Keller Center Research Report is a Trademark owned by Baylor University . June 2008 Copyright © Baylor® University . All rights reserved. Trademark/DMCA Page 1 information. Privacy statement . Baylor University Waco, Texas 76798 1-800-BAYLOR-U Want to Convert More Leads into Clients? Dig Deeper into What Customers Value By Chris Blocker, Ph.D. Today’s ĐoŶsuŵers are demanding and more sophisticated than ever. They have a world of information at their fingertips – and in a crowded real estate market they know they have choices when picking a real estate agent. Buying or selling a home also carries high stakes for consumers, so expectations rise and emotions can get involved as they start to meet with real estate agents. In response, successful agents recognize these tensions and handle prospective clients with care. Seasoned agents maximize the short time they have to showcase their abilities and deliver well-crafted presentations that they hope will strike a chord with consumers. The problem is that sometimes consumers doŶ’t hear the ŵusiĐ. That is, consumers form key impressions of an agent during initial meetings and sometimes sense a mismatch or disconnect between their desired value and the value they perceive an agent is offering them. The usual result for an agent when this happens? Unreturned phone calls and ĐoŶsuŵer souŶd ďites aďout deĐidiŶg to go a differeŶt direĐtioŶ. Unfortunately, many of these unconverted leads might have progressed into clients if agents had a more vivid picture of what those consumers’ truly value in an agent, and in turn had used that insight to propose a more compelling vision for the agent-client relationship. In a fairy-tale world, agents could peer into ĐoŶsuŵers’ ŵiŶds to fiŶd out just what it is they value. Fantasy aside, there is some hope here. Customer value research has made significant strides in the past few years. Specifically, studies in this area can help agents: - Understand what customer value really means to consumers - Gain insight into how consumers assess the value of salespeople - Learn how marketers can better uncover what customers value, and - Craft meaningful value propositions for potential clients What is Customer Value … Really? Although customer value is a fundamental concept in marketing, it has been defined in so many ways that it can seem like a nebulous concept. To some, value is just another word for satisfaction. For others, value represents a selling style where salespeople focus on providing a ǀalue-add to ĐoŶsuŵers. In recent years, however, experts have been building a consensus on a few distinctions that salespeople can hang their hat on.