I am so sleepy right now that I can just fall asleep while writing to you. I just came back from my viewing appointment and I brought home some honey. It is not that much but it is enough to make me feel motivated and inspired to work even harder and bring more pots of honey back home. After 2 months of slow but steady progress, I finally closed a deal. How do you feel about that Diary? If you are happy for me, I am more happier for myself. Most importantly, I am glad and I feel contented.
To be honest, I kind of felt that I will close the deal tonight because most of the times, it is always easier to close rental deal than sales deal. People who are looking for a place to rent are usually people who have not had much choice to wait. They simply cannot afford to browse. Time is always an issue to them. My tenant is an Indian Singapore PR national and they prefer to be allowed to cook. My owner is a single Malay lady who does not mind if they want to cook. The only thing that I have to emphasize to my tenant is not to have pork in the house. They obliged and things were easy during the signing of agreement.
I have to admit that I tried to be professional as I can and tried not to look clumsy during the filling up of forms. Gosh Diary, there were so many forms to fill up and you know how much I hate filling up forms. If I could afford to pay a personal assistant just to fill up the forms and follow me wherever my appointments are, I would. There are so many particulars that I have to fill up in the forms and at times, I just wished that I can write as fast as a superman. It is sure a misery and uneasy having to fill up the forms while having many pair of eyes looked at you. It was a lucky thing that both of them are my direct clients so I do not have another agent to judge me. You know, senior agents always can tell if you are new in the industry. And if they knew you are new, they will tend to act superior than you and perhaps bully you at times.
It was a good thing that I went to the office first today and got my manager to teach me what should I do to finalise a closure. I got him to tell me what forms to bring and what to emphasise to both the owner and tenants. In other words, I came prepared. Although filling up forms was a bit messy but I believe I did not screw up except for a few minor hiccups. I had to absorbed the GST for my commission from tenant since he refused to pay it. It was about 22.50 dollars and I did not want to make a big deal out of it. What is most important is my clients are happy. I supposed both sides are happy with what they are getting.
The owner told me that it is the first time she is getting a high rental rate for her room. I take that as a compliment and that shows she is satisfied with the price I had for her. I did not promised her a high rate when I went to meet her because that is what all agents do. We never promise the sky and the moon to our prospects. We will always leave some grey areas in our process of negotiation. We know we need to safeguard our reputation and interest because in the long run, most agents depend on referrals to remain in the industry. Referrals play a big part in the lives of agents.
I also realised that in order to be good and keep on earning, one has to be fast like the cheetah, aggressive like the lion and sharp like the leopard. I have lost three serious clients because I was slow in my actions. I did not really know what to do when I had those list and leads. I only depended on one or two sources for my research and I lost out to the more efficient agents. I have learnt my lessons and I have diversified my ways and methods. I am learning the trade Diary.
The minute I got home, my family is the first to know about my closure. I walked to my room feeling satisfied and contented however, at the same time I also felt missing. I wanted to share it with someone who I feel has a connection with me. I finally realised that I have no one and Flying Babe came across my mind. I know things between us have mellowed but I figured I would just let her know. And then I broke the news to the friend without a face who is probably my only friend I share stories with nowadays. I feel happy and contented with a sprinkled of sadness.
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