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 face 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.
Tony Teo’s journey into the real estate industry began with the desire to want more out of his life after spending ten years in a career in IT and marketing. Inspired by his father’s success in running his own company, Tony realised he had to work hard to succeed in order to enjoy the lifestyle that he wanted for himself and his family. Seeing that his father had invested in properties, Tony was inspired to do the same and now owns multiple properties in Singapore and overseas. Ever since, he has been assisting his clients meticulously through the process of buying and managing their property portfolio. “I am always more than happy to share my experience and insights with my clients and strategize with them for the best results.”
Embarking on a new journey for a better life
Tony had his own personal challenges on the way to his success. Being shy by nature, he learnt to overcome his fear of speaking and also to quickly build rapport and trust with his prospects. “I realised that my confidence grew as I learnt the ropes over time and acquired more knowledge.”
Tony’s newly-gained confidence certainly speaks for itself. Since then, he has gone on to achieve Top Agent for International Project Sales for seven consecutive years, Top Senior District Director for six consecutive years, and Top Achiever in his company for 4 consecutive years. Pushing himself out of his comfort zone, Tony has since elevated to another level in conducting numerous public talks on real estate and was also promoted to Head of Huttons International, which covers eight different countries.
Broad market expertise combined with deep, targeted analysis
Tony specialises in international sales across six countries in Southeast Asia, the United Kingdom and Australia. He credits his broad expertise to his training at Huttons, and by continuously keeping abreast of the regulatory frameworks across Singapore and other international countries. He takes it another step further by maintaining warm relationships with the developers of these countries to remain informed of any new changes within the market.
With the prevailing Covid-19 travel restrictions, Tony has shifted his focus to local sales. Regardless of his clientele, he continues to prove a highly reliable property consultant as he provides his clients with the most up-to-date information and analysis. Upon meeting his clients for the first time, he will always break down both the potential returns of investment and risks of investing in their properties of interest. He will personalise each analysis according to their lifestyles, timeline and location of the properties they are interested in. Every client who meets him has come to truly appreciate his attention to detail especially when it comes to understanding the fine-grained
market data.
Through each consultation, he prioritises the importance of establishing an effective and trusting working relationship. For instance, with the current pandemic, he noticed that many clients have started to show a preference for Whatsapp, phone call, or online Zoom consultations. As such, he would always come prepared with personalised reports breaking down various development projects and informing them of new opportunities ahead of their in-person meetings. By doing so, every client can rest assured that they are aware of every lucrative opportunity prior to making a final decision.
Establishing a sense of camaraderie within his district
Even with a hundred members in Team Tony Teo (TTT), Tony believes in cultivating an open, nurturing culture in which the team is able to openly discuss and learn from each other’s experiences. Being a man who leads by example, he organises monthly gatherings and occasional overseas trips with his teammates so that they are able to bond and connect with one another on a more personal level.
Tony has since adopted new initiatives to meet the current social distancing regulations. For Chinese New Year this year, he met smaller groups of different team members for their annual luncheon celebration, and organised a lucky draw to get everyone involved and excited even as they were unable to meet in a large group to celebrate the occasion. He’s since organised other events too—including monthly Zoom sessions where he, his producers and leaders are able to openly share their successes and learnings with the agents in the district. Tony and his leaders have continued to organise get-together meals with their associate agents, in order to maintain warm relationships and to reinforce that sense of community.
Aside from an open and nurturing environment, Tony also provides opportunities for team members to upskill. A pioneer in digital marketing, he leveraged on his expertise and provided this as a foundational skill for the district. All agents within his district will be provided the opportunity to become proficient in skills such as SEO and online marketing. Being someone who strongly believes in engaging deeply with his clients, he constantly reminds his district to stay up to date with the most recent market conditions. By doing so, not only will they gain credibility, but also the versatility to adapt to new consumer trends and behaviour.
Furthermore, within the Tony Teo District, he and his leaders launched a 14 module training initiative, “TTT Focus $300K Programme”, where every member will be taught the fundamentals and theories of the property market to help them to achieve $300K or more within their first year. Through such initiatives, new members will be guided by producers and leaders who will showcase real life case studies across the various segments including new launch condos, resale, HDB, commercial and international markets. With such readily available resources, every member has the opportunity for a holistic educational experience and be another step closer to achieving success in the career. This system has groomed three millionaire producers in TTT who have earned more than $1 million in commission for 2021.
Lastly, in the spirit of fun, Tony organises a lucky draw at the end of each monthly training and gathering to reward agents for their positive attitude towards continuous learning. Winners of these lucky draws will then enjoy the choice of spending their prize money for launching new marketing initiatives, property packages or self-care indulgences. Most recently, he even offered $16,888 dollars as the biggest reward prize money ever in his district.
Standing in the shoes of new agents
When he was asked why this is important for him, he shared that he found himself without proper guidance when he first joined the industry. This led him to form a team to share insights and to help himself and his fellow teammates quickly learn from one another and develop their skills further together. Tony and his teammates enjoy having fun together too. He recalls a couple of years when they attended their company’s dinner and dance event, and took care to dress up, and be silly together. They won the ‘Best Dressed Table’ category on those occasions. “I think it’s important to have fun, and help one another as much as possible. That’s the secret to success, and it’s a less tedious way of getting there too!”
He also looks for the same in agents who want to join his team. “I’m looking for people who have the same philosophy as I do. Let’s have fun and close deals, while remaining committed to the ethos of being part of that open and nurturing community”.
He credits the strong growth of the community to his strong and committed leaders and word-of-mouth, as people see that his producers and their agents achieve success, while enjoying the process at the same time.
Balancing a successful career with family
Despite being busy managing his own personal sales and the teams that he is in charge of, Tony continues to spend quality time with his wife and two children. Every day, he sets his priorities and goals for the day in order to use his time efficiently. He does the same at work, setting out the strategy and priorities for his teams, and providing clear goals for them to work towards. With the pandemic accelerating the digitalisation of work, Tony also found it easier to leverage on digital means of communication (e.g. Whatsapp, Zoom) to communicate more effectively and efficiently with team members and clients to reduce unnecessary meetups. All this allows him to carve out more time for him to spend with his family.
Advice for younger agents
Tony’s advice for younger agents entering the industry is to remain eager to learn, and to find the right platforms to succeed. To him, knowledge is power, so taking the opportunity to learn from other successful agents and also about the markets in other countries or types of properties to buy in Singapore or overseas will increase an agent’s branding and value. And even with greater success, Tony still believes that it’s important to understand how to do things yourself, before outsourcing it to others.
It’s also crucial to identify people that you want to work with, and who possess current industry knowledge. “If you join someone who knows how to succeed, you can learn the techniques, skills and strategies for you to achieve similar successes yourself.”
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