Concerns about cost diminish as values rise.

If you were to look at the textbooks from some of the best business schools in the country, no doubt somewhere, you would find a statement similar to the one above. Every first-year business student understands that master- sales professionals are selling value to their prospects. If a product or service has no value in the eyes of the prospect, no amount of sales prowess would be enough to get a buy order signed.

If you are out there fighting the never-ending "commission wars," then you ought to perfect your skills at helping people buy your value. Frankly, I would like to see the word commission stricken from the vernacular of our industry and have agents replace it with: "marketing service fee." After all, that is what they pay a top-notch agent to do... a bang up marketing job to achieve the desired goal of selling the home.

While we are striking things from our jargon, let's add "listing presentation" to the garbage heap as well. Let's call it our "customized marketing proposal." Then, the marketing fee fits in beautifully!

Think of it this way. When you ask the common person on the street to tell you what comes to mind when they hear the word, commission, they will assuredly say things like, "A negotiable amount of money we pay for services provided." Yes, when we think commission, we think of a number that is not fixed. Now, try the same experiment with the word, salary, and you get a whole different thought process. A salary is a fixed amount of money that is paid to a person within a given period of time. While a salary can go up or down, it is fixed at a point. If we were to start calling commission salary, we would be moving in the right direction.

Please, don't send letters reminding me that commission is negotiable. I knew that when I was listing and selling in the caveman era. Gosh, that was a great time to be a Realtor -- we went from cave to cave, big heavy club in hand, ready to strike down any seller who dared to kick us around. Those were happy, simpler times.

While your commission is negotiable, your salary is not (unless you think you are not worth it). Your fee for marketing services provided is negotiable when the seller is willing to forgo something that is included in the amazingly professional, comprehensive, proven marketing proposal that you prepared just for you, Mr. and Mrs. Seller! When they get excited about the compelling way that you're going to bring their home to market and attract the attention it so richly deserves, missing any component of your plan would never make sense (Go back to the title of this article in the event you've forgotten why that statement is true).

You cannot make a person list with you. You have a better chance of stalking them, and hope they eventually cave in. Yet, if every component of your marketing proposal is adroitly linked to what matters, to and for them, they are compelled to buy into what you are saying. That's when the sale takes place. Not when you are selling, but rather when they are buying.

At that point your marketing fee becomes nothing more than their means to their desired end. We have to stop the plundering of the monies by which we feed, clothe, and house our families. It should matter little to you what other agents are willing to live on. There are always going to be people in this world whose wants and needs are not the same as yours. Live to your level. Decide what it is that you want; then insist on it. Wouldn't today be a great day to give yourself a great big raise?

Published: April 6, 2005

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Marylyn B. Schwartz, CSP, is a noted expert in real estate and corporate sales training, team development, customer care and diversity issues. She is president of TEAMWEAVERS and a trainer for Leader's Choice, the number one real estate sales training program in North America. Marylyn is also an author and Business/Life Coach. Contact her at , or visit her website at teamweavers.com.