PIA Focus on Three ‘Long-terms’: Long-term Investment, Long-term Relationships and Long-term Career Plans
By Justin Wang
On January 8, 2013, Mr Justin Wang CEO of the Property Investors Alliance (PIA) had a meeting with investment consultants. At this meeting, he reiterated the following three ‘long-term’ directives of PIA:
• Keep promoting the concept of long-term investment.
• Establish and maintain a long-term relationship with our allies.
• Encourage staff to have a long-term career plan.
Mr Wang went on to say that this is an era of impetuous ness, where we seek quick results and consume fast food. However, the path to success is not always along the quickest route. Instead, it can be found on a deviation from the usual path, one that few people would choose.
PIA’s three ‘long-terms’ are all related to, and reflect on, each other. These ‘long-terms’ are vital to both PIA allies and staff. ‘Long-term investment’ is the essence of PIA’s philosophy of property investment, to establish and maintain a ‘long-term relationship’ with our allies is the foundation of the company, and a ‘long-term career plan’ for PIA staff is essential to the future growth and development of PIA, which, in turn, assist our allies to make sounder long-term investments.
To understand how these three ‘long-terms’ are entwined, we turn to the summaries of Mr Wang’s speech.
It has been 8-years since PIA was first founded. Over this time, we have all witnessed the rapid growth of the company. In 2012, we sold over 1000 homes worth more than AUD$600 million in market value. This was 40 percent more than our sales in 2011. As a company providing comprehensive services for property investment, PIA keeps improving on various aspects of the businesses structure so that we can deliver a better service to our allies. PIA is not just another real estate agency, instead we are a service platform with a unique property investment and management philosophy.
While PIA are celebrating our achievements, I am aiming to clarify what really makes our company successful. As it is only when we all understand this that we will be able to maintain PIA’s great performance record and see the company continue to grow and succeed.
There are many reasons behind PIA’s success, but I would like to highlight our three ‘long-terms’ or long-term directives, as the main drivers of the company’s accomplishments. I will elaborate further.
Long-term 1: Keep Promoting the Concept of Long-term Investment
Firstly, PIA promote the concept of ‘long-term’ investment within the company’s philosophy of property investment. Let me explain.
In late 2003, the Sydney property market was seeing some changes after years of rises in property prices. At this time, prices were slowing down, some areas even experienced property price drops. By 2005, many people were frustrated with investing in Sydney property and they started selling off their homes at reduced prices. As a result, many people suffered a huge financial loss. Some people even blamed their property investment company and their sales person for their losses.
These seeds are then cared for and tended to until they grow into a healthy forest.
Then in late 2005, under special circumstances, PIA and the PIA philosophy of property investment appeared in the property market for the very first time. I stated at this time that there was nothing wrong with the Sydney property market. The market was continuing to develop as it should. The problem was permeating from the people within the market. Some buyers were speculating, rather than investing. A number of sellers were even aiming to bring about speculation for instant benefit, instead of promoting ‘long-term’ investment. While speculation and investment appeared to be similar in nature, there are, in fact, two totally different approaches.
When PIA entered the market, we promoted our ‘one purpose’, which is now an integral component of our property investment philosophy. This one objective clearly states that, ‘PIA will assist people with a modest income to achieve a comfortable retirement by investing mid-and-long-term in Sydney property.’ In order to achieve this, PIA firmly believe that the lever of time, and not timing, must be utilised. Thus, it is best to own an investment property for as long as possible. This is attributed to successful property investment being not simply the buying and selling of property, but more a long-term process, which can be compared to the planting of one seed, and then another, and another, until many seeds have been planted. These seeds are then cared for and tended to until they grow into a healthy forest. Thus, investing in Sydney property requires confidence and patience, and long-term commitment.
The long-term property investment philosophy that PIA promotes suits the Sydney property market and how it cycles, which is why PIA’s philosophy of property investment is becoming more and more popular. For instance, the growth of Sydney property prices in recent years has been relatively low, when compare to historical growth in property values. Nevertheless, the city has seen strong growth, and for PIA investors, also known as allies, this has led to property value increases due to our unique management. Some investors have even gained as much as AUD$100,000 in 12-months. Our company is proud of its achievements and strives to deliver complete satisfaction for our allies. But at the same time, we do not get carried away by rapid price increases nor do we forget about the concept of ‘long-term investment’.
Through the PIA service platform, which includes sales consultancy, financial lending and property management, we aim to achieve ‘superior increase’ for our allies in our daily practice. Superior increase in property price typically occurs when the value of a property rises quickly over a short timeframe or faster than the market. But we also remind our allies that property investment success only comes from planning for long-term investment, being prepared for rises and falls in property prices, and to be educated and equipped for changes that occur in the market. For example, in 2009, Sydney property prices started to rise again and everyone was excited about it. However, at this time, my suggestion to investors was to accept the good news with a high degree of calmness and with a logical mind. This was attributed to the fact that the market continually ebbs and flows when it is viewed over a long-term.
As mentioned earlier, back in 2005, many people lost money when they sold off their homes at a low price. At this time, some investors blamed the market, while others blamed real estate agents for misleading them. But the truth of the matter was that most of these losses came about because of property speculation. Speculators, during this time, aimed to make an instant profit over a short time by investing in off-the-plan property. Their mistake was to have a short-term plan, rather than a long-term one, and to not have cash flow that they could use as a buffer if they needed it. Many of these investors lost everything when the market suffered a downturn. Plus, some of these investors encountered real estate agents who were not as honest and as up-front as they should’ve been. However, speculation is always considered as a risky business. Therefore, PIA promote ‘long-term investment’ and we strongly advise against speculation. In addition, we also encourage allies who are seeking to speculate to try our method instead. In this respect, PIA aim to challenge the mindsets of our allies, by having them not just focus on how much they can earn from their investment properties over the next 12 to 24-months, but to instead look forward into their future and focus on how much wealth they can create over the next 10 to 20-years, so that this wealth can provide them with a comfortable life when they retire.
PIA’s couplet is as follows:
The right scroll: Stand high, look far, and be visionary.
The left scroll: Get involved, think deep, and be wise.
The top scroll: Look forward for the fortune.
In order for PIA allies to ‘stand high, look far, and be visionary’ we aim to help them understand how the Sydney property market develops. Only when they understand this concept and have grasped the idea of long-term investment, will they be able to ‘get involved, think deep, and be wise’ so that they can then accomplish the mission of PIA investment. The ‘dualism of property prices’ in the PIA philosophy of property investment is a critical tool that assists allies when property prices fall. During the last price drop, we helped many investors retain their properties and to keep investing during critical times, so that when the market turned they became the winners. Thus, our allies ‘look forward for the fortune’.
But, PIA is not for everyone. As I say, “To the investors, PIA is not for you if you wish to speculate for instant profit, and to PIA investment consultants, PIA is not a place for you if you wish to sell properties by boasting instant profit and misleading clients.”
I believe our allies’ investments will always be in a winning position if they are persistent and promote the idea of ‘long-term’ investment.
Long-term 2: Establish and Maintain a Long-term Relationship with Our Allies
There are so many things we can do to maintain and improve our relationship with our allies, but whatever we do we must keep the ‘sincerity’ and ‘trust’ in our organisational culture. Therefore, we must talk using facts and act with honesty. PIA have strict guidelines, our ‘Five Nos’ are as follows:
1. No misleading the investment ability of clients.
2. No personal opinions on the market.
3. No verbal promise.
4. No negligence on the behalf of any client.
5. No gossip about peers.
These ‘Nos’ ensure a healthy relationship between us and our clients. Only a healthy relationship can withstand the tests of time and be long-lasting.
Also by establishing and maintaining a ‘long-term’ relationship with our allies we are leading our allies on a ‘long-term’ investment journey. This journey could be 10 or 20-years or even longer. I see this as sailing across an unsettled ocean filled with financial turmoil, to one that is calm and filled with financial freedom. But, this journey won’t be easy. When the market is rough, our allies need us to be there for guidance. Thus, this ‘long-term’, where we aim to establish and maintain a long-term relationship with our allies is related to the first ‘long-term’, where we aim to keep promoting long-term investment.
Between 2004 and 2009, many investors were intimated by the market and sold off their properties at great loss. This problem would not have happened with professional advice. We’ve even discovered that some people may have gained from their investments over this time, but without professional guidance they couldn’t utilise their investment ability, so they missed a number of opportunities. To avert a reoccurrence of this problem in the future, PIA will be there for their allies as they practise the PIA philosophy of property investment.
In saying this, there are four obstacles that stand in the way of practising the PIA philosophy of property investment, these being knowledge, time, personality and environment. On an investment journey of 10 to 20-years, our allies might feel frustrated with these four obstacles, which is why we must be there for assistance long-term, rather than short-term. By focusing on developing a long-term relationship with our allies, we enable them to achieve a greater level of success.
When talking of success, we must turn our attention to how PIA are successful. First and foremost, I believe in the importance of having repeat customers. Without repeat customers a business is not a successful one. In our first year, in Australia, we sold 75 homes. Last year we sold 1000 homes. Over this time, we’ve witnessed rare growth, which is attributed to having repeated customers. Our existing clients, and the new clients they’ve referred to our business, have contributed to approximately 70 percent of our sales, and many of our experienced consultants have already shared in this great success by focusing on developing long-term client relationships.
Without much advertising, the seminars we held last year were full. This is thanks to our existing allies who actively refer new clients to us, and to our continuous development of a strong client relationship. This year we will even consider reducing our advertising.
I believe that 7-years of developing a client network should be a solid foundation for the stable growth of new business. If we still have to find new clients via advertising, this only means that we did not take good care of our existing clients, or maintain a long-term relationship with them.
Secondly, it is only when we have a strong and loyal client base that we then have the power to negotiate on price as a group. When we are many, this allows us to bargain with developers and banks, as it is not about how many staff we have or the number of homes we’ve sold, but about how many loyal clients we have with us. We can only promise developers that we can meet promotional targets when we know we have loyal clients, who trust and follow our lead. This, in turn, enables us to provide our allies with the best projects, at the best prices and conditions, further strengthening the retention and loyalty of our allies.
Many strangers have become acquaintances, from acquaintances they have become friends, and from friends they have become a part of our family.
In PIA, the ‘P’ stands for Property, but in order to sell property it is all about the ‘people’. Therefore, to us, the P stands for ‘People’. The people that stand with PIA are our clients, as well as our allies. When the company was first founded, I said that I wanted to create, “A lifetime friendship from day one”, and emphasize the long-term relationship we wanted to create with our allies. We also call ourselves an ‘Alliance’ because collectively we work together to achieve long-term success.
The third, and final reason, why I care so much about our long-term relationship with clients is that I want to nurture thankfulness. Most people these days have forgotten how to feel and show that they are ‘thankful’.
Being thankful should be one of our basic morals. However, many people lack this quality, which is why we’ve made this quality a part of our foundation for success. By creating ‘a lifetime friendship from day one’ we are implying thankfulness. Thus, we will not tolerate irrational dealings. We will not tolerate some peers acting like a complete stranger when the dealing is done. Instead, we should always be thankful. We should always remember that our clients give us support and trust.
From the date of our 2nd anniversary, we started to hold events or gave out gifts to thank our clients for their support and trust. This included clients who could no longer afford to purchase more property with us. At the time, some people questioned if the activities should be only for the clients who could keep buying, not all clients passed and present. I felt that these activities should not be viewed as business promotions, but rather, as a way to show our appreciation. In fact, I feel we should be even more thankful to our old clients as they chose to use PIA’s service when we were new to the Sydney market. Without the support and patronage of these clients, PIA would not have achieved as much as it has today. Plus, the clients who could only afford to purchase one investment property also gave everything they had to spare financially and they entrusted us with their savings.
In recent years, our investment consultants have established and maintained a very good relationship with our clients via different means. Many strangers have become acquaintances, from acquaintances they have become friends, and from friends they have become a part of our family. Some allies have become even closer than family members. I recall a client who called her investment consultant, instead of her family members, when she had a fall at home. Some clients even invite staff to their home every now and then for a catch-up. These are all very touching sentiments that we hold dear.
Unfortunately, due to the sheer number of our allies today, we can no longer continue PIA’s anniversary celebration. But we still show our gratitude to allies in different forms, and we maintain a long-term relation ship with our allies through different activities in an interactive community. The people within this community consist of like-minded individuals, who are persistently practising the PIA philosophy of property investment with the goal of achieving financial freedom.
Thus, we are confident with the PIA philosophy of property investment, and we are confident of the profits that Sydney properties can bring us. Collectively, our allies have invested over AUD$2 billion into Sydney property over recent years. These allies all adhere to three principles, these being:
1. The earlier the property is purchased, the better.
2. The more property purchased, the better.
3. The longer the property ownership, the better.
By following these principles, our allies have been able to successfully invest in property. Then after a number of years of investing, their families and themselves have been able to live the life of their dreams. In fact, PIA aim to encourage families to tell their children of their association with PIA and how this has led to them having such a comfortable life. Thus, PIA are focusing on not just this generation to be our allies, but also the next generation to follow. If our allies never sell off their properties then these assets will be generating wealth for generations to come.
Overall, the PIA philosophy of investment is scientific. We firmly believe that as long as we maintain a sincere and trustful service, we will always be able to maintain a long-term relationship with our allies.
Long-term 3: Encourage staff to have a long-term career plan
The third ‘long-term’ encourages all of our colleagues to have a long-term career plan. Staff turn-over in real estate is usually quite high and a common occurrence. But, it doesn’t have to be this way.
When I first started the business, someone who was experienced in real estate said to me that staff turn-over is inevitable. Only your business is solid. Don’t expect your staff to stay with you forever. You can always find replacements, as long as you take care of your business.
However, I strongly disagree with this sentiment. If a company can’t retain their staff, then how can they hope to keep their clients? A company without dedicated staff will not have repeat clients for long. At this time it’s also important to note that PIA is not an ordinary agency, we are a service platform with a unique vision. If our staff do not plan to stay long in the company then we will not be able to achieve the two long-terms we mentioned previously, where we aim to keep promoting the idea of long-term investment and where we strive to establish and maintain a long-term relationship with our allies.
I believe we can encourage staff to stay with our company as long as we guide them, look after them with short-and-long-term benefits, and provided them with a way to develop their career long-term. PIA’s staff retention is strong. This is attributed to the company continually improving policies, modules and staff benefits to ensure staff are happy in the workplace. In fact, compared to other companies, our sales team is stable and continues to keep up the good work.
Sydney property market and how it cycles, which is why PIA’s philosophy of property investment is becoming more and more popular.
I believe it is necessary to consider the benefits a workplace provides to their staff, both short-and-long term, so that a business can continue to develop. Only when staff create a long-term career plan can they then share the same vision as the company they work for. This long-term career plan allows staff to become guardians of the company’s reputation so that they can then make sound decisions when personal and company interests conflict with each other. Many staff make personal sacrifices to get ahead, and our success and achievements are testament to these sacrifices.
A colleague once told me of his relationship with PIA. He used the words ‘job’, ‘tool’ and ‘project’. He said he did not just have a ‘job’ with PIA. If it was just a job, he wouldn’t be as committed. PIA was not a ‘tool’ for him to just earn money with either. If this was the case, he would have been focusing on his own interests and earning more, and disregarding the interests of his clients and the company. He said that he viewed his association with PIA as a ‘project’, where he helped allies to become wealthy, and in return he benefitted in a personal and financial sense. This project, he said, was based on self-improvement, self-enhancement and self-actualisation. In this respect, he put his personal goals and company’s goals together so that he kept learning, understanding and accepting the vision and philosophy of PIA so that eventually he felt he completely ‘belonged with’ PIA. This is exactly the type of long-term relationship that I envisioned colleagues having with the company, so it makes me incredibly proud to say that we have achieved this.
But it does not stop here. PIA’s growth needs to be continuous, therefore we are always striving to develop a long-term association with our staff. It is also very important to look at this from the point of view our staff. Looking back, our investment consultants who have the greatest performance records are those who were willing to serve PIA long-term. Many of our experienced consultants are breaking sales targets. In the past, if someone sold five homes in a month, then he would be classified as a high-achiever for the month. Now many colleagues are selling five homes, on average, per month. Some have sold close to 20 homes in a month. This has occurred because these colleagues have built up a solid existing client network and have become experts on PIA’s philosophy of property investment. Plus, they are dedicated, and have many years of practice and hard work to back them.
Having been in Australia for 20 years now, I feel deeply towards new migrants as I know how hard it is to start working in a new country or to create a business in Australia.
PIA, from this perspective, can be seen as a way for other migrants to improve themselves, to chase their dreams and to reach their own self-actualisation.
In conclusion, PIA will always try our best to provide staff with development opportunities so that they can have a long-term career plan with the company. This way they can genuinely become a part of PIA.
If you’d like more information about PIA, or the company’s ‘long-terms’, then please visit http://www.pia.com.au.
