Sandy Wong finds her calling in project marketing

SANDY WONG, the team leader at MPG Property Solution specialises in selling property developers’ projects in Johor Bahru and Klang Valley.

MPG is a two-year-old agency with about 300 agents nationwide. Its main focus is on selling new projects by developers. The agency may be young but packs a punch. Wong’s team numbered just 20 agents but beat a larger, established agency in selling a developer’s project.

Wong notes that there is a rising trend among developers to market their projects through agencies, and many agencies have dedicated teams for the task.

When the going gets tough

Wong started out as a part-time property negotiator six years ago, selling mainly secondary market property. She was formerly a beautician earning a five-figure monthly income, which seems an entirely reasonable number to the casual observer. What’s not to like?

“Back then, I worked six days a week and 12 hours a day. It was very tiring and I didn’t have time to be with family,” the mother of three young children says. Even then, she had already liked viewing property, and when she discovered that real estate professionals could enjoy flexible working hours “and the income is quite good”, her interest was well and truly piqued.

“However, due to my ex-husband’s objection then, I just took it on as a part-time job — just to try it out,” Wong explains. There was also another factor that anchored her down: her consistent five-figure monthly income as a beautician began to seem bigger compared with the property negotiator’s usual lack of a basic income.

It was the birth of her youngest daughter that helped Wong make the decision to take the plunge into real estate. Born with cleft lip, she required frequent trips to the hospital to remedy her condition. Wong’s choice became clear to her: continue with her job as a beautician, or spend more time with her child. If she thought she still needed to make her mind up, providence was having none of it. As things unfolded, she and her then-husband divorced.

Wong quit her job at the beauty salon and became a full-time negotiator with Starcity Property Sdn Bhd, joining GS Realty two years later. There, she was introduced to selling on the primary market. In three months, she had ranked among the agency’s top 20 rookie agents, then regularly featured among its monthly top five agents.

“I like trying new things and challenges, and that’s why I keep changing companies,” Wong says. Her urge for novelty and accomplishment seem in-born. “When I was in school, I liked to sell things such as cakes and I had worked in fast-food chains. I get bored easily and the property industry is the industry I have stayed on for the longest. We go from one project to another, and there is something new every time.”

Will she stay in the industry?

“I think I can stay in this industry my whole life. I don’t stop when I am tired, I stop when I am done.”

Wong joined MPG just last year as team leader. She focuses on leading and training new agents in selling developers’ projects, even though her natural inclination is in sales. She understands the need to be strategic in her career choices.

“I prefer to work as a negotiator but I know I need to advance in my career, so I became a team leader. I actually want to train more agents to become leaders, so that their income will be more stable.”

How she sells more in a slow market

Especially now, in the face of global and domestic headwinds, Wong emphasises the need for a well-suited sales pitch. One size does not fit all; different property products all have their unique ways of being sold to their specific target markets.

“We need to constantly equip ourselves with knowledge on issues like property laws, taxes and banking regulations,” she says. “When we undertake a project, we need to do a lot of preparation work, including understanding the market’s perception of the project, what its development stages are, how interest rates run, the [nature of the] land title, income requirements [for buyers], the fittings, materials and unique selling points.”

The lesson is a plain but very necessary one: gather the intelligence so you know how to plan your own course of action.

She says that this is especially necessary because while some developers offer a commission as high as 8% per unit sold, they don’t always pay the agents their commission on time.

“Another major challenge … since we don’t have basic income; there could be nothing coming in for at least three to six months (when the agents are marketing a developer’s project). And on top of that, we need to fork out the money to carry out the marketing for the project. That period can be challenging.

“For some of us, our families may not understand the situation. But after that trying period and we receive the first payment, everything usually becomes fine again. We really need a lot of support from clients and family members,” she says.

Malaysia, truly Asia?

While many agencies now sell overseas projects in Malaysia, Wong hopes to do the opposite and sell Malaysian projects in Indonesia, Brunei and Taiwan in the next three years. She is currently looking for local networks and agencies to partner with.

“Selling overseas projects here is quite challenging,” says Wong, noting the declining purchasing power of Malaysians. “Also, I don’t think property prices in Malaysia will drop significantly because land is becoming scarce while the population is still growing.”

Is there a silver lining? “It is all about timing — when the prices will pick up again.”

Do not ask the taxi driver about the value of your home. Click here at The Edge Reference Price to find out.

This story first appeared in The Edge Property pullout on Nov 20, 2015, which comes with The Edge Financial Daily every Friday. Download The Edge Property here for free.