In this article series, I'm going to feature some of the leaders in #BSA and share their experience with myself and in the team.
Today, we will be speaking to Jackson B!
Jackson is an Associate Group Director and focuses on helping his clients build and increase their investment portfolio. He was also ranked top 1% in PropNex in April 2022. The interview is conducted by my team on my behalf.
Can you introduce yourself?
My name is Jackson B. I've been in the front lines of being a Real Estate Salesperson for about four years. Previously, I was a property analyst with Knight Frank, so all those numbers that you see on the newspapers and reports, like the potential buying price, selling price, development price. That was actually my job.
I had a short gig with a local developer. And one of the best experiences I had was we got the bid for 8 Hullet which is now almost completed, a luxury property in the heart of District 9.
How did you get into Real Estate?
The funny story here is that I have never seen myself to be a salesperson. How I got to this industry is because my elder sister has been in the industry, and she's a veteran. When I graduated from Uni, she actually invited me to join her. Of course I said no! Because, to me, being a salesperson - whether it is Real Estate or selling tech products is like a "snake oil slimy" industry so I decided that I didn't want to be in this trade.
Having been trained as an economist back in Uni, I thought that I could go corporate, but I also didn't. So I decided to start my own business as a fitness trainer. And then I was saying that you know what I want to be "Entrepreneur of the Year", and so on and so forth. And that was pretty much also because I was in the environment of SMU, which has a very strong entrepreneurial culture. One thing led to another, I didn't make it in my business because of certain legal fallouts. Fast forward 10 years later, I decided to ask my sister, "How do I join you?"
Was it easy for you to integrate into a sales role?
No, in fact I faced a lot of challenges. Coming on board during my first two years (2018 to 2019), I was still trying to find my grounds, and I was very fortunate to have Bobby take me under his wing. Yeah, it all sort of sparked, only one year after I joined the industry.
When I first joined the industry, I only made like $30,000. That is a poor sum, but to me, I figured I can get by, because I used to be paid only $3,000 being an analyst. It was on par. And then Bobby shared with me a vision, and I'd feel a bit shy back then, but he said "You know what, I'm going to do projects. And I know you want to, your vision has always been to conquer the Core Central Region."
He was right. That was what I wanted. So he took me into a project called The Hyde.
Bobby did a lot of amazing things for me. I went in with zero experience of doing projects, but he actually introduced me to the company, and they saw me and thought "Eh, actually this guy can do it, why don't we ask him to be part of this project?" They were taking a gamble by letting me try it. So I took on the role as one of the project in-charge for this development called the The Hyde in 2019. And I started to be very close to Bobby, because he is the chief (head of the project). I had to work very closely with him to find out how to promote this project, how to attract our colleagues to come and look at this project, how to reach out to clients, so on and so forth.
From then on, I'm very grateful because one project lead to the other, so after The Hyde, I took on Pullman, which is a branded residences just a few hundred meters away from the The Hyde. And that's how I started to anchor myself in the Core Central Region.
How did you meet Bobby, and what was your first impression of him?
Here's a funny story and, you know, I'm going to say in a concise version. Actually, Bobby wasn't my first choice leader. Ok so this is a secret. I don't know if he knew, I think I told him before. *laughs* My sister was telling me, "Bobby's my boss, why don't you just come in, just talk to him and then you decide, whichever ones you want to join right, it's fine."
I knew that PropNex has a very horizontal integration culture. What that means is that I can approach any other leaders for advice, and my main leader won't be jealous. In fact he did encourage you to go find others. Like for example, leader B has some new skills, leader Z has some different skills. They all just want the best for you. When I first met Bobby, he told me this one thing, and I was sold. This is something I always like to tease him about.
He shared this with me "Jackson, when you find a leader, first you need to find one that you're comfortable with. Second, which is the most important, is that you need to find a one that you have a connection with."
Yeah, and he said this "connection" is like Avatar (the movie). The Avatar where you know where he wants to ride the flying thing like a dinosaur. He has to connect to the fly thing, and because of that connection right then they can fly and soar. The leader is somebody that you must find a connection with. When I heard that, I felt it made perfect sense. I was really like a zero experience "want to become salesman", "has-been entrepreneur". I have never been led. I was always leading.
It was tough for me to feel like I "succumb to my leader, and just follow instructions". What really caught my attention was his emphasis on coaching. It really attracted me to his program, so I decided to get the ball rolling and join his team.
"Let's do it."
How would you describe your impression of Bobby when you first met him versus today?
When I first met him, I felt he was very flamboyant, and very charismatic leader who has the gift of the gab.
And what I've felt about him was he was very much like my basketball coach. He would take out this A3 paper and draw so many things on it, like a basketball strategy. But he was drawing business strategies and tactics on it.
He was also very open to me. That was impactful because at that time, my ego was over the roof. I was very insistent on telling him my ideas, and stuff I've learnt from Knight Frank and my studies. I insisted to want to transfer my skills over to Real Estate and not let it go to waste. He was very open as a top leader. So he sat down and listened to my ideas and my pitch. But at the end of the day, my pitch was also totally nonsensical. It made no sense on how I can do sales with my ideas.
Bobby is also very patient and, and he often sat down with me and it came down to a point that for my first year, I didn't do well because I was so shy to approach him. He like one of those Greek gods you know that you can never have any access to. *laughs*
Bobby was very open and he opened up when I first approached him about The Hyde, then he decided that he couldn't leave me lying down there like I'm floating in the sea. So he took me in, and then he literally coached me day in, day out. He deconstructed my certain bad habits. And he taught me how to be a little bit more flexible, how to be a little bit more attune to not just the customer, but to the marketplace. But most importantly how to listen.
As a mentor and as a leader, how would you describe Bobby with three words
Flexible
Accommodating
Very creative
Bobby strongly believes in the 90/10 concept - where 90% success comes from individual's ownership, and 10% success comes from the resources and support that #BSA provides to help everyone achieve their goals and success. Do you agree with this and personally how have you experienced this?
When he first told me about it, I couldn't really feel it. But as a former entrepreneur. I could understand. As entrepreneurs, we normally do not have any resources. We try to find the best resources and in the end, 90% of it was all mental. When I heard this phrase, where "You've got to be obsessed about something to be really good at it, and talent is just the Kickstarter, or igniter before you really succeed. You need to be obsessed". I think that's really in tandem with what Bobby's trying to say.
Being a salesperson, you need to be obsessed about delivering your value added-ness to the client. You need to be obsessed of helping them to grow their portfolio. Now that there's so many tools out there, which one to use? And the sad part of it is, even though we have so many tools right, either it confuses the user or the user absorbs everything, and then doesn't do anything about it.
When it comes down to the 90% of the things is you really have to put yourself out to be a businessman or businesswoman. And I think this time, a lot of RES that comes on board, they are being attracted to a very set program, they go to A, B and C mentor and they have some kind of step by step guide. To be honest, that is a good thing to start. And that was something that also attracted me to Bobby because when we met, he told me "Here's a step by step guide guide customized for Jackson", and not a step by step guide customized for everybody.
So when it comes down to the 90-10 rule, after you know the step by step guide, then 90% is your own effort to make it happen. and every business is like this. There's no businesses out there where I know the, the CEO or the managing director goes around doing the reverse - where it is like 90% tools, 10% effort. I have never seen that. So I think being a RES, for you to really succeed right, is to take ownership of this obsession that you have, that you want to help your clients, that you want to be the best realtor, to be the best consultant, the best advisor, and not just a salesperson that push products. Right? You're not a seller, you're actually an advisor, and that takes a lot of effort.
The tools are just there to help you be the best advisor. The tools are not there for you to be the best salesperson.
How has how would you say the support system and also the resources provided to you and your team by #BSA is different as what you've been seeing from like in other divisions?
So, we have this particular training session called Debunking The Myth. It is being fronted by Ghee Tat and Stella, who are two very impressive people because one is into the money market, and one of them is actually was a statistician. So when it comes to the numbers, I went all for it! Because I used to be an analyst, I used to study economics, and I used to study actuarial science.
When this data came around, "WOW!", I could really relate. Because you start to talk to people, as though you're an investment banker, as though you are, you know, a hedge fund manager, and the content is different. The approach of it is different. A lot of times I'd be asked a question like, "Hey, you know, why 2013, it was the cooling measures and caused the price to really dip. Jackson you know my game is to wait for the next cooling measures are the prices are really going to come down again"
I will usually reply by agreeing with my client, and showing them something else beyond why there was a price dip. It won't be just based on one factor, and the price dip can be based on a multitude of factors. I will then use those slides that Ghee Tat and Stella has curated and provided, and use it to speak with them, and the feedback that I get from my clients will be like, "Hey you know is this kind of different. Well I never knew that it was like that and you are one of the very rare few that could deliver this information to me."
I will be able to share from this perspective, that perspective, and I think that is really amazing part about "Debunking The Myth." It helps us to understand the market, understand the WHY's and the HOW's from a very advisory point of view and then that sinks in very nicely with Bobby Sng Advisory group. That's just one of the things that I really resonated with.
We have other tools that come in, and it's called GM Property. This tool is amazing, because now I can go out and tell my clients. "Hey guys, you want to retire, retire in style, retire like you're a rock star. Now let's plan. Tell me what's your plan."
I would say a large proportion of the clients only can visualize, but don't know how. With this tool, I can tell you how, I can show it to you how. And it's not just using by property as an investment vehicle. I'm also able to work with many partners, whether its private bankers, investment bankers, whether they are financial advisors, whether they are hedge fund managers, because I know my clients aim. I will know how much assets they have, or assets under management, then why not we help you grow your portfolio? It's like a one stop shop.
Bobby has always been very creative. He tries to value-add all the people under him on what's the current knowledge you must have. Here are just some of the things that can make you stand out of the crowd. Standing up from all the people in PropNex is not an easy thing, because we have 12,000 over colleagues. That's one third of the entire sales persons population! To stand out from all 33,000 salespersons, what do you have to do?
To summaries, all the tools here are very useful. Again, 90-10 rule. If you collect all the tools, and you do nothing about it, not get obsessed about it, then nothing is going to happen.
How has been a subsidiary of #BSA impacted that you as a leader, and also in leading your team?
#BSA has a very good support structure, one of them being that they are horizontally integrated. This means that even though I'm a few tiers below Bobby, any one of my teammates will still have full access to Bobby.
Having that full access to him, actually in a corporate structure is almost close to zero. But in the #BSA structure is compressed and everybody is level. And not only do my teammates have access to Bobby, hey also have access to any other leaders that are within #BSA. Just to mention a few names, Melvyn Xu, Justin Kwek, Jasmine Lau. My teammates and I are always welcome to partake in any of their activities.
Being in #BSA, is really a little bit unique. Not only do Bobby comes up with new products that gives us an edge, not only does he create activities that are market sensitive and market current...
But he also create an environment where he encourages everyone to get together, and there is no animosity or no jealousy between all teams, but rather there's a single mind set which is - Let's all win together.
We can all come into small groups, from different groups to amplify our energy, amplify our obsession. And we are not under the same umbrella and could be from different other divisions, different groups. Yeah, we just come together because we feel that we have this synergy with each other. It's amazing, it's so fluid that I always feel like I'm with family.
How many people do you have in your team currently? And is there a goal that you're looking to hit?
Currently, I have 3. And I would have 2 coming on board after they have passed their exams in August next month.
I am looking to build up my team to at least about 12 by the end of this year. And looking to grow as huge as I possibly can. But for the time being, I would really want to work with 12, because I want to have a dedicated 1 to 1 time to coach them like how Bobby has coached me, so that they could accelerate their career in Real Estate.
What would you say are the top 3 traits in new RES that you look out for?
Ability to be obsessed. Obsession with the right things, not the bad things.
A very strong will, strong will.
Being empathetic.
Do you have anything else you'd like to share about Bobby?
Bobby is one of the bosses that is very unique. He'll be there for you, if you make effort to find him. Only when you find him, then you will know more about him and his heart. And Bobby's heart is like, I don't know... It's big.
But regardless of whoever you are, whatever you are, whatever sales results you have, he never says no to you, as long as you ask him. And I think for that to be a leader, with his time so packed, it's very amazing, because I worked with a couple of bosses before in the past. But he's the one that really will be there for you. I think that's important.
When I first joined #BSA, I was being taken under their wing, like when you join Primary School, you have the buddy-buddy system. I'm very grateful for that because I will always think "Who am I? Why would they want to waste time to buddy-buddy me, and to guide me through the ins and outs of things, right?" It was kind of amazing where you know everybody is just like family.
And with regards to this, I would say it radiates out to the entire PropNex which I'm very grateful to. Bobby's also a very understanding boss. He is also somebody with a lot of, I would say.... *thinking* Is it called benevolent, magnanimous?
He never wants to stop me or anybody to have direct contact with the PropNex higher management, to be being coached by them. They are also always trying to find more opportunities on how I can be involved. This is an organization structure which I have never come across, everybody's so encouraging, all the way up to my CEO - He remembers you by name, sometimes he will text you.
Even my executive directors Kelvin Fong and Alan Lim will text me, they just want to make sure one thing - that you win in life, that you win in sales, to being the best of the best by yourself within the company, and within the industry.
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