What's Behind Your Value Proposition?

By Bart King, Real Estate Business Magazine, October/November 2007

When effective, the value proposition serves as a company's strongest marketing device and its guiding philosophy. When ineffective, it contributes to poor market share and internal disorder.

Value proposition is a term that was introduced to business jargon during the dot-com boom of the 1990s. Since then it's been appropriated throughout the service industry to denote the often-intangible characteristics that distinguish one company from another in the marketplace.

Although the term itself is relatively new to the real estate business, successful brokers and owners have always worked to establish continuity between the image they present to the general public and the message they deliver to agents, because both are consumers of brokerage services and responsible for word-of-mouth advertising.

When effective, the value proposition serves as a company's strongest marketing device and its guiding philosophy. When ineffective, it contributes to poor market share and internal disorder. Does your company have a clear value proposition? Is it reflected in the day-to-day operations of your agency? If not, it may be time for an overhaul.