Money

Premier sales team hopes to rebuild real estate industry

By Liu Lu (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-10 13:19

An exclusive real estate agency is promoting an even more exclusive sales team following its official launch on Tuesday.

The agency - which deals in top-end properties, affordable only by the capital's wealthiest - is composed of

more than 30 sales directors and "outstanding salespeople", armed with rich working experience in famous Chinese real estate companies and property sales brokers such as SOHO China, Star River Property Holding Ltd and Longfor Properties Co Ltd.

According to Wang Ke, secretary-general of the agency, applicants must have exceptional abilities. Only those who have achieved annual gross sales totaling more than 200 million yuan, with a personal commission of 500,000 yuan, can apply to become part of the team.

"Salespeople are normally affiliated with real estate

developers or agencies and are not allowed to sell privately, unless of course they get permission from their employer," said a member of the agency surnamed Zhang, who claimed to have a sales record of 100 million yuan last year.

"However, we have broken this tradition because every member of our team uses their extensive network of contacts to sell homes independently."

Zhang said the new sales model was introduced because the agency wanted to make money out of the fact that excellent salespeople know how to maintain close relationships with high-end investment-oriented clients.

In the sluggish market, elite salesmen with high-quality resources will do very well, said Su Xin, chairman of Gaohe Fund Management Co Ltd, who also joined the elite sales team along with several other management-level employees of his company.

He said hot property projects, such as Milky Way SOHO, would be the agency's first target.

Some experts, however, doubt the strategy will revitalize the industry.

"Facing this property market bubble, high-end clients are being more cautions with their investments," said Li Zhong, CEO of Regal Lloyds International Real Estate Consultant Beijing Co Ltd.

"It is not at all easy to convince them to spend," he said.