4P Framework

Approach each customer with the idea of helping him or her solve a problem or achieving a goal, not selling a product or service.

Instead of rushing to introduce your service or to recommend a project, take time to understand their current situation with the intention to uncover the underlying problems they are facing.

Some people might be defensive and appear they don’t have any challenges or desires and that’s perfectly fine. So instead of making a direct pitch like “I can help you…”, I find it easier to share what we do like how we helped a family to get into the school of their choice, how we help a family with growing children to upsize so everyone has their own space for study and even to invite their friends over etc.

Some of the common challenges are:

• Need more space (growing kids, home office)
• Too much space (housekeeping, helper problem)
• Not within 1km of a school they want
• Far from work, school, family
• Undesirable neighbour (noise, smell, clutter)
• Not pets friendly
• Property never make money
• Not having enough to retire
• Children unable to afford property in future

Our signature Insights deck is designed to educate (and impress) while we obtain more info on the prospect’s preferences and financial situation at the same time.

Some important tips to note while going through the deck:

• Every slide is there for a good reason and you should always try to solicit some form of responses from them like “Do you agree with this?”.
• DO NOT get into a debate with the client. If they are very defensive or resistant to the info, I might not even proceed with the presentation but close my iPad and try to understand the basis of his opinion instead.

Whether you are speaking to a first-time buyer/seller or someone who appears to have seen it all, it is still extremely important to go through the timeline with them such as what will happen from start to finish in terms of time elapsed, payment milestone, mode of payment etc.

For sellers, we will also need to do a thorough financial calculation including checking on their outstanding loan, CPF utilised and accrued interest to determine the sale proceeds based on the estimated market value of the property.

By now you should be fairly clear on their motivation, impressed them with your market knowledge and understand their timeline and financial situation.

By using the above info, you are now in a much better position to suggest something that they will mostly likely be open to view.

There will be situations where the sales cycle has to start with a product especially when the lead is responding to an online ad. You just have to do your best to sneak in a few questions such as:

• Are you looking for an investment property or is this for own stay?
• Will this be your first property?
• If not first property, do you need to sell your current place first?
• Any preference between new or resale, or open to both?
• Perhaps you could share a bit about your current situation?

So how do you choose what to recommend? One of the easiest way is to follow the transaction volume.

Not just about herd mentality but rather I always believe most buyers would have done their due diligence by checking out multiple options before finally settling on one.

So in a way, the projects with the highest transaction volume must have some x-factor that made them commit to it instead of another competing project in the same locale or price range.

Our weekly price guide is a good start and of cos you could also use the PA app if you need to input more search parameters.

If the prospect is only looking for resale, you could also use the Market Trend function in EdgeProp to identify the best selling projects and HDB clusters in the past 6 months for ideas and then see if there’s something in the market to cobroke. 

At the end of every engagement be it a call or a face-to-face meeting, we should always do a closing for the next step.

This could be setting the next appt to visit their place, a showflat appt or even just a follow-up call.

If the client says “I will get back to you”, try to suggest a tentative date such as “How about let’s check out xxx project on next Sat afternoon? I will confirm the appt again with you on Friday, ok?”

It’s always easier to re-confirm an appt then to setup one. In a way, the prospect would feel they have agreed to meeting you again and most people would honour their words.

Hope you are feeling more confident now on your next customer engagement by adapting the 4P framework.

Good luck and happy closing!