How did we get here?

There are a number of business and industry forces and factors that contribute to the current perceptions and state of quality of service in the real estate industry:

  • Value crisis regarding consumers' perception of fees and services performed
  • Real estate organizations all viewed as the same—essentially undifferentiated
  • Increasing pressures to lower fees
  • Supply of service providers and practitioners exceeds demand
  • Declining number of new licensees entering the industry
  • The "biggest army mentality" (lots of sales people with relatively low productivity) remains the conventional path to profitability and market share
  • Increasing independence of independent contractors
  • Majority of promotion and advertising focuses on professional identity rather than consumer benefits and needs
  • Technology decisions are more complex, product life cycles are shorter, and training needs are greater
  • Aging broker/owners and sales force becoming less congruous with its core market
  • Treating sales people as customers has impeded the process of focusing on and serving the real customer—the consumer
  • A sales-associate-defined service process and personal standards of service have led to the inconsistent delivery of service
  • Industry service processes, practices, and policies are driven by sales associate preferences and competitor strategies rather than consumer needs and preferences
  • Industry and organizational awards, recognition, and rewards are all focused on production—no service orientation.

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