Who is a CP for a developer?
Being a developer, you must answer this question before you even think about stepping into the CP Business Model and if you are already having a CP team which is not performing as expected then it is time for you to restart from here. In my experience your CP is your customer and once you start treating your CP as your customer, his feedback about your company, your project, your company policy, sales process etc. everything will start mattering to you.
Let me put it across in this way, "How do you feel when someone listens to you and acknowledges you?" You may feel good about that person and by that I am not saying you will be very happy or excited but I am confident it won't hurt you. If this person does something that you have asked him to do, then I am sure you won't ignore that person or run away from him. Would you like to work with such a person or would you like to work with someone who doesn't care about what you are saying and does exactly opposite of what you were expecting.
Now, if you really consider your CP as your customer, then, "What is the simplest way to grow your customer base?"
If you're a developer, I mean to ask you this, that you are also a customer for somebody, right? Wherever you go as a customer to buy something and you are asked by the seller company to recommend their product to your contacts then, "What is it that you will look for to experience so that you will really recommend their product to your contacts?" If you can find out how you want to experience and create that kind of experience for your CP's then "What do you think? Will it be possible for your CP team to grow your CP base?"
Listen to Your CP's Concerns -
There may be more than 1 lakh CP's across India, and there are different categories in CP business like RCP (Retail CP), ICP (Institutional CP), IPC (International Property Consultant) and ACP (Alternate CP). These categories are further divided into sub-categories as per area of interest like residential, commercial, plot, land, industrial and warehousing, only rentals, home loans, insurance etc.
As a developer one must decide which category of CP's do you want to target and accordingly you must also understand, "how do they spend their daily work time?" Let us understand it with the help of an example; if we are working with a Retail CP then you must know that he is an individual CP who is carrying a huge risk on his survival and for him it is crucial to work on multiple projects at same time and also work on multiple proposals to keep his/her income rolling. The kind of support that needs to be given to a Retail CP will be very different from the kind of support required by a CP from another category.
It is very obvious
that every CP has their own style of working, that means in the real
sense they are freelancers and they will devote time for your project as
per their own priority. Most of the Retail CP may have similar concerns
specially w.r.t the customer leads they share with the developer. If a
developer can assure safety and security of their leads instead of
making a policy which takes away the security of the leads a CP will
definitely avoid working with such a developer. Similarly, as a
developer you will not want a candidate to work in your team who will
tag your direct customers to CP's, so if you see, the underlying thought
is the same in both the cases.
How to identify the right CP for your project? -
One of the easiest ways to do that is to prepare a list of all the competition projects in your micro market or extended markets and find out who are these CP's actively working for those projects. You can ask your team to meet the CP's who are doing good business in your micro market with other developers and create an awareness about your project with them. Once CP's are aware about your project, and if they have a customer who is looking for a property in your micro market, there is a higher chance that CP will show your project to his customers. Developers need to also know this very clearly that CP business is not a one time activity and it is an ongoing process, and your actions have to be planned accordingly.
A developer must not restrict themselves to just identifying the performing CP's in their micro market, but it is very crucial for a developer to also understand "Why those CP's are working with other developers?". Few developers may think that by offering higher brokerages they may be able to attract CP's to work with them, but more than the brokerage it is important to know that a CP will work with a developer where he can sense the safety of his customers, as one happy customer may help a CP generate quality references through him. This actually leads us to the next important question;
What do CP's expect from a developer? -
A developer must accept this fact that his project is not the only project in the market and a CP has a lot of options where he can choose to work. In general most of the CP have specific expectations from every developer i.e. customer tagging support, timely brokerage payouts, hassle free invoicing process, customer satisfaction, timely possession of project and proper communication. I am sure that these expectations may be already known to you but knowing it and actually meeting these expectations are two worlds apart.
Let us also consider that you
are a developer who may be doing all this already and still CP's are not
working in your project, then you will have to work out a proper
marketing strategy for your project. CP's also work with those
developers who market their project well and there is proper visibility
of your project in the micro market and have a strong digital presence
too. This will help you to build confidence in your CP's to work with
you.
Being a developer you must also know that CP's in today's
market are mostly dependent on digital marketing to generate leads for
your project. Some developers may think of creating an in-house
digital marketing team or hire an agency to generate leads as its one
and the same thing, also you will not have to pay any brokerage to CP as
well as you can offer a better price to your customer. This approach
may work for you if you are developing a stand alone building or you are
planning to make a limited number of projects. CP who is spending on
digital marketing for projects in your micro market will be interested
in closing deals as that's his bread and butter, and a CP recommending
your project to his customer is perceived as an unbiased recommendation
against a developer's team recommending a customer to buy a project. As a
developer if you understand this and work with your CP's you may be
able to grow your CP base and also boost your sales.
How to build strong relationships with CP's in the market? -
Relationship is the roots of your CP Business Model and this relationship is built by your sales team i.e. your sourcing managers who meet these CP's in the market on a regular basis. Some developers may take their CP team for granted but in my view your sourcing manager is the face of your company, and you must engage with your CP team and try to understand "What CP's in the market is talking about you?". This is a very crucial exercise which as a developer you must make it a practice, as this will help your team to understand your commitments and also you will be able to guide your team to tackle the objections they face in the market.
Specially, if you are not a well known brand in the market, objections will surely come from CP's and they will really need to know, "Why should a CP work in your project?" Or "Why should a CP spend on marketing for your project?" etc. You can give a lot of reasoning and guidance to your team about it, but one must really consider that your intentions really matters a lot and if you are giving commitments to your team which you are not intending to fulfill then you are actually creating a trap for yourself. If you are really committed to building strong relationships with CP's in the market, then you will have to WALK-THE-TALK and your sales team and CP's should be able to look up to you as their leader.
If you have any question related to Channel Sales please feel free to call Amitesh A Mukherjee - 9833954332
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