By Chua Ee June

PETALING JAYA: “Marketing is defined as the act of selling and promoting products or services and it helps to develop a satisfying relationship that benefits customers and the organisation,” said Board of Valuers, Appraisers and Estate Agents Malaysia (BOVEA/LPPEH) president YBrs Sr Hj Nordin Bin Daharom at the Malaysian Annual Real Estate Convention (Marec’18).

According to Nordin, the early days before the 1950s witnessed products and services being sold to customers with little regard to what they want. After the 1950s, understanding the customers’ needs is becoming an important factor for successful marketing. As time goes by, the era of digital marketing or social marketing began to emerge.

Nordin said social media is being used widely in marketing due to these factors:

• Having the power of crowdsourcing
• Enables continuous engagements with clients
• Provides the easiest two-way conversation
• With accessible data, a complex model can be created
• Customers’ behaviour can be easily known
• Provide custom-tailored promotions
• Search engine optimisation

Providing an overview of the real estate profession in Malaysia, Nordin said there are currently over 2,000 registered agents and at least 1,000 candidates taking the examination to become a real estate agent. All property agents practises in Malaysia are also governed by the Board of Valuers, Appraisers and Estate Agents (BOVAEA).

“The real estate profession is often wrongly perceived as a multi-millionaire profession, but in reality, it is a difficult job due to the long working hours and the uncertain income,” said Nordin.

He added that the criteria of a good property firm is composed of good track records, professionalism in dealings, ability to provide good services and also to achieve the desired results.

According to Nordin, the real estate line and multi-level marketing (MLM) are similar in many ways such as the concept of commision and the hierarchy in both organisations. In MLM, the downline will help the upline and similarly, in real estate, the negotiator will help the agent.

“In a multi-level marketing company, money is earned only from the sales of company products and services and it must not be received from recruits.

“Those interested in this plan must first be invited by an existing distributor of the company,” said Nordin, adding that a MLM has at least three layers.

“There is no Act or Legislation in Malaysia that permits real estate agents to operate as MLM but the concept can be adopted in the real estate industry to enhance the profession and for making more millionaires in Malaysia,” he said.