It’s not easy to be better than the competition… And saying so doesn’t make it so! What is better anyway? For world-class athletes, it’s faster, higher, and stronger. Olympic events are carefully defined and the competition measured in hundredths and thousandths of a second or an inch.
Service has become a world-class event. Two-thirds of the global economy (80% of the U.S.) has migrated from a manufacturing base to a service. That makes service serious business – in essence, a world-class event.
Athletes competing at the highest levels train vigorously. They meticulously track performance, exercise great discipline, utilize technology and employ specialized resources to improve performance. World-class athletes recognize the value of performance feedback and understand the importance of common standards of performance measurement.
Is there something to be learned from this?
There certainly is! In business, the consumer is the Olympic committee. ]Consumers define the events and judge the results. Most industries, especially manufacturing and technology, have long embraced faster, higher, stronger concepts and the metrics that go with them. Common standards have become pretty common.
In the service sector and especially in real estate services, it’s more common for the service provider or each organization to define the event, decide what to measure, and to develop its own measurement standards – it’s convenient that way.
But the service provider doesn’t make the rules in today’s economy – the consumer does! World-class competitors in business today are totally focused on consumer-defined events and are passionate about measuring their performance results with common standards and common metrics. And the evidence is clear that progress follows process.
As the level of competition intensifies in athletics or in commerce, some other changes emerge with teamwork, specialization, technology, systems, better fitness, performance feedback, improvement, and even tougher competitors.
Applying this to your real estate practice
So what is faster, higher, and stronger in real estate service, and who really excels against the competition? The measurement standards in real estate services have always been production-based… without the balance of how good or how well. The belief is that “doing a lot is doing well.”
Do these traditional standards and metrics of “production performance” fit as well today? Do production standards and measurements without qualitative standards and measurements reflect a consumer-centered business environment? But of course, real estate is different.
Real estate service is more like other businesses with the passing of each week. When brokers and practitioners completely controlled the information, they made the rules and controlled the game. That’s over, the consumer is in charge. In the information age, “control” of information is at the very least undergoing redefinition. “Control” comes from responding to the changing needs and interests of consumers by delivering a better, more valuable, and satisfying total service experience. Control comes from attracting customers and retaining them by delivering a superior service experience. In the professional services arena, that means offering consistency, reliability, accountability, responsiveness, and taking responsibility – fixing things when they go wrong.
Real estate sales professionals are like competitive athletes. They play to win and enjoy winning. But the rules need to change. If winning is selling more without truly serving better, that’s losing. Serving better means delivering more value and greater service satisfaction, measurably greater satisfaction.
Will the independent contractor/agent accept change and respond positively? They will with enthusiasm…winners always do! But a meaningful quality service focus that meets the needs of the consumer must also benefit the professional. Awards, recognition, and rewards for professionals must go beyond the single dimension of production. Production standards should be balanced with quality standards so that everyone’s interests are aligned and everyone benefits.
To make that certain requires providing systems, support, technology, performance feedback, awards and recognition, and unbiased results validation just as it does for any world-class performance.
5 Steps to world-class performance
- Understanding consumer needs
- Defining and implementing a real service process
- Measuring performance and results
- Learning, improving, and raising the bar
- Recognizing and rewarding superior service delivery
- Utilizing independent validation of service results
Accepting the reality that today the consumer defines the game and determines the rules, then playing to win… means winning a new way. The most intense era of competition to serve and retain customers in real estate services is just beginning. Providing quality service is serious business. Only those who are serious about service can win against the competition.
