“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”
~2 Tim 4:12
I’ve been having a bit of problems with some “lao jiao” (old-timers) agents in the industry recently. Sales at the showflat has been rather slow the past month. After close observation of the agents, i realised that most of them have very weak closing skills. While these agents are very experienced in the resale market, most are new to project sales and the closing techniques required in a showflat environment are very different from the resale market environment.
I tried to tell them about certain tips on closing a client but i find it difficult to get through to them. There’s this particular agent, Red Bull, who gets real defensive whenever i try to tell them certain things. And from the expression of some of the others, i can tell that they don’t really take what i say seriously at times ‘cos they think i’m a newbie when it comes to property. So far, as i’m still trying to build rapport with the agent, i’ve not been very strict on certain things but as a result of that, i feel that they’re taking me for granted at times.
Things sort of came to a head today when the IC of the agents, Rattlesnake, actually brought up an offer to the developer directly. (As these agents are actually sort of like “outsource” manpower, whenever they get any offer from a buyer, they’re supposed to let me know and i will in turn talk to the developer.) Not wanting to be confrontational, i told the Rattlesnake nicely over sms that in future, she should come to me instead of going to the developer direct. She agreed… but that was not the end of my troubles.
There was also some unhappiness between Rattlesnake and our co-marketing agents (another property agency) at the showflat today. Rattlesnake insisted that the co-marketing agents were not very fair in certain practices at the showflat. As she insisted that she personally witnessed the incidents, i brought it up to the developer as i felt that it wasn’t in my capacity to speak to the co-marketing agents, and i should let the developer (who’s basically the “boss” of the showflat) talk to them.
Unfortunately, upon further probing, it seemed like the charges alleged by Rattlesnake wasn’t true and hence i was caught in between the developer, the very lao-jiao co-marketing agents, and Rattlesnake! I’m still trying to sort things out and obtain an amicable resolution to everything but it’s really quite a headache. 🙁 (Hope everything turns out ok tomorrow).
Things in the office haven’t been good either. I have some issues with a colleague of mine and as a result, i’ve been less than helpful to him. I feel bad about it ‘cos my attitude isn’t very godly and i think i’m being a bad testimony ‘cos i’m only nice & helpful to those that i get along with (which is basically everyone but this chap :P). Sometimes i think i should just be open about why i’m not happy with this person’s work attitude instead of griping & bitching behind his back… but in an office setting, i’m worried about the possible repercussions that might have… When i got home just now, i just didn’t feel good about all that has happened so far. I think i need a lot of wisdom on how to handle & in a way control these lao-jiao agents. I also need to learn to be generous to this colleague that i dislike.
While taking stock of things, the verse above came to my mind. I think it’s applicable not only in the biblical sense… but also in the corporate world…. to not let the veterans look down on me… and to be honest, sincere & godly in all areas of my interaction with them. I’ve been afraid to talk about unpleasant things openly so far ‘cos i’m afraid that i may be too harsh (don’t want to bulldoze people over, which i can be real good at). But yet i can’t be as soft as i am now ‘cos some of these lao-jiaos are stepping all over me. I guess i need to learn to put my foot down – gently.
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