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This depository is prepared by:
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The copyright of this Best Practices depository vests in the Council for Estate Agencies. No part of it may be copied, reprinted or excerpted in any way or in any place for any commer-cial purpose except with the written consent of the Council for Estate Agencies.
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Acknowledgement
The Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) acknowledges and thanks the estate agents (EAs) for their valuable time in sharing their best practices. This depository on Estate Agents’ Best Practices would not have been possible without your contributions. Special thanks go to CBRE Realty Associates Pte Ltd, Colliers International (Singapore) Pte Ltd, DTZ Property Network Pte Ltd, ECG Property Pte Ltd, ERA Realty Network Pte Ltd, KF Property Network Pte Ltd, OrangeTee.com Pte Ltd, and PropNex Realty Pte Ltd from whom contents were drawn for incorporation in this depository.
If estate agents have good practices that they wish to share with the industry through this depository, they may send them to CEA for consideration. CEA will update this depository of best practices as and when there are additional examples to share, which may be collected in the course of CEA’s work or feedback from estate agents. CEA hopes that estate agents will find this a useful resource.
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Chapter 1 Introduction
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Chapter 2 People
Chapter 3 Systems & Processes
Chapter 4 Services
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction 4
Chapter 2 People 5
Chapter 3 Systems & Processes 8
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Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
CEA conducted best practices visits to several estate agents in 2012 and 2013. A Best Practice Seminar was held on 11 October 2013. Estate agents shared with us on leadership and people management and development, systems and processes and service excellence.
We have identified the estate agents’ best practices, and broadly categorised them under three areas - “People”, “Systems and Processes” and “Services”.
“People” includes the leadership, management and all who represent the estate
agents. It touches on the issues related to recruitment, training and develop-ment, discipline and rewards and incentives. It also has to do with how estate agents set business targets and plans and guide salespersons and staff towards the same direction.
“Systems and Processes” addresses the “how” questions that get the estate
agents’ plans translated into results. It includes management and supervision of salespersons, advertisement control, information accessibility and dissemina-tion, complaint handling framework, etc. Use of IT and innovative processes are also processes that enhance business operations.
“Services” is the eventual outcome by estate agents and salespersons to their
customers. Real estate agency is a service industry. As real estate is a high dol-lar value item, the consequences can be severe if estate agents and salesper-sons do not deliver the desired service to their clients. Consequently, an em-phasis on service systems, analysis, and feedback mechanism for improve-ments are areas to consider.
This Best Practices depository serves to collate the best practices that we had observed in our visits with the estate agents.
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Chapter 2 PEOPLE
“People” encompasses leaders, salespersons, employees and others who are part of the organisation.
Annual Corporate Planning Meeting o Strategies
o SWOT (i.e. Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat) analysis o Set directions, goals and priorities for the new financial year.
Business Conference or Convention which many estate agents conduct on annual, bi-annual or quarterly basis to
o address the salespersons with a recap of the company’s previous year achievements and the current market update.
o confer awards to recognise high achiever salespersons. Such forums are also a channel for estate agents to convey key messages to their salespersons such as the importance of ethical behaviour.
Regular meetings by team leaders. Monthly or weekly meetings whereby management and senior directors:
o exchange ideas and update on the latest real estate news and policies. o set expectations and evaluate salespersons’ performance and behaviour. Workgroup discussions to address specific issues
o Such as recruitment and retention, training and development, operations and infrastructure, etc.
Leadership and
Management
Leaders set directions,
motivate people, and lead the way in ethics, professionalism and service quality.
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Use “Candidate Evaluation Form” to aid in EA’s assessment of recruits.
For team leader position, candidates to be interviewed by senior management personally.
Only sales managers and above with considerable length of service can recommend/refer someone to join the EA.
Compulsory training in company’s Code of Ethics within 30 days for new salespersons.
Weekly complimentary training sessions in areas of ethics compliance, real estate knowledge, and market analysis.
Competency Framework for high achievers which includes advanced levels of training on regulatory compliance, business excellence, mastery skills in thinking, speaking and writing, and supervisory skills such as coaching, leading and motivating.
Quality of Salespersons
Background checks on
salespersons to ascertain whether the recruits had any history of offences, or are in debt or are undischarged bankrupts, through Singapore Credit Bureau,
Questnet and ACRA Bizfile search.
Training
Compulsory in-house training for salespersons who newly joined the industry.
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Recognition and
Promotion
Discipline
Issue warning letters to their salespersons for infringements. Place salespersons on monitoring
list/ probation, and division head to
submit Quarterly Performance
Report to KEO about progress of the salespersons.
Promotion not solely based on their earnings.
Salespersons must pass in-house Code of Conduct test before they can be promoted.
No high sounding designation.
Confer awards to high achievers at companies’ conventions.
Publicise commendation of salespersons with exemplary service, loyalty and commitment.
Confer ambassador award for salespersons with at least five years of service and meet other criteria such as good service excellence. demonstrated determination, loyalty and commitment, did not receive complaint against them, and no disciplinary action against them.
EAs send out frequent reminders to all salespersons of the common offences committed by salespersons.
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Chapter 3 SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES
Important for effective operation of the
organisation.
Save cost and time. Reduce waste.
Ensure compliance and reduce errors. Smooth operation without constant
intervention.
Work Processes
Develop SOPs and documentation as part of business continuity plan and allow staff and salespersons to access and understand the process and procedures. Develop proactive advertisement control
system by conducting daily scan on salespersons’ advertisements.
Communications
Use corporate email accounts for business cards and all marketing materials to improve business effectiveness, to uphold corporate branding and to facilitate record keeping.
Virtual office for mobility and accessibility.
Develop mobile apps for salespersons to use.
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Internal Audit
Exercise good control and governance.
To identify weaknesses within the procedures and systems.
Exercise good control and governance.
To identify weaknesses within the procedures and systems.
Allow online transaction .submission which is
automatically linked to EA’s finance department for vetting.
Helps reduce travelling time to EAs.
Install user-friendly scanning machines for salespersons to scan relevant documents to EAs, such as transaction record etc.
E-filing of transaction documents to save office space.
Software application on EA’s and salespersons’ mobile phones and tablets to market new project – floor plan, availability of units, reserve units, video of the project, etc.
Bar code scan on salespersons’ EA cards that serves to mark attendance for CPD training lessons.
Add QR codes on business card to link customers to useful info of properties. Adopt Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) project – collaboration with IDA to develop
IT service for use by both EAs and salespersons.
Adopt Information
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Chapter 4 SERVICES
Increase touch points for
customers
Allows customers to pay commissions via AXS machine.
Provide after-sales support
Attend to queries, provide project updates, etc.
Customer Satisfaction
Survey
For low scorers, the department and salespersons will be interviewed to identify and improve any systemic shortcoming.
Senior management and KEO involved in handling serious service lapses. For good scorers, they will be given awards.
Feature exemplary service by salespersons in the estate agent newsletter.
Actively seek customer feedback after completion of transaction.
Feedback scoring system published monthly: show good scoring
departments and individuals.
Excellent
Good
