This morning when I woke up, I saw a message on my phone that said, "I have found a house that I like, thank you for your service anyway." I acknowledged the message and tried to be positive about it all. He is the most qualified buyer I have currently and again, I have lost the deal. He is a referral from my friend and I supposed I did not give him my 100% commitment thus I lost him to another efficient agent perhaps.
I gave him only 50% of my commitment because I spent my time mostly on matching the rental leads I have with the rental listings online. In the end, he might have sourced out the service of other agents. I supposed what made me gave my service half heartedly is because one of his requirement is a corner unit and every agent knows how difficult it is to get a corner unit. I gave him 4 listings but I delayed asking him to view the units. I don't know what was I thinking at that time Diary. I think it is more of a "don't know how to prioritise" clients kind of thing. The thing about being an agent is, you do everything on your own from the marketing of your service, the sourcing of listings and leads, bringing your clients for viewing, to the servicing of your clients and to the paperworks processes as well. There are too many for one to handle especially for a rookie agent like myself.
I guess I have to get used to losing out on deals if I still do not learn how to prioritise my prospects and manage my time well. I have to admit that I have lost 4 most serious potential clients since I started as an agent. During those times, I was still uncertain of what to do and most of all afraid. Yes Diary, I was afraid to even call the prospects. Not that I am not used to cold calling but I was more afraid of being thought of as inefficient or unknowledgeable. You see, when you call them up they tend to ask you questions more than what you can answer them and they expect you to know more than them. Therefore, as agent we always have to equipped ourselves with the latest developments and changes in property market. We have to keep ourselves update with the rules and regulations especially dealings with HDB flat buyers and sellers.
I cooked myself a simple breakfast after shower and I got dressed to go farming again. As I was about to leave, I received a call. I picked it up and it was from a woman who wants to rent out a room in her flat. She asked if I could speak in Mandarin and I said no. So we spoke in English and she said that in my flyers, I really looked like Chinese. She was confused with me because I have a Chinese face with a Malay name on my flyers. I told her that the Chinese look is an inheritance from dad. We have this Chinese blood in us so that explains. I took down her details and her preferences and I ended up staying at home advertising her unit and searching for suitable tenant for her online. I also registered with another paid property rental portal and I got many leads from there too. All I have to do is to mix and match.
As I was doing my work, I got another call from an unfamiliar number. A lady was on the other line and she enquired about the process of selling and buying a house. I made used of my in-house and CEA course I attended and put them into practice. Only then I realised how important it is to be a qualified agent. Even without experience, I can share with her my fair share of knowledge and opinions. I am not boasting Diary but I think I did good. I am kind of proud of myself for not failing her with the questions she threw at me. In the end, she asked me to look for her a house that she can view because she wants to upgrade from a smaller flat to a bigger flat. That means, she is selling her house and buying at the same time. If I manage to get her a flat she likes, I can be her exclusive agent and that gives me a full privilege.
Diary, at that point of time I felt so thankful and grateful to Allah for not making me a weakling. I felt terrible on Monday but I persisted with my determination. Even though how unhappy and upset I was, I carried on with my farming. Today, I got the result. Yes, I have not closed the deals but it shows that my efforts pay off and most importantly, when one door shuts another always opens. I figured that making sales is like falling in and out of love. We get hurt when we fall out of love, that is the same like not being able to close any deals when you have the listing and leads because sometimes, they both don't match. We get butterflies in our stomach everytime we fall in love just like how we feel when we close a deal.
When we get rejected in love, we often question ourselves if we had not been good enough for her or if she has found someone better than us. That is exactly the same with sales too, if a prospect buys or sells through another agent and not you, surely there must be something in you that you lack. That is the truth isn't it? And truth always hurts. But then again, other prospects might end up using our service than the service of another agent, so what does that make us? Are we better than the other agents? It is subjective but one thing for sure, I know that we are all not perfect but we may be perfect or almost perfect to the one we love or serve regardless who we are.
Often, I hear about people like me who have been in a relationship for more than 5 years. I am impressed beyond words. And I wonder to myself will I ever get that in my life? I don't know. But I have learnt so much from love. Perhaps I am just not girlfriend material or I will probably remain single to people like me and a spinster to straights. Whatever Diary...Someday I will probably understand and figure it all out. I know Flying Babe will agree with me, she's in my background.
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