I was just reading this article by John Stossel, the ABC consumer reporter, and it struck a huge chord with me. I listen and read regularly to the real estate blogs about the growth of the low cost broker. It is a fact, but a great broker to protect his commission should fight for the double thank you moment every day of his or her existence.

If you truly believe in your right to 6 percent, then you must have at closing a customer who is saying thank you for a service that they are paying for that you have delivered. That something of value.

And you as a real estate agent must look that customer in the eye and thank them for letting you earn your commission.

• You have given them something that they value in terms of expertise and service.
• And they have given you something you value, money to feed your children and pay your mortgage.

Make sure the customer is thinking they got the better of the deal at the closing and you will have a happy customer. There is nothing wrong with that and they will never worry about the commission they paid you.

Or as Seth Godin wrote recently:

Maybe the reason it seems that price is all your customers care about is…

… that you haven’t given them anything else to care about.

I have glossed over the idea, but read John’s article and see what you think.

How many times have you paid $1 for a cup of coffee and after the clerk said, “thank you,” you responded, “thank you “? There’s a wealth of economics wisdom in the weird double thank-you moment. Why does it happen? Because you want the coffee more than the buck, and the store wants the buck more than the coffee. Both of you win.
Economists have long understood that two people trade because each wants what the other has more than what he already has. In their respective eyes, the things traded are unequal in value. But this means each comes out ahead, having given up something he wants less for something he wants more. It’s just not true that one gains and the other loses. If that were the case, the loser wouldn’t have traded. It’s win-win, or as economists would say, positive-sum.
We experience this every time we have that double thank-you moment in a store or restaurant.
It doesn’t matter that you wish the price of coffee were lower. We want the price of everything to be lower (except the price of what we’re selling, whether it’s our products or labor). What matters is that you bought the coffee for a buck.
The story doesn’t change if you buy from someone in another city or another state. It doesn’t change even if you buy from someone in another country. Read the rest of this article by John Stossel

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