Hello everyone! Welcome to today's blog.
Today I'm going to talk about what happened on Halloween during a business meeting. For me, it didn't go well even if it started okay. And then Friday I saw a video by a relationship coach I used to watch several years ago. He had his points on how the communication during a business meeting should go and then I realized something about what happened back in Thursday. So let me share what I think about it.
What Happened on Halloween 2019
So I went to a cafe in a mall along Shaw Blvd in Mandaluyong on Thursday to meet with the potential property client/s. Oh but wait, lemme give you the back story first.
The Story Behind The Meeting
One of their group mates or friends (let's call her Pink) saw my post on a certain real estate website a few months ago and got in touch with me on Viber. She told me they would like to resell their bulk property investments here in Metro Manila (NCR). We had chatted about having a meeting a month or so prior to October 31 but nah... it didn't happen.
Pink contacted me in mid-July for a meeting in August but that didn't go through. The person she said will meet me did not set any meeting. I advised them we would need to have an Authority to Sell document signed by the property owner or the Special Power of Attorney (SPA) before we will sell any of their properties. Pink actually already gave me the names of the condo properties they needed to resell. Since the meeting didn't go through I went about my work and finally sold the resale Westin unit before the end of July.
Setting the meeting
On Tuesday this week another person suddenly contacted me, let's call her Violet, saying their friend Pink referred me to them. And so we chatted on Viber a bit more and finally set a date to meet. They would arrive on Wednesday from overseas so I gave the date and time of meeting, she agreed and she gave the venue and I agreed after informing the broker. Finally, we had the meeting on that day.
Getting There
So at first I thought of riding the bus because the roads where I live was almost empty so I took the jeep to the bus stop. Even if it was almost November 1 (holiday), I saw south bound EDSA was still bumper to bumper. I had no choice but to walk quite a distance to ride the MRT. I arrived at the mall exactly at the meeting time. Took me 5 minutes to get to the cafe meeting place.
Meeting the Foreign Investors
Violet is very nice and polite that she even offered to wait for me at the front of the cafe in case I couldn't find it. Even her Viber profile picture shows how nice she is. 😅
Anyway I asked the waiter where the foreigners were sitting. Was told Violet was waiting for me outside. Also saw a guy with a laptop and thought it might be her partner. She had mentioned her partner would come along as well. Let's call him Blue.
I went to Violet, shook her hand and we did go to where Blue was. Upon shaking his hand and sitting they offered me to choose a drink from the menu. 😂
I got there before my broker so we had enough time to talk a bit on our own. Oh I was mildly sweating from all the walking I did and it was kinda hot outside too. Mind you I wore my suit blazer because you know it's supposed to be a business meeting right? To my shock when I arrived they were both wearing almost casual clothes. I kinda felt embarrassed to be "overdressed". 😶🤦
Blue asked me if I had lunch already, I said "later", but he said I could order my lunch, and they insisted on it when I declined. Who was I to disagree when I only drank a few caps of One Opti Juice after I woke up and before I left to go to the meeting place, a glass of milk.
Woke up around past 9am but had to respond to my custom temp tatts custmers too. They were my immediate cash source so of course I will also finish giving price quotes, etc. So there, I had sacrificed my breakfast for business. Could have bought some boiled saba banana on the way but didn't stop cause you know, had to walk to get to the MRT and catch the earliest train I could. Sad life. 😂
Anyway I wasn't familiar with the menu so I eventually called a waiter and asked what's good. Ordered pasta and decided to just drink water because hey, I might be overspending if I pay for it. And they might think I have a thick face if I order a lot and they're going to pay for it. 😂
While waiting for my order, he asked me what I do and sell. Told them about the brokerage I'm now under and how many in the team we are. Also informed them I sold a resale Westin unit. Also another one before that, directly from the developer. Informed them I like Ortigas, especially the gold building. Haha.
Apparently when they buy properties they go directly to the developer. Not sure if the assigned property agent gets the commission at all because Violet said they talk directly to the developers. Silly me to have assumed their agent is/was lucky. 😂 More sillier of me to have given them a flyer of Westin Manila Residences but hey, it can't hurt to try. 😜 (I don't think they even bother with agents when buying condo units... 🤔) Why wouldn't I at least give a flyer when it's my focus property for more than a year. Haha.
I even asked them where they are currently staying but Blue said they move around to learn about the neighborhood or environment of the properties they are investing in. Violet almost agreed when I mentioned they are staying in Shangri-la or the other Shang condo properties in the area. I felt Blue was not that open to sharing plenty of information. Why not when my other clients usually stay and rent in such units? I would have told them, oh I have clients who stay there too, and bla bla bla. 🤷 This was the first instance of me thinking there's something kinda fishy somewhere.
Then Blue informed me, because I also like the Ortigas area they are willing to have us sell a few units of The Maven from Capitol Commons (Ortigas & Co.). Good thing I just went there last weekend and even took videos of the model units. Haha! So timely. Watch one of my videos below.
Aside from that, I also showed them the Authority to Sell (ATS) document and explained why they would need to sign it.
Since they have many units, I informed them that without it we will not sell any property unless it is signed by the owner/s or the one who has the Special Power of Attorney (SPA). Before we even met, I explained it to Pink and the other person who wasn't able to meet with us. They need to have an idea on what we need before we can sell their units.
Even for the resale Westin unit, I had an ATS for that before I even marketed it online. No way would I work on it without an ATS. Even if it is not exclusive to me, as required by law, I sell resale properties only if I have a signed ATS.
As the preselling condo units are not direct to developers, we will need an ATS for our protection as their seller representative. On top of that they can also use it as proof of our agreement or as a paper record / documentation.
To cut the long story short, Blue apparently was the one in charge to do business with.
My Broker Arrives and The Meeting Starts for Real
So after my order arrived and I finished talking about the ATS, etc., finally my broker came in as well. They gave her the menu and she ordered an iced latte. Told her about what we already talked about and they proceeded from there.
They asked her about her background too, etc. Then she asked them a few questions about who they are and if they are a company selling the properties, etc.
I won't disclose their nationality and their names of course. Hehe. Anyway, apparently they are finance graduates from other countries, which is why they speak good English. And from their conversation with my broker, the two mentioned they are almost 30. Lol, the broker said "Oh so young," like she was 20 years older. 😂 Age is a topic I don't really talk about so I kinda mumbled something, I think, and we moved on to another topic.
We learned that they come here every few months to do research, invest and buy certain properties. I told the broker they arrived Wednesday but Blue corrected me saying they have been here since 3 days ago (from Thu)... Hmmm. That made me think again. Who's telling the truth, Blue or Violet?
Blue and co., also said they have a local lawyer who works with them and comes up with contracts for them before they buy any condo units. Wow, I never thought that's possible but now I know foreign bulk buyers can use their own contracts to buy condo properties from big developers here. Mind you, it's not the norm and not all developers allow that. 😉
So anyway, as Blue mentioned, what they do is they research and live near where the property they are interested in just to see what kind of environment it is first. If they like everything about it they go direct to the developer or walk in to a property they are interested in and buys the best units per floor or by section in bulk.
Basically, they would like us to sell a few of The Maven units they own. He was really pushing it to be the property for us to sell and that I can't really choose other properties. He even went as far as telling us how to do our job in selling the units. 😂😂😂
They mostly have low to mid-end properties than high end or luxury ones. From what I told him he can already assume I prefer to sell/market mid-end to high or luxury properties even if I offer affordable properties as well. He then mentioned they also have some high-end condos but they aren't going to resell them at the moment. They have other low and mid-end units they will be renting out too upon turnover. Somehow during the conversation he made me feel I shouldn't be selling luxury properties but lower ones like what they buy instead. (Uhmmm no. 🤔)
Then of course the topic of the ATS came up again. Somehow, Blue isn't really okay with having to sign ATS for all or any units. We need to have specific units to sell but it seems they want us to sell a variety of units without giving us specific ones as if they were the same as developers. 🤐 I could see he was starting to get stressed while he thought about it and said it might not be possible to ask his client investors to sign any ATS. Said they're busy people.
He was apologetic about being straight to the point, unlike Violet whom he pointed at saying she is the nice one. But I said he need not worry, I'm straight to the point too. (And I'm not sorry at all for speaking that way. 😉 I've always been like that since I was young thus sensitive people find it rude. Well hey I'd rather say it straight than go around in circles and waste time.)
Blue should understand, real estate work is not a walk in the park. He should already know that because he or their group are acting as a liason between their family members and relatives they invest for. Even very busy, business people or investors have time to sign a few documents if they really want to sell their properties. Come on. 😂
So we had to explain further how an SPA can do it in behalf of the sellers. He also mentioned they were also talking to other agents and (probably) other brokers too. He said the other people they talked to never said anything about any ATS. Huh. Perhaps they've been talking to agents directly under developers, or worse, "freelance agents" who aren't licensed???
There is a memorandum from the government saying any agent or broker is not allowed to sell any property without an ATS. Especially if it is a resale one, the signed document is needed since it is already beyond the developers' concern. We said they can ask their lawyer about it and show them the ATS I gave them if they would like to check on it further, bla bla bla.
If you do a quick search online you'll find that an ATS is included in the process of selling properties (if not direct from developers) here in the Philippines.
Since it was getting stressful for all parties just talking about the ATS, I changed the topic by asking them if they have different units aside from the ones from Capitol Commons. Of course I was thinking maybe they have units some of my clients are looking for. The conversation was going nowhere so I'd very much like to make a non-bulk deal if they have some of what my clients were looking for.
Well... I did say Pink told me about the SMDC properties they'd like me to sell. For some reason Blue was hesitant to name more properties. Okay that's the third kinda fishy thing for me. I already know they have more and eventually he mentioned a new one like some from Fame Residences and then Kai Gardens & Prisma from DMCI. 🤷
At this point I already know we might not be doing any deal at all. We've been nothing but honest and yet they have their qualms and things they want to do their way which made me decide we're not a business match at all.
Eventually we started talking about a few random things and then I called a waiter to pay for my food but Violet said oh no no noo, looking embarrassed or something like an anime character sweating. Hahaha.
Okay. 😆 That certainly lightened the mood. At least they are generous enough to buy food for realtors they talk to. We said our thanks, smiled, shook their hands and left.
How To Work Well With Others
Okay, so no sweat if that deal doesn't or didn't push through. For it to succeed both parties have to understand each other and meet in the middle.
On a related note, morning of All Saints' Day I happened to see a Facebook video from a relationship coach I used to watch. I forgot why I stopped watching his videos... Maybe 'cause I didn't need his "advice" anymore? 🤷
Anyway watch this:
My comment on someone's comment trying to diss him (or the video) was this:
"Perhaps Matthew didn't set the expectations that's why that happened to them. I mean, he gave the other people 1 hr each. Did he give them any direction on what to do with the one hour? Maybe they just did the greetings first and then the other party kept talking and he or they didn't make it a conversation.
If Matthew was just sitting there listening to everything, of course he would get bored. The other party would expect that since Matthew wasn't saying anything, they can go on and on unless they thought to make it a conversation too and asked him questions or his thoughts in between their "speech".
On his end, Matthew could have asked questions abt what the person was talking about, made it a conversation instead of waiting for them to finish their "speech". 🤷 He can reach out and make a connection instead of waiting for the other person to finish. It's not interrupting if you want to ask abt what they just said, etc. It's making a conversation."
My comment on the video itself was this:
"I just had a meeting with a foreign and potential property client on Thursday and they were asking me questions and I/we were asking them questions however they only wanted us to do what they wanted to do instead of collaborating to make the deal happen.
For me work/business is a collaboration not just you telling us and making us do what you want us to do or us doing what we want to do for other people.
We have to meet in the middle. We both should make it the "star project/collaboration/business" and not both of us vying to be the only "star of the show". Actually yes we were having a getting to know each other meeting, building rapport and all that. They would tell us abt what they do and I/we would also tell them abt what we do in a casual conversation.
Watching this video also made me realize that we're both not going to do business with each other because we did not discuss meeting halfway to make anything work for all of us. Next time I will let them know more abt how things will work for both of us rather than just informing them how we do business or not accepting what only works for them."
I admit I'm not an expert on making deals yet. Actually near the end of the meeting, I already decided not to take their business. Why? I prefer honest people. If you have something to hide from me, you're lying about something, or are being shady when we ask questions I'd rather do business with other people.
Honesty is the best policy. Granted it's the first time we met but because it's a business meeting I expected to have the correct details of the business rather than being given crumbs or having a hard time fishing for the information. So instead of making any effort in closing the deal, I held off at the end and didn't want take the units and sell them. If they only wanted to do things their way and didn't want to follow Philippine laws then I'm out. 😎
What do you think?
XOXO,
@artgirl
Written by @artgirl for Steemit.
© Art x Stephanie Rue
@artgirl is a freelance writer/artist & online seller and real estate agent. My Steemit posts may contain referral/affiliate/merchandise links.
Contact me for your art, Writing/Research & Metro Manila (NCR) property needs.
For business inquiries, you can chat me up on Steem.chat, Telegram or send me a Facebook message. Link in my bio.
Like it?
Upvote, Follow and Resteem/Share for appreciation.
♥ Thanks! ♥