A USD 17 million real estate project had gone more than three months without selling a single apartment. The tower was built. The price was at market. The product was good.
What did not exist
Brand. Visual identity. Sales team. Control system. The developer had invested everything in concrete and nothing in anyone knowing the tower existed.
The deal
I negotiated a retainer of USD 1,500 a month plus 5 % per sale, with exclusive commercialization. A low fixed number and a high variable number: that way the risk is shared and nobody gets paid for meetings.
Thirty days
- Week 1: identity and visual system. Name, logo, palette, pieces for social media and for the sales room.
- Week 2: sales material with the buyer's numbers, not the developer's. How much it rents for, how much it appreciates, what happens if they wait six months.
- Week 3: a channel with partner agencies, Century 21 among them, with written commission and a numeric indicator per agent.
- Week 4: closings.
The result
16 apartments sold in the first month. USD 2.3 million. More than USD 76,000 in commissions for the team.
The rule
Before investing more in product, check whether anyone in the market knows you exist. It is the same lesson I see with Chinese, American or European companies entering the region: the product almost never fails. Local execution fails, and so does the absence of a partner who already knows the terrain.
How it repeats
- One numeric KPI per role.
- A 30-minute weekly review.
- A fortnightly committee with the developer.
- An execution manual for every agent.
- A framework contract with every partner agency.