The Evolution of a Super Real Estate Salesperson (Part One)

Things are definitely different in the industry since the start of 2011. Given the intervention of CEA, the barrier to entry into the real estate market has been greatly increased. On surface level, this was definitely a good move by the government to clean up the many “acts” but on the other hand, this has caused more turbulence in the market, with the most obvious being getting the real estate practicing licence. Gone are the days whereby anyone, and I do meant anyone coming to age, can just pick up an application form and join the industry as a real estate salesperson, with or without relevant training.

But what is more subliminal about this standardization move of the government is how real estate salespeople have to behave and act in the days to come. Given the convenience of the market now, such as multiple online property websites and resources, and also the transparency of real estate salespeople (checking up on salespeople can be easily done via http://www.cea.gov.sg/cea/app/newimplpublicregister/publicregister.jspa), the ultimate impact of all these adjustments will be the evolution of the real estate salespeople.

Many might suggest that what I had mentioned is ridiculous, but I believe those in the market would have felt the aftershock by now. Take a look at the upcoming question and take a moment to think before you continue to read this article. 

“Why do you need a real estate salesperson for in this current market?” 

When they first standardized the insurance industry, many panicked and many were forced to leave the industry. Some had no choice due to ever growing requirements, while others left because they do not see any light at the end of the tunnel. However, the industry still remains attractive today to many insurance salespeople because they know that they are still the indispensible force that drives the industry. Although there are many online sites and other methods that allow you to get the insurance policy or coverage required without ever meeting a salesperson, nothing feels more right and convenient than getting an insurance salesperson to go through the details of the policies and completing tedious paperwork on your behalf. And the best part is that no commission is paid by you (not directly from you, of course).

Is the real estate industry like our counterpart industry? Will the real estate industry progress on without us? And most importantly, will real estate salespeople ever become obsolete?

What can we expect to see after 1Q11?

Property forecast has been moving in the direction as we had expected in the earlier article of the year, with not too much of movement, constant growth and no unexpected boom. Private property prices slowed to a 2.2% (2.7% 4Q11) and HDB property prices to 1.6% (2.5% 4Q11) in 1Q11. The main question after looking at this figure is that will this trend continues? And if so, will this comes to a stage such that we are no longer looking at positive growth? Before we touch on this important question, let us take in some significant figures for 1Q11.

The transaction of private properties for Core Central Region reduces from 2.1% in 4Q11 to 1.1% in 1Q11 but we see better transaction for Central and Fringe region improving to 2.0% and 3.1% from 1.9% and 2.1% in 4Q11. Could this due to the fact that Core Central Region prices are reaching a new plateau and thus making outer regions to be more attractive?

For resale HDB buyers, the good news is that the overall Cash Over Valuation (COV) has dropped further to $21k from $23k in 4Q11. With not much change in the volume (6228 in 1Q11 and 6454 in 4Q11), we can see that the buyers are already getting the feel of the dropping COV.

With these data, we can now revert back to the original question of the future trending. Yes, we will be expecting this slower growth as we progress through the next quarter but once again, we do not expect any drastic boom or slum if all goes well. For the part of are we expecting a negative trend instead, the forecast is once again a positive “NO.” One recommendation for buyers and sellers based on current forecast is that if there is a NEED to buy or sell, it will not make any significant differences in savings or profit if it is going to be within the next quarter.

The psychology of the buyer

Buyers are our missing links to the completion of any real estate deal and they played are an important part of any realtors’ career. Since they are of such importance in our career, it will definitely help us all to learn how they “tick.” Before you get any further reading this post, please keep in mind that this paper is to help realtors better understand the psych of the buyer and is not providing any methods to be employed to create a fictional relationship to lure buyers to jump onto the wagon instead of real commitment.

I believe many of us are familiar with the term “buyer’s remorse” and this is what we should be preventing your clients from experiencing. Buying a property is usually the biggest investment among most Singaporean and with the recent cooling measures in place, and this make our role as realtor more important – to ensure that our clients purchase the correct property, be it for investment or own stay. In short, we are out to make buyers happy about their purchase.

The most crucial take-away from this article will be “people do not like to be sold; but they like to buy.” Simply put, free will buying. Many might refute by saying that sometimes the buyers do not know what they want and if they were to continue to window shop, this opportunity might not be there by the time they make their decision. We, as the realtor, should intervene when necessary to make sure the opportunity is not lost and our buyers will not regret in the future. As logical as this may sounds, a large portion of this argument actually falls on the realtor’s notion, which is to close the deal as soon as possible and move on. As the present market buyers are mostly as well informed as us, thanks to the ease of information on the internet and many other sources, what gives us the rights to decide? Let’s say that we are right and the buyer had missed the boat, will he be a happy buyer when he was compelled to buy at that instance?

To clarify the situation, I am not saying that we should allow all our buyers to start window shop, take their time for decision and so on. Remember, we all worked on commission and if our role is simply bringing the buyer to the properties without any recommendations, we are not exactly that useful. The question is how to make the potential buyer become a happy buyer? And the difficult task is how to balance a salesperson’s urge to just close the deal with the “happy buyer” concept so that we know we can sleep better at night?

Needs versus wants – The essential question. Without the knowledge of this about your buyer, you cannot really start the search or execute the necessary recommendations. You would have to agree that a newlywed couple looking for their dream home will have to be treated very much different from a businessman with the intention to buy his 3rd property for investment. This is the fundamental question that you should place on your buyers during the initial phase. With this answered, further questions such as urgency, area of search, size of unit and so on can be better put into context. This will help create your layers of empathy as you progress.

We all buy from someone we like. We all share this similar experience whereby despite the fact that you wanted a certain product, but as the salesperson was not exactly someone you like (maybe because of the bad attitude he had shown or his messed up outlook) you did not buy the product from him but later purchase the similar product from someone more pleasant to your eyes just a few units down the street. Sounds familiar? This is because we all want to buy from someone we like – it is that simple. Now the question is how to we make that connection?

Be interested in your buyer’s needs/wants. You need to be interested in your buyer, wholesale. Show to him that you care about his needs/wants and is willing to listen and thereafter hunt down his ideal unit for him. The fact that most of the buyers can in fact easily tell at an instant whether you are interested in his requirements and constraints make this even tougher. Thus, the advice is to be genuine, listen more and talk less. The old school method of hard selling is gradually losing her stand in today’s time. Coupled with vast amount of information easily available on the internet, this makes no one or products irreplaceable.

Be a professional realtor. Simple as this may sounds, many do not know what this entice. This bring us to our most valuable point – be interested in what you do. How many a times do you find yourself not in line with the latest property development only to find yourself saying “I will find out more” or “I do not know this” throughout a short 20 minutes viewing session with the buyer? If you are not even interested in your own field, how can the buyer trust your recommendations and advice?

Try some of these advices on your clients. You will be surprised how such simple common knowledge can actually make an impact. Remember, sometimes it is not about thinking outside the box, it’s about what is in the box – in this case is what is in your box. Always fall back on fundamentals and should more or less be on track.