We check into a hotel and just before heading away to our room we’re given a warm chocolate chip cookie. Why? Just because. We walk into the room to find it at a comfortable temperature with a few mint chocolates waiting for us on the pillow. But why? Just because. We forget our toothpaste so call down to the front desk to see if they have any. Within 94 seconds there is a knock at our door. Someone from the front desk has arranged for complimentary tooth paste to be delivered to our door. Wow…this place is great!
The hotel’s basic objective or mission is to provide you with a pleasant place to sleep. All of the other stuff is simply a bonus. And all of those other things are often just ‘the little things’.
We go out for dinner and we’re greeted by a simply lovely hostess who appears to be genuinely glad to see us. Sure, we’d love to sit in the bar until our table is ready. We sip on our drinks for 5 or 6 minutes until we’re called to our table. What’s this? They offer to bring our drinks to our table for us. The tab? No problem…they’ll just put it on our final dinner bill.
The restaurant’s basic objective or mission is to provide us with a tasty dinner in a pleasant atmosphere. All of the other stuff is again, just a bonus.
THE BIG QUESTION:
If all of these “little things” make such an impact to us when we go out for dinner or check into a hotel or board a flight or get help from a tow truck driver, why do we forget the importance of the “little thing” when we become a home seller?
Home sellers will often discount the importance of something because “if the buyer gets hung up on ‘x’, well then they obviously aren’t serious”. Well, what if we apply the importance of “the little thing” to selling a home. All of those little items that are seemingly unimportant may in fact be the mint on the pillow or the flight attendant that brings you that extra blanket.
Maybe the chipped floor + the peeling wallpaper in the 3rd bedroom + the overgrown garden in the back corner + that loose section of fence + the dodgy posters in your son’s room are all of those little things.
Yes, the big picture is great but the little things matter.
Whether grocery shopping, out for a walk or at work, keep an eye out for those little things…they’re bigger than they appear!
THEbTEAM
Thank-you to Andrew Pons for the photo.