Find a stage name, sing for your supper - property agents get creative to close a sale

BE IT in good or bad times, property agents know they are part of a competitive trade. And with more than 30,000 agents jostling for attention, some have gotten creative with their sales pitch.

That has meant rousing remixes of classic tunes - replete with original raps - to filmed house tours that spoof popular movies.

But for a start, many literally make names for themselves. Take YOYO, Dragon and Joan Bagus. They all chose aliases for themselves to stand out from the crowd.

YOYO went through a few iterations to arrive at her final made-up name. But it began with her choice of "y" - a letter that looks like both arms stretching to reach out to someone, said YOYO.

She is also known as Yve Ong, but when she realised "Yve" was not distinct from "Eve" over the phone - a common name shared by other agents - out sprung forth YOYO, created from her initials.

It's far from child's play. Ms Ong found thoughtful symbolism behind that name, a reflection of ups and down of the property cycle.

"Also it symbolises the life cycle. In life there's always ups and downs, just like the little toy, the yo-yo," she said.

"But the key is that the person who's playing with the yo-yo is the one that's in control, which will be a constant reminder to myself to always be the one in control of my life decisions. I think there's some meaning behind it."

Meanwhile, Dragon has made himself hard to forget.

Known to those outside property circles as Noel Tan, Dragon found out the hard way how names matter. After countless cold calls, Mr Tan found that his name was often forgotten by the time he would make a follow-up call.

Though, plot twist: he's not born in the year of the Dragon.

His friend who was interested in Chinese horoscopes then told him that dragons and rats were compatible with monkeys - that's the zodiac sign for his birth year. And so, the way of the Dragon was born. (BT was unable to independently verify this zodiac association.)

"You wouldn't want to call yourself Monkey Tan or Rat Tan," Mr Tan said. "So I thought: 'why not Dragon? Nobody in the industry calls themselves that, it sounds good, and I love the name'."

Soon after the name change, clients would pick him in part because of his name - they themselves were born in the year of the dragon.

As search optimisation goes, the name Dragon also scores.

Mr Tan remembered how a past client reached out to him after years without contact. While she had lost his number, her son remembered his name. They found him quickly through Google.

With property prices rising for four straight quarters as at Q1, the real estate market in Singapore has been buoyant. It mirrors gains around the world, with property demand rising amid low interest rates, in spite of a global pandemic still looming in the backdrop.

ERA Realty told The Business Times that the average age of the best five performing agents last year was 36. Their average income? S$3.12 million.

Still, to stay the course, veteran sales agents such as Joan Cheng have worked to seek a different "branding" to split work from personal life. Ms Cheng has called herself Joan Bagus for years, for that reason.

"I think it's something catchy," said the agent with some two decades of experience under her belt. "People will remember you."

The industry is also flush with people who have already been blessed with unique names, like Loyalle Chin.

Mr Chin's first name is pronounced "loyal" - and he swears by it.

Working with ultra-high net worth investors in commercial shophouses and landed properties, many of his clients may appoint him on as many as eight deals. "They appreciate this virtue, because they are high profile but they want to be private. So they appreciate that loyalty and trust."

Of course, names are not the only way to captivate. Rechard - that's Richard with an "e" - Tan has won fans by showcasing his lyrical and vocal chops in property-based music video parodies. In them, he raps about the apartments' finishings and ideal locations.

Since one YouTube video he posted in January this year - with 152,000 views - catapulted him into the spotlight, Mr Rechard Tan has received a lot more enquiries. A video posted just early this month brought in 30 to 40 calls in just over a week, he said.

"I'm just trying to merge my hobby with what I can do to maximise the exposure for my clients," he added.

Mr Tan is no stranger to such "music videos", but has noted the surge in interest from prospective buyers, in part because these videos are better produced today. Creating a video with a production team now costs about S$1,000 each time, though some properties are sold even before the video makes it to post.

Social media marketing of properties has also begun to take on a new dimension. Promotions via video marketing are on the up, as proven by Mr Rechard Tan's success.

Mr Loyalle Chin has created several videos, and has recently completed one in Mandarin, to cater to his foreign customer base.

Another property agent, Sergius Seah, capitalises on his unique name to create hashtags with a nice ring. "#SurgeWithSergius", "#SearchWithSergius" and "#SellWithSergius" seem to trend well.

(He resurrected his English name, Sergius, which his mother gave him in secondary school at his request, but that he abandoned when friends found it hard to pronounce. When he became a property agent, he began using his English name about two years into the job. He also became the only Sergius in the industry. "There are a lot of Weimings in Singapore.")

While agents know exposure is important, they are aware that it can't be all show and no substance.

And Ms Cheng - that is, Ms Bagus - points out that as more agents go on social media to promote their properties, marketing costs are set to rise. Competition for better content will also come up.

She is clear-eyed too that cosmetic tweaks may get agents a foot in the door, but after that, they must - as they say - always be closing.

"At the end of the day, we still have to back it up. Otherwise, I could be named Andy Lau and people still wouldn't care."