One of the great mysteries of selling properties is how some outfits manage to survive despite themselves, or more precisely, after employing horrifically trained sales people.

Throughout the decades of the real-estate boom - the current period being a soft patch after a five-year hot spell - many housing companies have lost customers the minute they walk through the door.

Most recently, many buyers were not happy with the screening process at a condominium project by one of the country's top builders at Onnuj in Bangkok. According to one young buyer, his group was told that to qualify as a potential purchaser of even a one-bedroom unit, they needed to have a monthly income of at least Bt40,000.

The sales people wrongly assume that local parents, who like to spoil their brats silly, often pick up the tab - even when it comes to condos.

While the intention of the sales people may be to inform modest income earners that the pricing may be steep for them, there is no need to appear insulting.

Firstly, no one likes to be categorised as poor or ranked with the low-income bracket, unless of course they can escape taxation by doing so.

Still, the screening process has always been one of the biggest turn-offs for consumers, whether they are applying to be members of an exclusive club, for a credit card or taking out a mortgage.

The trick of a really good screening process is to do it succinctly, discreetly and politely, because you can never be too sure just whom you are chasing away.

When visiting a big condominium project opposite Ekamai Road last year, the saleswoman there immediately blurted: "What size of unit are you looking for?"

While one enjoys the doing away with of small talk, there is still that absence of courtesy, which can be annoying.

The need for a friendly hello or wai can never be underestimated.

Quite taken aback, I could only assume that my mistake was walking from the road entrance and not from the parking lot. Hence her perception that people who don't drive can't possibly afford her project.

Plus the fact that without wearing a Rolex watch, a 10-baht gold chain around my neck or a silly male purse under my armpit may have made me appear rather impoverished in her eyes.

That treatment was only upstaged by a middle-aged saleswoman at a luxury housing project at Sukhumvit 103, near Suan Luang Park. Upon finding out I was not able to purchase the Bt10-million-plus homes, she decided I did not deserve a brochure and a tour of the estate could not be provided.

"Push off, stop wasting my time and don't even leave a contact number, we are not interested in you" was the overriding tone one got and, more than a year later, it was comforting to see the units in the estate were still looking for buyers.

Another poor practice among salespeople is to deny they have made an error, even when it is on a spectacular scale. At one condominium project on Sukhumvit Soi 50, its advertisement said the condos were selling for "more than Bt1 million".

When reached, the salesman said: "Bt1.7 million is the starting price."

After calculation, it seems Bt1.7 million is roughly 70 per cent higher than the implied price.

To that, the salesperson replied: "That is not against the law. It is not against he law to do that, we have checked."

It was comforting to know the marketing people have checked, but it was also clear that such a ploy was so devious it needed checking. Today the same ad is still being used and the price has been raised to more than Bt1.8 million.

Finally, there is the question of attitude. Laguna Property's former managing director James Batt once remarked that in operating a hospitality business, the friendliness of the staff cannot be overemphasised.

Training does not begin with the ground staffers, however, Batt said. "It actually starts with management and, in the case of local operators, the owners themselves."

His reason was that if employers treat and train staff poorly, then that would be reflected in the quality of their service.

"When I enter a hotel and I see staff sulking, looking miserable or sullen, I know more or less how badly things are run," he said.

The same goes for every other industry, including selling homes.

Itthi C Tan

The Nation