Why?
According to Ebbinghaus’ measurements, people forget two-thirds of the information they receive within 24 hours. Do you remember everything that has happened to you in the last 24 hours?
Back in 1858 a man by the name of Hermann Ebbinghaus studied and developed a system to measure “forgetting?” It’s called the Hermann Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve. It’s true!
This being the case, it’s easy to understand WHY agents and employees ask the broker and managers the same questions repeatedly — and WHY stupid errors reoccur daily.
The amazing thing is, experienced business owners seriously believe and repeat the myth that there’s nothing businesses can do about “the forgetting curve.” As a result, they say, “People are human; therefore, we must accept ‘forgetting’ as normal, and just deal with it.” WRONG, WRONG WRONG….
Think about this. What if your surgeon forgot something, or your real estate agent forgot to disclose key information… After all, they’re only human, right?” Except, the consequences to you and your brokerage can be enormous.
What to Do
Use quality control tracking like “Checklists” for your routine processes.
For example: for every transaction you have, there are a list of things to do; and most of those things are the same for each transaction. So, setup a checklist for your transactions, so neither agents, staff or brokers can “forget” what to do. This can also be done for your listings and buyers – setup checklists.
Putting checklists and other systems in place always helps to minimize business screw-ups.
