Marshalling a force of over 1,400 real estate agents, Rex Tan of RTD Huttons shares insights into his approach — from harnessing cutting-edge technology, to intelligent lead generation, achieving balance in life, and finding fulfilment in seeing his team prosper.
Although today he’s the embodiment of success, breaking into the Singapore real estate market wasn’t easy going for Rex Tan. He knows from personal experience the challenges that young, aspiring realtors face. “When I started out in real estate, I was straight out of the army. I didn’t have much cash,” Tan explains. “So in the earliest days of my career, when I needed to buy a laptop, I was unable to — I didn’t have a credit card and I don’t come from a wealthy family. It was difficult, but having a laptop was crucial for me to keep all my clients’ details.”
To overcome this hurdle, Tan says he had to loan money from a colleague. “She let me borrow her credit card, so I could go to Courts and buy a laptop, then pay her back in instalments whenever I closed some deals,” he says. “That was one of the biggest challenges I had when I started my real estate career, but it kind of pushed me through to work my hardest, because I never want to go back to that state.”
The lesson Tan took from this experience: “I always tell young agents, if you have no money you need to pay out by sweating. It’s either you sweat or you have money to leverage in the real estate business.” He suggests you need to work hard, take on any tasks, to earn the capital to get going in the industry. “This will help you to kickstart your real estate career, smarter and faster.”
Nurturing Talent, from Exam to Expertise
Today, RTD comprises around 1,400 agents (470 of whom joined this year), and Tan has set the goal of increasing that number to 1,500 within the coming months. He attracts talent by nurturing and assisting aspiring agents through every stage of their journey into the industry, from exam preparation to post-licensure education.
“Before you pass your exam, we have first of all our RES Revision app, providing more than 800 MCQ past-year exam papers to enhance learning,” Tan explains. Complemented by physical and Zoom classes, this multi-pronged strategy ensures agents are well-prepared to ace their exams — and thereafter, to face the challenging real estate landscape with confidence.
“One of the common challenges faced by agents is lead generation,” Tan acknowledges. To tackle this, RTD provides comprehensive lead generation training and a unique RTD Ads Library, comprising images, videos, and content writing support from RTD’s in-house marcoms team. These resources equip agents to take the necessary steps to generate leads efficiently and easily.
Perfecting Customer Relationship Management
“We provide cutting-edge technology like our RTD Advisor app to help our agents remain in the forefront of the industry,” Tan says. “Our AI-powered tools help agents build a better relationship with the customer, using our in-house customer relationship management (CRM) system.” Tan feels the heart of RTD’s success lies in its CRM.
“The first important thing about the CRM is the auto reminder, prompting agents on when and how to follow up with clients,” Tan notes. This is vital, as timely follow-up, when customer interest is at its highest, is the key to making a sale. The system also extends to tracking client preferences. “That helps agents target the clients’ specific interests,” Tan says, so they can be contacted about the most relevant opportunities.
“Whether new to the field or very experienced, a problem all agents face is handling objections — knowing what to say to clients when there are market cooling measures, or increasing interest rates, for instance,” Tan says. “We provide different scripts to cater for different scenarios,” he explains, allowing agents to provide a smoother client experience.
“In customer relationship management, these are the three critical components: prompt follow-ups, targeted tracking based on client interests, and objection-handling scripts,” Tan emphasises. Providing a tried-and-tested, systematic approach to customer interactions, these core components of the CRM reflect RTD’s dedication to ensuring agents are always performing at their optimum.
Data-Driven Decision Making
With over 30 analytical reports, RTD employs data to guide both agents and clients. Tan highlights the Asset Portfolio Analysis (APA) tool, which swiftly tailors financial advice based on clients’ individual inputs. “With that, we’re able to recommend portfolios suited to different client financial scenarios,” Tan says.
“Our reports give clients valuable insights to help guide their financial decisions,” Tan elaborates. He says clients’ trust in RTD is such that they don’t hesitate to provide sensitive financial information, in order to take advantage of the various tech tools RTD offers. “We provide structured training to ensure our agents can easily utilise these tools, reports, and market insights,” Tan explains.
Looking to the future, Tan envisions incorporating AI and machine learning into RTD’s analytical algorithms. “We want to foster a community learning experience, where agents contribute ideas to develop our app to achieve even better functionality,” he adds, emphasising RTD’s collaborative spirit and goal of constant improvement.
Leading with Passion and Purpose
Tan’s leadership journey has been shaped by his passion for helping his team succeed. “What makes me happy is to help our fellow agents bring more money back to their families,” he shares. “When I see our agents doing well, that’s incredibly fulfilling,” he says. “That charges me up.”
A great believer in leading by example, Tan says leaders need to emanate positivity, optimism and personal excellence, creating an environment that encourages others to excel. “Your team will always look to you and ask, ‘Are my leaders working? Are my leaders contributing?’ Being in your top performance state encourages others to step up as well,” Tan says.
He advises the younger generation to embrace taking a leadership role, when the time comes. “Sooner or later, you’re going to pick up a leadership role — maybe it’s when you become a parent, or when you come to take care of your own parents in their old age. But I say, in any time of your life, when you have the chance, you should pick up that leadership role.” By accepting leadership in his early career, Tan says, “That helped me to be a better father, a better son, and of course a better leader for all my agents.”
Another, more light-hearted piece of advice Tan gives young agents: “Work hard and play hard. In my younger days, I worked very hard, but I partied hard, too,” he laughs. “Don’t spend your whole life just working! Live your life with no regrets.” Surely that is the ultimate success.
Interested in cutting-edge real estate solutions and insightful industry guidance? Connect with Rex Tan at +65 90270155 to explore how technology and expert training can elevate your real estate experience.
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