OVERVIEW
A Government-linked corporation launched a new property development project in the heart of the capital. They had ambitious sales and revenue goals, but faced challenges with increased paperwork & regulatory requirements imposed on their sales staff - hindering them from focusing on revenue generating activities. Once a buyer is ready to commit, it takes weeks of work for the property sale to get locked in and for the property developer to start receiving property payments.
After reviewing the process, conducting discovery research and customer interviews, I identified the following challenges in the property sales industry:
- Buyers needed to visit the sales office or an exhibition to select an apartment
- Sales staff collected brief details from buyers, and then spent weeks collecting the remaining necessary paperwork
- Buyers are frustrated when they cannot see real-time updates of their purchase or bank loan status
- UDA needed to be able to see which sales had come in, who the commissions were owed to and how the progress payments were progressing
- Allowed buyers to select their apartment units online
- Enabled sales staff to collect all necessary paperwork, by enabling buyers to upload it in a checklist-format
- Incorporated digital signature technology so that booking forms could be signed by buyers
- Empowered sales staff to have a real-time view of which units were available, and conduct sales all through their iPads
MY ROLE
I worked with our multidisciplinary team to take the system from conception to launch.
I conducted research, user interviews, drafted technical workflows & documentation, oversaw project execution, and worked closely with senior management, sales teams, real estate agents, bankers etc. I also conducted training for both sales staff and real estate agents.
CHALLENGES
This project introduced additional complexities as a portion of the available units were to be dedicated to a "lottery like" sales process so that buyers who qualify for affordable housing, could also benefit.
The system also involved various third parties - banking officers, legal firms etc who all had their own processes and systems in place - we needed to find the simplest, most impactful solution to avoid skyrocketing integration efforts
OUTCOMES
The sales teams that were utilising this platform exceeded every expectation - sales & revenue generated surpassed every goal that had been set, at a time when all other Business Units did not.
The Head of the Business unit, attributed a portion of their success to the platform that had empowered his team & reduced their administrative burden - and he went further to recommend the platform to other property developers, turning the project into a SaaS model.