In this article series, I'm going to feature some of the leaders in #BSA and share their experiences with me and the team.
Today, we will be speaking to Melvyn Xu!
Melvyn is a Senior Associate Group District Director who has been in the Real Estate industry for 18 years. Throughout his long-standing career, Melvyn has gained a wealth of knowledge and insights with his involvement in almost all types of property deals and clientele base.
In our interview, Melvyn talks about his 18-year career, how he got started, and his experience being a subsidiary of #BSA and how it has helped him in his career in sales, leadership, and team building.
The interview is conducted by my team on my behalf.
Can you introduce yourself and also, your experience in the Real Estate industry?
Hello, my name is Melvyn Xu. I am in this industry since 2004, which makes it about 18 years now.
So, I started off working part-time as an HDB agent. I remembered clearly that my first few deals were mostly room rentals, which have the lowest commission; and, actually, my first deal was a referral from a friend from the army. Subsequently, I closed a few others from that referral.
Real Estate then was not my full-time job until a year later, so you can say my first year as a part-timer was a huge learning process for me.
What got me started in Real Estate as a full-timer was that I told myself I needed to do something big. So, quite fortunately for me, once I became a full-time realtor, I managed to close 10k in my first month which was considered a lot back then! And from then, it was no turning back.
After that, I switched to doing private residential and a decade later, I am also comfortable in doing super luxurious developments called "Ultra-Lux", which are projects that are more expensively priced in Singapore, usually located in the high-end central area.
Over the past five years, I managed to close quite a few luxurious projects and had a few major breakthroughs such as closings on conservation shophouses and even for commercials and higher-end rental deals that are at least 25k to 30k. It seemed like I'd done everything from room rentals to big quantum (laugh). Yea, and what's left on my bucket list are closing hotel deals, you know, leasing the entire building, and closing a GCB sales. These are my personal goals to achieve as an agent.
As a leader, I enjoy team building. I have over 120 agents and have two very successful leaders, Justin Kwek and Aloysius Lim branding themselves as the DreamTeam, under me. So, I'm running my division with the two leaders running their divisions themselves. And I hope by the end of next year, Melvyn Xu Division will have 300 agents.
Also, I have my fair share of running projects as Chief I/C in my previous company, and now, as a Lead I/C in PropNex. This means I have opportunities to speak to developers and assist with plannings on an even bigger scale. This is very interesting for me because, from one side, I get to know what the developer thinks, and on the other, I am directly engaged with clients/customers, you know, the seller, buyer, landlord, and tenants. So I get to hear and learn from all ends.
How did you actually first meet Bobby? What was your impression of Bobby then and now?
I actually knew Bobby for quite some time. 18 years ago, we were from the same company. In fact, we joined that company together as new agents and had the same mentor and uplines. Then subsequently, he went to PropNex and me another.
We didn't keep in contact at all until 2017 - when I wanted to change to a new company. So naturally, Bobby came to my mind then because, at that time, he was already quite well known as a coach and as a top leader. Then we met up and spoke to each other before I joined him after a few months.
So, actually, there was not much change then and now. 18 years ago, he was already very creative in his marketing ways, he doesn't like to follow the conventional ways. He's always using creative ways to market his properties, and also always planning on how to get customers to have more and deeper impressions of him.
Now, I think the difference would be how he approaches us to help us solve problems. So, Bobby, in my own opinion, has solutions for almost everything and can solve really complex problems instantly. So far no complex problem he cannot solve. Complex problems are those human-to-human management and relationships.
How would you describe Bobby as a leader?
Looking at him as the Chief project I/C from a Lead I/C's point of view, he's outstanding. I am amazed by the way he communicates and discusses with the developers. How Bobby can swiftly analyze problems on the ground, and come up with possible solutions and direction.
And as the leader of #BSA, I can see that he's always trying to do something to help everybody improve and get better. Bobby is always providing us with new ideas, with new videos. Always on the go, watching and looking out for market problems and planning solutions for them.
Bobby strongly believes in the 90/10 concept - where 90% of success comes from individual ownership, and 10% of 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?
So, this 90/10 concept is something I do agree with. Because I understand where Bobby's coming from and I resonate with him on the need to be accountable and take charge of your own results. While I do understand that the term 'successful' means different things to each individual, at least for me, I think the idea of this 90/10 concept is why I'm successful myself.
Actually, I see my achievements and progress in a more 100/0 concept. Because I emphasize 100% ownership towards myself. And in fact, where I am today I feel is because I took 100% ownership. This is also the reason why I am able to adapt to change easily. Because when you take 100% responsibility for yourself, things will actually change. Putting blame on others or waiting for external support, nothing will change. Unfortunately, I must say that this is a rather new concept, and I think a lot of people still are trying to understand and process its core.
How has how would you say the support system and also the resources provided to you and your team by #BSA is different from what you've been seeing in other divisions?
Definitely has helped many agents, including myself, my agents, my leaders, and their teams. Especially the debunking myth series, which is actually created by Stella Thio but is a #BSA initiative. That is major support. Even my leaders, Justin and Aloysius, are using that information to create relevant decks and slides to communicate and share insights with their agents and clients. So, this debunking myth series is definitely one of the key selling points for #BSA.
Another huge support I feel are the video trainings that Bobby recorded specifically for new RES. I do actually send those videos to new agents and get them to listen. So, you know, some agents learned through visuals while some need to hear - the video aspect focused on both visual and audio. And in fact, because of those videos, my agents can very quickly understand and learn the fundamentals of being a Real Estate agent.
How has being a subsidiary of #BSA impacted you as a leader, and also in leading your team?
It is an advantage to be a subsidiary of #BSA. There are a lot of challenges in the market now as teams are getting bigger and bigger. So, technically you lose out on branding if you're not in one of the big teams. And thankfully, #BSA is one of the top three brands in PropNex. And, you know, every division has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. So likewise for #BSA, the name in itself is a strength and an influence. Moreover, #BSA also has many different talents - agents with their own areas of expertise. And we can easily leverage each other's strengths to improve and become better.
How would you describe yourself as a leader?
I am definitely a leader who enjoys problem-solving, and someone who excels in it per se! Says, if an agent came to me with a specific problem, I can quite literally tell them what went wrong or was wrong if they can verbalize what was being done or said, like re-enact the specific situation. Some solutions can be as simple as changing and restructuring the sentence said and that would change the entire delivery of it.
In fact, together with my managers, we have created a new program called "BASE 90", which stands for Break your Annual Salary Experience in 90 days! B means Break, A is Annual, S refers to Salary, and E is Experience. So, BASE 90 is a series of systematized ways that help guide new RES to kickstart their Real Estate careers and reduce their learning curve.
Also, on a separate note, having to do sales myself, I am always trying to evolve as well. For example, trying out Facebook Marketing and starting to work on my profile on Linkedin, to exploring Video Marketing on YouTube. Exploring trendy stuff on all the social media platforms, looking into online digital marketing. So, I am also a leader that embraces changes and welcomes improvements every day. I like to go through all the steps myself first to see how it works. And then, share my findings and successes with my partners, and my downlines. What are the things that can be done, and how complex a certain step will be?
The top three traits that you look out for in your potential new RES to join your team?
I don't think I want to choose who to join me, and I don't think I should. Whoever is keen is welcome to join my team and I will do very my best to help you with your journey. However, I would say these three traits are important to anyone who is looking to become a Real Estate agent.
- To have perseverance. It is definitely not easy being an agent. There is a lot of hard work and effort required. And success doesn't come instantly! It goes along with your commitment as an agent. You need to embrace the fact that the market is changing really fast, so one of my mantras is always to evolve and improve so as to have some progress in life.
- To be very hungry. Hungry for success, hungry for excellence, hungry to even make big money. If you are not hungry for anything, it will be very hard for you to progressively move forward or to have breakthroughs in your career.
- To have self-confidence. And this is within yourself. To have the belief that if you don't achieve now, you can definitely achieve in the future. This doesn't necessarily mean that you have achieved it before. So, a lot of agents have this lack of confidence and it is quite self-sabotaging to have thoughts like you cannot achieve it because it is deemed hard or someone else cannot achieve it so you can't too.
So, if anyone wants to join me, I definitely welcome you! And if you come with these three traits, I can't see why you cannot be a successful agent.
Do you have anything else you'd like to share about Bobby?
Bobby is very fast with what he aims to achieve and very creative in his marketing direction. He is always trying to use new technologies and up-to-date software to help his agents, such as his #BSA initiatives which I've mentioned just now, with the archived video trainings, debunking the myth series, or even the GM property app. So, Bobby is always looking for opportunities to solve his agents' pain points.
He definitely has all the support from all the leaders that believe in him! I believe #BSA can definitely soar to even greater heights!
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Connect with Melvyn Xu here:
