In this series entitled Agent Success Stories, we sit down with agency leaders to find out their side of the story. From their humble beginnings to the challenges they have faced on the road to success, we learn that a career in the real estate industry is one filled with boundless opportunities – if you know where to look.
After graduating from business school, he completed a finance internship and realised that a desk-bound job was not suited for him as he craved a dynamic working environment where he could constantly be on the go and meeting new people. He found himself attracted to real estate, applied to become an agent and never looked back since.
Within four years as an agent, he went on to achieve his dream of purchasing a new condominium at Bugis and almost 10 Platinum awards. Today, at just the age 28, he has gone on to win awards such as Champion Senior Division Director, Top 1% agent in Huttons in the last 2 years, while leading one of the fastest and youngest growing team in Huttons.
Despite being a new team, Jody has successfully groomed the champion Top Rookie of Huttons for 2 consecutive years in 2019 and 2020. Till date, his team has grown to more than 30 people with a mixture of both experienced and new agents.
Tiding through the storms
Upon entering real estate, he faced budget constraints that took a hit on the number of leads he was able to get. He recalls his busy schedule of being a private hire driver during early mornings to fund his marketing efforts, while distributing flyers till midnight every single day. Despite facing a dry period of no leads for 6 months straight, he did not let this take a toll on his morale as he continued to be resourceful and relied on cold calling and flyers to get his name out there.
He knew that the future was in tech and believed that online marketing would open up more opportunities for him and his team to excel. He took interest in Hutton’s track record of project marketing and social media mentorship. Eventually, he joined the agency and earned 300K within his first year.
Balancing both sales and team commitments
Jody’s specialisation lies within new launches and landed properties.
Despite being in the industry for some time now, he still feels a great sense of awe whenever he is in a show flat. “The atmosphere and environment gives me a great sense of pride to be in this industry and teach first time buyers how to look for good property.”
When meeting a client for the first time, he would often encourage them to think out of the box. Being a number oriented person, he would chart out both the macro and micro perspective of how the real estate industry is doing when analysing the clients’ property of interest. He would then guide them to understand both the gains and risks of investing in that choice, prior to introducing a portfolio of alternative properties that he might find better suited for them. “I like to tell my clients to never act on impulse. There will always be a way to structure their portfolio and finances in a way that will bring capital yield.”
He shares one memorable client who was looking to invest in properties outside of the central region. However, with Jody’s advice, he grew receptive to exploring properties within the central region and as a result, purchased a smaller house instead, but with higher capital gains and rental yield.
Transforming the lives of others
Once he achieved success, he knew that he wanted to make an impact for others. He did not want new agents to repeat the same mistakes he had made when he first joined the industry. From there, the Jody Tan District was born.
He found a great sense of satisfaction nurturing those around him and remained committed to growing his team. In fact, he was able to balance both his sales and team commitments by achieving new sale targets right by their side. “When I see their lives change, it gives me a true sense of satisfaction especially when you see how much of an impact it has on their lives. It is no longer only about me alone, but my team as well.”
As a leader, Jody places heavy emphasis on transparency and mentorship. He would take the initiative to find out more about social media marketing by investing heavily in digital classes outside to bring back new knowledge that he is always more than ready to share with his district. He believes in creating a system of growth whereby his team mates are not only led by someone who knows the sweet spot to achieving success, but also someone who can relate to their struggles when engaging in day to day sales. From there, he was appointed to head the Huttons Millennial Initiative at the beginning of 2021.
Within his district, he offers his agents a newly launched, 8-day training that covers topics such as prospecting for resales, projects to launching digital marketing advertisements and presentation skills. Understanding the struggles of being a young real estate agent, he has also spearheaded training that would empower younger agents on how to gain the trust of customers regardless of age and get the chance to participate in company level training initiatives. As a result, enjoying more than 50% of his agents closing their first project sales from Facebook within their first month.
Differentiating the team from the rest
When he first entered the industry, he realised that everyone works differently and at their own pace. Understanding this, he built his team culture around a sense of transparency and flexibility. Within the team, he ensures that everyone will get the chance to receive specialised training and one-to-one coaching best suited for everyone’s capabilities. “There is never a group A, B, or C in life. We need to understand that for some agents, they may have different priorities compared to others, be it having family commitments or limited budgets. No one in my team will ever feel alone or left behind.”
Every new agent receives mentorship and training covering all forms of properties such as Resale, Landed, HDB and Condo. New agents receive guidance from how to bring in new leads, to launching their own online marketing efforts across Facebook.
Jody takes on a very hands on approach to engage in closings alongside his teammates. He encourages them to step out of their comfort zone and hopes to set a perfect example for how hard work will always pay off at the end. “Only with example can my team follow suit and understand that in this business, there will be times of failure and wins. I want my team to adopt the right mindset from the start if not, they will not succeed in this business.”
Advice for young agents today
Jody believes that all agents should be an action taker. “Sometimes, you are never going to know what may happen till you do it. Some people spend a majority amount of their time overthinking. But if you just take the next step forward to make an action, you are more likely to see success than failure.”
“Having a mentor is very important especially when you are a new agent joining the industry. With the right team, you will be surrounded by like minded people and tide through all storms. The moment you give up, that is half the battle lost.”
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