Real Estate Agents Urged to be Consultants of the Industry
The Managing Director of Orel Ghana Mr Richard Mantho has urged real estate agents to be credible in their dealings and also build their expertise in the industry.
He said the perception house-hunters had about real estate agents could only be changed if agents see themselves as consultants.
“One of the biggest investments is to buy or rent a property and we, as agents should be credible in our dealings,” Mr Mantho said.
“It’s a customer’s recommendation that will get you more clients, however, we should move from being the showing-of-property type of agent to becoming the consultants,” Mr Mantho said during the second Agents Education Series organised by real estate portal, Lamudi.
According to Mr Mantho, most agents were seen to be unprofessional because they lack the skills and structures to run their businesses.
“Let’s network and learn from the experienced ones in the industry. Be under a broker who has an office and has right structures in place. That is the way to go as a start-up,” he admonished.
In her presentation on turning online leads into sales, Managing Director of Lamudi Ghana Akua Nyame-Mensah advised agents to desist from the practice of asking potential customers about their budgets when they interact for the first time.
“Never ask a customer what his budget is when that person calls you the first time because that puts customers off. The first question to ask a customer who calls for the first time is to describe the properties they want to buy,” she told the agents.
Over the years, real estate agents have been perceived to be unprofessional in their dealings with house hunters and this has led to the negative perception about agents.
The Lamudi Agents Education Series is organized to train real estate agents and improve their professionalism in their business activities.
Agents who successfully go through the training will be presented with certificates endorsed by Lamudi.
This entitles such agents to key benefits such as special mentions on the Lamudi website.
Launched in 2013, Lamudi is a global property portal focusing exclusively on emerging markets.
The fast-growing platform is currently available in 28 countries including Ghana, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, with more than 600,000 real estate listings across its global network.
The leading real estate marketplace offers sellers, buyers, landlords and renters a secure and easy-to-use platform to find or list properties online.
Source: GNA