moister, chocolatier than you expected, you are more than satisfied and you will rave a lot.
This could be the reason some agents wonder why their clients don't express appreciation when the agent has delivered superior performance. Maybe the client expected the agent to be that great.
But the JD Power rep broke it down further. In their studies, they have found that a seller is far less satisfied with the service level of the listing agent if the sale price is considerably less than the list price. In other words, by listing over market, a listing agent is causing the seller to expect that it will sell at that range. The resulting satisfaction with the job done by the listing agent, no matter how many other coals that agent walked on for the sale, is lower.
The seller expected a given sale price based on the listing agent's recommendations for list price.
The agent's performance was seen as not exceptional by the seller based on the eventual sale price.
Therefore, the satisfaction level suffered.
But wait, there's more. One step many agents may skip is learning what the sellers' expectations are for the process and the agent. There are many activities and tasks I might complete--if I knew the seller wanted that done. By not learning what those are, I set myself up for leaving the seller less satsified at the end of the day.
I know that I am going to rededicate myself to 1)pricing as accurately as I can and 2)probing to discover the sellers' expectations.
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