This morning I was listening to a podcast of Dan Ariely on TED. Dan is a professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University. His podcast was the relationship between the structure of ones work with the value the employee places on that work. It was deduced that employees will work for less if they feel their work is valued and/or will work harder and be more satisfied if they feel they have a personal effect on the success of that particular product or service.
Take this rational and apply it to homebuyers. It occurred to me that our clients may feel the same way because of the many online tools at their finger tips. These tools allow the client to be much more involved in the search process and gives them a sence of satisfaction that they found(created) their home and thus, their success. We as agents, should foster and facilitate our clients innate desire to be creative and successful in the home buying process.
In the 1950’s Betty Crocker invented cake mix. It was so complete in its ingredients that it flopped. It took away the customers emotion of creating something for their family. Betty Crocker re-manufactured so that the customer needed to add eggs and milk. Voila!!!! Instant success.
Betty Crocker did not invent Trulia, Zillow or the Internet (thanks Al 
). But it does remind me that all clients have this desire to be involved in making or finding something special which gives their home more value than if they weren’t involve at all.
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