99.co’s property agent success stories: Ken Low & Shawn Swa

Ever wondered what it is like being a property agent?
In this new series entitled Agent Success Stories, we sit down with agency leaders to find out their side of the story. From their humble beginnings to the challenges they have faced on the road to success, we learn that a career in the real estate industry is one filled with boundless opportunities – if you know where to look.

In today’s article, we feature two inspiring leaders from Huttons Asia Pte Ltd: Ken Low (Associate Group District Director) and Shawn Swa (Associate Senior District Director) from Ken Low Group (KLG). KLG has the honour of being the top-performing division in Huttons Asia for 20 consecutive months since March 2016 and counting!

Speaking with Ken and Shawn was an insightful experience as this is the first time we have had a mentor and protégé team share their story with us. Hailing from disparate backgrounds, the two sterling individuals shared more about what drives them and how far they have come since their early days as rookie agents. In the ever changing landscape of the real estate industry, we delve deeper into how Ken and Shawn have empowered their team members to harness the power of technology and be “disruption-proof” agents – individuals who are able to adapt quickly to the demands of the market.

Can you share more about the journey you have taken to get to where you are today?

Ken: I started off as an agent more than 9 years ago after graduating from NUS. However, coming from the perspective of an agent, I noticed that there were systems and processes missing that can help new agents become successful and more importantly, keep the agents successful with the passing of time. So when I started KLG, I funnelled everything I knew and had experienced, into a system that provides agents with a guided path to success. I believe in creating automated systems for our associates so that they will not be the very machines in this business. I want them not to have to worry when or where their next sale is coming from month in month out. This is how automation can benefit the agents.

Shawn: Having been a leader in KLG for many years, I realised that in order to inspire and influence, I had to tap into my paternal instincts in order to be the best mentor I could be. Seeing my fellow agents grow both in terms of sales transactions and personal development has brought me an immeasurable amount of fulfilment and satisfaction. I’m also very proud of how they have grown into selfless and inspirational leaders themselves.

What I love and find very unique about KLG is its strong “one for all, and all for one” team spirit. Everyone shares their experiences readily; we also understand the importance of growing the good name and reputation of KLG as a team that is accountable not only to our clients, but to each other. We also believe in inculcating the value of lifelong learning and a thirst for constant upgrading in our agents. As a leader, it is critical to nurture the agents’ tenacity to learn and not use a “one size fit all” formula in development. For example, we can have one agent who has expertise at table closing and has great product knowledge, but lacks the know-how in terms of IT and design. As a KLG leader, we offer modules to help each agent plug any missing gaps in their skill set. We also match each agent’s strength with the needs of the market place.

Shawn, what inspired you to join KLG and to work with Ken? How has the journey been for you?

Shawn: Well, (looks at Ken and laughs), that is an excellent question. I would say my top reason would be the KLG platform. Ken had the good foresight to structure KLG during its early days into different segments, each with its own leader at the helm. Joining KLG was one of the biggest decisions I have made in my life. At that point in time, my wife and I were also expecting our first child when I made the life-changing switch to KLG. On both the professional and personal fronts, I was experiencing a major shift and change. It required a huge leap of faith as I had no idea how everything would turn out.

Looking back, my early days in KLG were indeed stressful. However, hard work and sheer determination to see through my decision paid off. Under Ken’s mentorship, my sales increased three-fold. Soon after, the agents under my care also started showing good sales results. Today, many of these agents who received training from the KLG academy have established themselves as respected leaders in the group with a new generation of agents to shape and mould. A personal achievement I’m particularly proud of is the fact that I still keep a keen eye on taking care of the needs of each new individual agent, despite the ever growing number of agents in KLG.

Congratulations on KLG’s rapid expansion! From an agent strength of 60 at the beginning of 2016 to 200 by the end of the year, the number of KLG associates currently stands at more than 300 as of November 2017. Can you share with us how you have been so effective at recruiting agents?

Shawn: To be honest, we have not conducted any real mass recruitment before. In contrast, we have only done recruitment through word-of-mouth, based on our fundamental focus on building up the individual. Because of our unique approach, agents are drawn to us naturally, especially so when they see the success of their peers who join KLG.

Ken: Shawn has made an important point there – we do not focus on numbers in recruiting, we focus on working with individuals. I always believe that the way you think will determine the path you take and shape the decisions you make. Hence if your first and only thought is sales and recruitment numbers, all you are getting back is just going to be cold, hard figures. At KLG, we go beyond sales and numbers. We choose to work with highly motivated and aspirational individuals, who believe in something bigger than themselves, and who strive to do as much good as they can in the world. That is what I strongly believe in, and that is what I envision each and every KLG leader and associate to be.

What is the motivation behind your success?

Shawn: People motivate me. For me, this career is not about selling properties, but rather working with people who sell property. The people that I surround myself with inspire me to do more and strive even harder than the day before. Within two years, my division has increased to 40 agents from different backgrounds. They remind me of my responsibility to them – to help them become better than they were before, with me now as their mentor. In KLG, leaders always lead by example. Leaders set the pace and direction on how to achieve goals in life. We follow our mantra “Beyond Sales” very closely rather than just regarding property sales as a numbers game.

How do you help your associates succeed?

Ken: We don’t believe in promising our associates big numbers, we believe in bringing them real results. We have the KLG Academy, which conducts in-depth and up-to-date training for them. However, while the academy helps provide them with fundamental skills, real lessons come in during our individual planning sessions with our associates, when we tweak, fine tune and help create their own automated systems.

I believe that there is no standard path on how to become a successful agent because each individual has different strengths and weaknesses, I don’t believe in a cookie cutter system that works for every single agent. At KLG, we get to the root of each agent’s weakness first, then give them customised guidance based on that. This is one key reason why we do not want to go into mass recruitment. In KLG, we provide the best of both worlds by featuring both classroom-based lessons and regular individual one-on-one sessions.

What do you count as your greatest success in the real estate industry?

Shawn: In the past, it was all about sales and agent numbers. But, I no longer see the true meaning of my work based on such figures. It is not just about helping agents achieve a $100k a month income (we have done that more times than we can count), I will credit my greatest success to the concept of trust. For a professional who gave up his/her career, or a veteran leader who has stayed in an agency for five to six years to give up what they have to join you, it takes a massive leap of faith on their part. In return, we have to make sure that their trust in us pays off. That is why we hold ourselves responsible and accountable to our promises and make sure we deliver them.

In your slogan, it is stated that “KLG leaders lead by example”, can you share more with us what you mean by this and how to go about achieving it?

Shawn: As leaders, we have to show new agents real results. We have to show that by trusting us, they will achieve real results. Based on real results, we create trust in our people. We do not pay people to listen to us, we have to convince them that we are doing this because we are accountable to them, as we genuinely want them to succeed, because we don’t want them to make the same mistakes we did when we were rookies. I have always shared with my agents my success story, how I got to where I am today. It is because I followed Ken’s direction and mentorship. I am a living proof of how Ken’s vision is correct. That is how we lead by example, we inspire trust by proof of result.

How do you motivate a lazy agent?

Ken: I believe that even if I can give you the best teacher, the best method, the best system, if your heart is not in it and your mindset remains unpolished, then it wouldn’t work for you. Thus, we focus on changing the mindset of our associates first, before starting their real estate training full-on. How do we do this? As quickly as within the first five minutes into our individual planning sessions, we can change somebody’s mindset that has been rooted for 20 years. We find out what their mental blocks are: is it a matter of time constraints, family commitments or is it a lack of knowledge? Only when we have cleared these obstacles, do we start with training proper. A shift in mindset is necessary to pave the road to success.

Again I emphasise, we do not focus on numbers, we do not focus on a recruitment system, because we do not want to constrain the agents in a pre-determined system. We want a unique, customised system for each and every agent. We solve every problem an agent faces by providing a tailor-made solution. For example, a lot of agents are not motivated because they feel that they fall short in terms of their IT skills. I believe that in today’s market, everyone can succeed by embracing IT, even the simplest form of IT can create the automation that is lacking in most agents today. We empower our associates with the know-how to automate their systems and when they see their efforts bear fruit, their lifestyles will automatically improve and they will be more motivated to keep going.

In your motto, you also mentioned that you build “selfless leaders”. In this industry of cash and numbers, how can you be selfless?

Shawn: We make sure that in our division, no agent depends on another agent to make a living. Even as leaders, we are still fighting for our own income. Every leader in KLG makes a living for themselves, they don’t depend on other agents. So, on top of our regular workload, we are taking extra time teach and mentor new agents, this is what we mean by “selfless”.

We have the mentality that as recruiters, we should take on the role of a parent to rookies. We make sure that we can be responsible for the agents’ success before we recruit them. Otherwise, we will only be bringing on more problems for ourselves. This willingness to shoulder the responsibility for someone else’s success is a characteristic of being “selfless”. It is very important that we leave a meaningful legacy in the time that we have in the industry by building a right foundation for paying it forward, and by giving as much as we can.

Is there something you wish somebody had told you to do when you look back on your time in the real estate industry?

Shawn: To be honest, looking back at the past two years, I wouldn’t have imagined I will be where I am now in the short period of time. Joining Ken is a turning point in my career. Before that I was in the industry for nine years – I was sucked into the system and all I cared about were numbers. However, at one point, I realised that if I didn’t seize the day and leave behind some sort of legacy, I would probably not be able to do so as the life cycle of a property agent can be short.

Ken: Our fundamentals are strong and these values have not changed in the past seven years. We are unique in the way we set up our own system to help agents achieve success and they in turn, spearhead their own systems. So I have no strong regrets about KLG. Perhaps, my only regret was not embracing this fundamental value earlier. I listened to the wrong advice from old-guards in the industry and ended up recruiting somebody I knew would not fit well with our culture. Suffice to say, things didn’t end well because of the different values we carry. From then on, I made sure I recruited with my heart and gut, to ensure that the culture I built up in KLG over the years will be kept tightly intact for the good of all our associates.

Your slogan reads “Beyond Sales”, and by this we understand that this refers to your relationship with your agents. How about clients, do you teach your agents to foster a “Beyond Sales” relationship with their clients?

Ken: Yes, we believe in grooming our associates beyond just sales. We want them to be responsible in their lives not only to themselves, but to their loved ones too. We follow the same principles with clients too. We make sure that our associates pay close attention to our clients’ preferences, beyond their housing needs. In fact, many of our clients have become our personal friends.

Having worked with many new agents in the past, we know that their number one worry before they join any division is whether the leader has time for them. Do you have time for your new agents?

Ken: We anticipated this problem since the beginning, so we came up with two principles to resolve this issue. Firstly, in 2016 when we knew KLG numbers would grow exponentially, we planned very carefully to selectively bring in talents from different segments of the industry on purpose – from landed property to HDB, offices and commercial, to even en-bloc sales and new launches. Therefore our associates can increase their resource base by leveraging on one another’s vast amount of knowledge and experience. With the combination of different expertise, fellow KLG associates can help one another out, instead of relying merely on leaders for answers and clarification. This selfless peer support creates a win-win situation for all in KLG.

Secondly, once the first part has been achieved, I don’t want to over-promise and take on more than I can handle. So when the number grows beyond a certain threshold, I will personally step in to slow down recruitment in order to make sure we have sufficient bandwidth to bring the current cohort of newly-joined associates up to speed. This is only possible if a division’s fundamental principle is never about numbers, but to focus on the growth of every individual.

We reckon that there must be a life experience that compelled you to create this culture of “selflessness”? Can you share it with us please?

Ken: This vision stemmed from how I was treated as a new agent in the old days of mass recruitment. I don’t want people in KLG to go through what I experienced as a new agent – I don’t believe in telling people what they should or should not do. Instead, I help my associates realise what needs to be done, and the actions that need to be taken in order to reach their goals. Our income has never been dependent on the overriding from our associates. Therefore, the personal time we take to train and groom associates in KLG purely stems from the fact that we want the best for them. And I strongly believe that when our associates understand this simple fact, and after receiving such selfless care from their leaders or peers, will in turn be selfless in sharing with others within KLG too.

Do you guys have any final tips for agents?

Shawn: I will just leave you with this proverb: the more you give, the more you will receive.