Harmit Chawla
Posted: Saturday, Mar 26, 2011 at 0000 hrs IST, Express Estates
The days when real estate developers used to sell each and everything are gone. Now, to earn respect and a name in the market, buyers need to be shown and given respect. Buyers are no longer ill-informed and instead do their homework before visiting project sites. They read all about the project and gather information from all sources before deciding to go for a particular purchase. In such a scenario, it becomes imperative that developers should bring in transparency in real estate operations and dealings.
It is has long been debated in case studies in MBA institutes that HLL grew in the 80’s and 90’s as a result of quality product offering, caring for customer’s needs and ably supported by a very strong retailer chain (or distribution network). In the Indian context in real estate, there are two absolutes in the success of any company: one is the client who buys the product and the other is your channel which propels your sales and has a direct bearing on the company’s brand and visibility.
Real estate in India lacks transparency on the product and it’s offering and respect for the channel. There are many ways of attaining the required transparency. First, try to do things that keep in mind the needs of the end user. Achieve this by making the entry of an end user to a project open and transparent. The entry point to any project for an end user is the broker. Flocks of brokers can be seen sitting outside a project and in fact many developers sell projects through brokers only. In many cases these brokers make improbable promises. It has been found that some brokers promise huge discounts to the buyer and get the initial amount from them. But when the developer checks the file, the discount offered by the broker looks implausible and the developer rejects it. In such cases, the money gets stuck and the developer unknowingly earns a bad name for not living up to the promises, which in reality he never made.
Hence, the solution is in carefully choosing the right channel train. Then it is also necessary to guide them with regard to the vision of the company and the brand equity. This way brokers will not function as mere brokers but as extended arms of the company. So, the need is to make brokers feel part of the project and they will make the buyer comfortable.
Transparency and respect for the customers as a thought process needs to start in the boardroom and trickle down the system not by internal memos but by the actions of seniors. The company needs to have a strong sense of commitment to the value chain and any deviations to that should be in the zero-tolerance zones. there are bound to be mistakes, but transparency about the rectification of mistakes in the quickest possible time.
In real estate people advertise one price and when the buyer comes to buy gets to know about additional charges. The buyer is attracted by lucrative prices being advertised and depending on that makes the decision whether a project is according to his/her pocket or not. However, when at the project office and the buyer is told about additional charges the dream gets shattered. No frills rate is the policy that the developer should increasingly adopt.
Another important aspect in today’s environment is that the customer should be shown the show apartment, which acts as a window through which the buyer takes a more informed view on his purchase. Transparency is about making the buying process easy and simplified for the customers in a market with projects galore. It pays to make the customer relaxed and aid him in his buying decision by providing a healthy office environment for him to interact. To bring in transparency developers have to start with the buyer because the buyer is the fulcrum. So take care of this fulcrum and the most important balance in real estate can be achieved.
The author is VP (sales and marketing) at Paras Buildtech India
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