These are my notes and personal thoughts on Mr. Christian Narito's lecture on "How To Start A Realty Office" at AIM Conference Office last April 6, 2015.
4 Questions You Should Ask Yourself
I personally believe in the power of asking one's self. When the going gets tough, it will certainly help us to get going when we remember why we are going after a goal. Asking one's self uncovers a lot of things about our motives and beliefs which are most of the time the basis of our decisions. Embarking on a journey in real estate is not a small feat. It is a decision that affects not only you but also the people around you - your family, your clients, the government and the society as a whole. It is important that we ask ourselves the following questions to help us "keep our feet on the ground while reaching for the stars."
1. What drives me? What do I want?
2. What do I know?
3. Am I ready? Is my network ready?
4. What are my needs and targets?
3 Questions to Self-Inventory
Similar to the 4 questions above are these 3 questions to self-inventory. What I noticed though is that these questions are digging deeper and are far more personal. I believe that the cross-section of the answers to these 3 questions is the "sweet spot" or the "gold mine" that every aspiring real estate brokers should pursue.
1. What am I good at?
2. What makes me happy?
3. Who will help me?
4 Types of Real Estate Brokers According To Networks
If there is one thing that really stood out during Sir Christian's lecture that is the importance of having a solid network that will help you in your practice. Without him directly saying it, I am under the impression that one cannot be successful in this practice if he is working alone. Working with people is the best way to go. The soonest that you do it, the bigger the possibility of success.
1. Walk Alone - As their name implies, they prefer to work alone. They do not recruit.
2. Local Broker - They have established networks but are limited only in a particular location.
3. Recruiter - They proactively recruit salespeople to work with them.
4. Networker - They have multiple networks of clients and recruits. They have fully realized the importance of working with people as real estate practitioners.
3 Types of Brokers According to Niche
These are types of brokers according to niche or focus.
1. Geography - These are brokers who focus on a particular location.
2. Market - These are brokers who focus on a particular market segment (e.g. low-end, high-end and etc.)
3. Product - These are brokers who focus on particular projects or brands.
Additional Tips
1. Train your people on how to listen, not just talk.
We used to believe that salespeople should be great talkers. I believe that. However, there is a far greater skill that must be developed and that is the skill of listening. Without great listening there is no great talking. If we don't know how to listen well to our clients, how will we know the right words to say and when to say it? Aspiring to become great listeners allows us to understand that the sale is not about us but, first and foremost, about the need of our clients. Without their willingness to purchase, we don't have a sale. And most of the time, their willingness to buy is dependent on how we were able to cater to their needs. So, listen.
2. Money is a deficient motivator.
Money is good motivator but only to a certain extent. Managers shouldn't fall into the trap of motivating people through money alone. Truth is, if we only motivate our people through money, time will come that our best people will have a lot of it, that they won't be as motivated to do the tasks as they were before. Learn how to mix and match the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards and offer them to your people.
3. Never ignore the gatekeepers.
Why do we always gun for the decision-makers when we can't even get through the gatekeepers? Most of the time, the decision-makers are the husbands. It then follows that the wives are the gatekeepers. If we only intend to talk to the husbands because we have no use for the wives, we are certainly losing the battle. If we will be able to talk to the wives well, they will might as well do our job for us by convincing their husbands to purchase the property that we are offering them.
1. Affordability. Delaying in reserving a pre-selling condo unit incurs more cost because prices increase regularly and payment schemes become much more difficult as time progresses. For example, a condo unit that you can pay for 60 months last quarter may be paid now for only 36 months. From 5 years, the payment scheme is now compressed to 3 years. With higher prices and tighter payment period, delaying in reserving a condo unit does not make it any cheaper.