Transcript:
Sarah Bell: I’m joined with one of the breakout superstars of AREC 2017, David Ding. Welcome to the couch.
David Ding: Thank you.
Sarah: I enjoyed your presentation this morning so much as did many of our readers following along on the note pool. How did it feel being up there?
David: I thought I would be nervous but I actually quite enjoyed it.
Sarah: It looked like you were having a good time! You’ve come across from New Zealand, talk to us about where you’re from and what the market’s like?
David: The New Zealand market was booming for about the last seven years and finally it’s stopped, slowed done a little bit. That’s when a good agent actually can stand out and also that’s when the farm area strategy stands out because it doesn’t matter what kind of market, people still need to go to a school, and they’re downsizing. You know what the other reason is? Just be yourself.
Sarah: If you had to come again, what would you do differently? How would you start, knowing what you know now?
David: You have to know yourself first. For AREC, for all the training sessions, they’re going to give you a lot of ideas, a lot of the strategy, a lot of tips. You have to pick the one that suits you.
That’s why I avoid the Chinese way of doing business, but I pick the farm area, ’cause I know myself. There’s nothing wrong with the Chinese way of doing business, it’s just (you need to) know what suits you.
So always know yourself. What kind of animal are you? A dinosaur, a fish, or a bird? And then figure out, “okay, so, which way (do) we go?”
Sarah: Take us down on a day-to-day tactical operation. How do you get started with a farming strategy?
David: First of all I want to say, you still need to love people. It doesn’t matter, which strategy you pick, you still need to love people, enjoy talking to people. So all I do when I pick a farm area, is very simple. I mean you can learn all those idea, scripts, and dialogues from Tom (Panos)Â or from Josh Phegan, you know you can learn it, there’s no secret.
If you talk to those people they can give you example of what you want to do, what you need, but I guess only 10 to 20 percent of people actually did it. Again, and again, and again: persistency and consistent. You’ve probably heard these kind of words more than one thousand times but it’s actually just do it.
Sarah: Well done. Congratulations on your work.
David: Thank you. Thank you very much.
