Ho (front row, centre) and Kashif (third from right) posed for a group photo with delegates from 20 countries.
An energy-filled Juwai IQI conference get the audience ready for the future
By Yip Wai Fong
Juwai IQI, a real estate powerhouse with agents who called themselves warriors, has recently organised a great party to celebrate the arrival of the future. Resembling a fast-beat concert, the Juwai IQI International Convention swapped performances with short and powerful seminars, award presentations and catwalks for its merchandise. In the words of group managing director Daniel Ho, it is all part of IQI's DNA to be fun, productive, tech-savvy and successful.
“Our company has grown from humble beginnings to the impressive position we hold today. We want every one of our warriors to know they are special and that they are a part of what we believe is the best real estate agency in the world,” he told StarProperty the grand message of the conference.
Group chief executive officer Kashif Ansari said another important theme was the urgency to embrace the latest technology, a message which dominated most of its seminars in the full-day event.
“We are discussing a lot about AI technology, what are the pros and cons and how they should use it. We want to equip and train them with the knowledge and get them ready for the future,” said Kashif.
How to thrive for tomorrow
With more than 40,000 agents in 24 countries, Juwai IQI was not short of in-house experts on the subject matter. A line-up of well-known Malaysian real estate influencers with millions of followers combined on their social media platforms formed the panelists, sharing the secret of their massive following.
One of them, Dave Chong who has ten years of real estate experience, reflected that every new wave of technological change has increased the efficacy of their marketing effort.
“From SMS blasting, FB marketing, FB live, to TikTok, Instagram, Little Red Book and now Generative AI, my business has grown fast with their adoption,” he said. “(While) doing sales effectively involves mastering the journey and takes a while for an agent, now AI could fast track the initial step. We can use AI to create marketing copies that generate interest and leads. It helps people who are not very good in English tremendously.”
With Google’s Gemini Flash 1.5, Chong said that an agent can create a multi-lingual chatbot to answer questions on the agent’s behalf about the latest property project yet to be widely marketed, by simply training the chatbot with the custom information not available online.
Another seasoned influencer, Muhazrol Muhammad, who said his agency has switched completely to ChatGPT to perform web searches, looked forward to the day when AI image generation could provide real-life products that match the image.
“We are currently using AI image generation tools to help clients with renovation and home decoration ideas. But sometimes the generated image or colour is not something that is available in the market. I’m waiting for the day when the AI can generate a product image and match it with the nearest similar product in the market,” he said.
IQI warriors in one of the catwalks for IQI merchandise.
Super app and online presence
Juwai IQI is not simply exhorting its warriors to jump unassisted into the AI bandwagon. The company has a technological platform called the ATLAS Super App to optimise real estate marketing, transactions and remuneration for its warriors.
“ATLAS Super App is built from the ground up to make sure agents get their commission on time, provide everything they need to close sales and generate listings with our (customised generative AI). We also have project partners in many different countries to link up agents for (overseas property transaction),” enthused chief information and chief operating officer Nabeel Mungaye.
“Every month, up to 35,000 agents use the Atlas Super App. On top of that, we have 10 million monthly visitors on our website and social media. Our technology-driven model has seen our sales growing annually for the last ten years. In 2023, we closed at USD3 billion (RM14.09bil). That means we’ve been paying USD1.3 million (RM6.1mil) in commission every day last year,” he added.
At the core of reaching the masses effectively was digital marketing. It has created online influencers such as AG Sasidar, who amassed hundreds of thousands of followers online and built a team of 400. Another, Chen Tse Ping said he has reached a total of 10 million people through his daily videos.
Online influencers (from left) Cheng, Phua, AG Sasidar and Chen share their insights.
Race Phua, who is also a winner of StarProperty Awards Realtor Edition 2023, said that she mentored her new agent recruits on digital marketing by taking them along to her own video shoots, allowing them to ask her video editors questions, sharing and discussing her online campaigns that converted the most sales.
Harris Cheng, who started his real estate digital marketing four years ago, said social media has opened up the international market to him, allowing him to reach people across borders who like his personality.
“Online branding allows personalisation and image building to differentiate oneself from others. You cannot be reading a script on videos. I like being myself and to reach people who like me and my brand,” he said.
Celebrating the warriors’ achievements, the conference also presented recognitions to close to 1,300 of them. Juwai IQI said that more than 3,000 attended the conference.
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