On this week's Real Estate: Real Success Podcast, Chiyoko Kakino interviews Jasbir Sandhu, the manager of CENTURY 21 Coastal Realty Ltd. in Surrey, B.C., to find how they went from a start-up brokerage to being one of the top 21 offices by production in the world in just 12 years.
Interested in opening your own brokerage? Learn more here
On this week's Real Estate: Real Success Podcast, Chiyoko Kakino interviews Jasbir Sandhu, the manager of CENTURY 21 Coastal Realty Ltd. in Surrey, B.C., to find how they went from a start-up brokerage to being one of the top 21 offices by production in the world in just 12 years.
Interested in opening your own brokerage? Learn more here
Real Success podcast, where we talk about key business successes. And lessons learned along the way in the hopes of inspiring brokerage owners and managers, to find new ways to grow their business. I'm Chiyoko Kakino. In this episode, we're going to learn about what it takes to go from a startup brokerage. To being one of the top 21 offices by production in the world in just 12 years. So I have the honor to be joined by Jasbir Sandhu. He is a managing broker of Century 21 Coastal Realty headquartered out of Surrey, British Columbia. Jasbir, thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you for having me here. Thank you. All right. Jasbir so to give our listeners a little bit of the brokerages history. So you started managing a startup independent brokerage for about a year and a half. And then that brokerage converted to Century 21 in about 2005. And at that time you had about 90 agents and now the company in 2021 has three offices and over 408 agents. So, which is a lot of agents, but the most exciting part is that you are the number one century 21 office by production in the world at the end of Q2, 2021 this year. And that is out of 86 countries and over 13,000 offices. So, wow. It's not New York. It's not, Paris it's not Singapore, but it's Surrey, British Columbia. Congratulations. Jasbir what a wonderful accomplishment. Thank you. Now, I want to talk a little bit about your journey to the global stage. And can I add to all of our listeners that this is not the first time a Century 21 Coastal has, um, been part of the global 21 list. They have been part of the global 21 every year since 2016. So of course that's quite an accomplishment. We are so proud of the team there. They've just done such an amazing job representing the. So back, let's go back in 2005 Jasbir. Did you ever think you're the company would be leading on the world stage? Was that something you discussed with your owners thinking? Okay. Our vision is to be the number one office in the world, or did it just happen? To be honest? Uh, we never thought that way, but it just happened. And, uh, I think we're just lucky and it is hard work draining, a lot of factors that, uh, were there that helped us move further in the direction. And we kept persistent on that and, uh, We see the results today. But if you say we think about it in 2005, no, we didn't think that will be number one, but it happened, you know, as you say, as they say consistency, consistency, consistency. Right. And that's what you said is just like working hard and being consistent and working your way up. So again, congratulations. What do you think are some of the things that have led to your office's success? Like why, you know, why your agents productive and why do agents want to join century 21? Coastal Realty? Uh, number one, um, I see that, uh, agents like to be with a big brand, which C21 is it attracts a lot of young. You know, times have changed. And I see the young people, they want to work for brands who have electronic tools who have training programs, uh, who, who are flexible to you got to be flexible in business at the same time. Uh, when you're working with a brand, you follow certain rules and be ethical. Uh, you got to have the knowledge and we get that through training. And, uh, also they would like to be treated like a family member I'm from the old school. Um, I, and I don't talk from here. I talk from my heart and this is the way I feel that this is my extended family. C21, everybody working there. Is my son or my daughter or my brother or my sister or a friend, that's the way I look at it. And, and they feel it that way. When you feel from here, they feel that way. And they're comfortable on top of that. It's a deal with them that if they see something wrong with me, they got to tell me so I can improve. And if I see something wrong with them, I'll let them know and we'll let each other know right out of every agent. We'll let each other know that where we can improve. And we do that. And, uh, we all improve. We work as a team. And then on top of that, uh, training very important because when you come out of school and you're just starting your career and you open up that form, you really know nothing. So, how do you do that? It is by training you by having classes. So when I joined , this is what I found that people were hungry to have that knowledge. Um, and they didn't have that. So I thought, what should we do here? And I said, okay, let me start a class instead of going one to one, let me start classes. And we started doing that. And there were four 40 people, 50 people, it increased to 70 people in a class and after that take the class outside. And these were four or five hour classes and they were hungry for knowledge. And that actually give them knowledge that give them the technique that showed them how to prepare contracts, what to look for, how to discuss things with clients, um, how to do their home. And how do we prepare when they go and see their client? So that actually build confidence in them. And they started improving and producing. Well, I know Jasbir that, you know, Century 21 Coastal is very focused on, as you say, providing training for, so their agents feel confident out there. Right? And they feel confident in providing that gold standard level of service uh, to their clients. So you do just do a phenomenal job. You know, the other thing Jasper, you and I have known each other for six and a half years. And I remember one of our first conversations you said to me that I am there for my agents 24 7. And you just said it, right? It's like you treat them like your daughter and your son. And so, you know, being, do you think that's really, you know, part of this, the ingredient for success at your brokerage has, is that you, as a managing broker are always there for. That is one of the ingredients we are. Uh, yes. Uh, I am there twenty four seven. They can call me midnight. The call is answered. If I don't answer, I'll call them back within an hour. Uh, I don't hear the bell I'm at a party or something, but, and then they expecting my call. That's the deal with them. I could be in a flight, not answered as soon as I get off, I'll call them. Uh, plus also a lot of help from . Uh, building relationship that all of you and then building relationships with the board board staff really helped us, uh, with the council. Now it is BC FSA. I used to ask them, how can we improve? You know, even though they work for the public, but they are very interested to let you know where you can improve. And, um, I remember them helping me and we followed those instructions and that was bigger help too.. Well, great. That's, you know what, that's a really good lesson learned and tip for success is, you know, to ask the board what you can do to improve, um, you know, your, your operations. So that's amazing. So let's go back, talk about, you know, being on the global stage for, you know, every year for, you know, since 2016, how do you keep this momentum going? Like it's like winning the gold medal and how do you keep winning the gold medal every single year? So how do you keep the momentum going? Uh, I don't plan it to be honest. It is just that everybody's motivated. It's all been work. I will not take the credit for it just by myself. It's all teamwork. It is staff managers, owners, C21 Canada and help from everywhere else. We all move together. We keep them training with my job is to keep them motivated. And I keep them motivated by saying, listen, you need help any time don't hesitate. Call me if I don't know, I'll check and get back to you, but do not let the deal go help your clients. Be honest, have the knowledge you should know what is in that contract. What to write. What's not. And then we go through, uh, uh, with new agents, how to present offers because brand new agents don't really know how to present offers. What are the etiquettes of presentation offer, things like that. So when you know all that, you know, the rules of the game, you know what your client wants. Uh, you're honest, that's the time you start processing. Right. No, you, you make sales. You are actually not a sales person. We had never shared, we explain them. And then with their instructions, we prepare the contracts, what they want and what they don't want, but we certainly guide them and we can only guide them if we have the knowledge. So that's what is needed. And we keep training programs going all year, every month. So that's fantastic. And, you know, we talked a little bit about, you know, the growth that you've had from when you joined Century 21 with about 90 agents. And really you have to be exact, you know, 417 agents today in 2021. So that's significant growth. What do you think attracts realtors to your company or your office? And w w what are you doing specifically to make them successful? We've talked a little bit about it already, which is, you know, you're providing the training you're providing, you know, you're making sure they, they, their values aligned with your company's values. You're, you're providing them that support 24/7. But, you know, and you talked a little bit about too, the younger agent being attracted to the technology toolkit, really, um, that Century 21 has to offer. Can you talk a little bit about, you know, are you getting referrals, like, are other agents referring realtors to, to join your, your company or, you know, how are you attracting them? It is okay. Let me go back a little bit. It is not only the tools. It is also the. They are attracted to because young agents want to work with a brand. I see. Uh, so Century 21, when you go and say C21 or Century 21, you don't have to explain who you are. They know you are a realtor because it has been there for the longest time. That's number one, number two. Uh, How you build a broker, you will, you're not going to believe this, but this is a fact I've never called anybody to recruit today. When your agents are happy, they will bring other agents because agents talk to each other when they're doing deals. Uh, even though they are their competition, but their colleagues. And, uh, when they talk to each other and they tell them what type of help they have, what type of training they have, how we treat them. We worked like a family. We worked like friends. Uh, they bring other agents and when they come and talk to you, they experienced that. They're happy. They will stay there. If they are not happy. They will not stick around too long because they are independent contractors. Right. So anytime you want to check out how a brokerage is doing or how the manager is, you always see how long have they had these agents? How do they have a lot of change and stuff? If the staff has happy, they'll stay there. If he didn't say happy, they will stay there. They will not move. Um, sometimes I get calls. Okay. Can you come and join us at listen? I know you are recruiting. Uh, why don't I set up a meeting and you can come and talk legends. If anybody wants to leave, you can take them and they just keep quiet in the free. We have that confidence because we all moved together with our agents, with our managers, with our, um, owners and even seep 21 Canada as a family, you know, and that brings agents to. Right. So you're, you're basically your recruiting strategy is basically a retention strategy, right. You know, support your agents, train your agents, make sure they're happy with everything that you talked about, and that will actually recruit more agents. So that's pretty, that's pretty amazing emails for recruiting. I've never called anybody unless somebody asked me that I talked to so-and-so so-and-so can you give him a call? That person is expecting a call from me. Wow. Good for you. So Jasbir, you talked about, um, you know, new agents being attracted to your company, um, and I'm sure that you have a wide range of a demographic group, you know, ranging from younger agents to, you know, older agents is how do you create a culture that appeals to everyone? Just like I said, we treat them like family. And what happened is when I came in, I see we used to have parties and all that agents will come there. Then I said, no, it doesn't work. You know, when I'm working with my agents and I call them family, I got to know their families. You got to create that culture. And you have been to our awards night. You see there that we, uh, say, bring your spouses, bring your kids. At the awards night, they all can ven. They know each other, they know their sponsors, they all know each other. So I give a call to somebody who is not a real, who's a realtor's wife, who's not realtor herself. And she's going to get that message to a spouse. Right. You know, and business improves. So we have been able to create a culture where really, we feel like a family and we know the extended family of that realtor who works there. So they're very comfortable. Uh, once they are comfortable, uh, their spouses are very comfortable. Their children are comfortable. I was talking to somebody, I said, what brings you here? You're joining C21 19 year old kid who was joining C21 he says, you know, I've been dreaming about C21 because I like to work with a brand because these kids are different these days, they would like, they would like to wear shirts, pants, which are branded. They would like to work with somebody. Uh, where there's a brand, you know, young folks that are directed and the produce the learn, then they are very good with technology. I'm not a techie guy, but I know they are very good with technology, how they do it. I don't know. And if I have got some technology problems, I asked them, I said, can you do this for. The gladly do it and it takes them a second. I'll be sitting there for hours. So they're good. And that's the way we have created that culture, where even at a party, they come there and they feel like a family. Uh, it was like a family party, you know, so their kids are there. They're very comfortable. They like to be there. They like to stay there. They like to do business. The messages go across very fast and you'll be surprised a lot of our listing the soul within the. Because the message goes very fast. We, uh, every evening we send a email out. These are the listings that have come in for this price. Also sponsors the listing sales person and it just sells within the office. So there are two levels. Uh, somebody knows, okay. This listing, it hasn't even come on MLS yet. It will take another day or another few hours. By the time the listing has got. You know, so, so when you create that culture, there are a lot of benefits to it. It's not that we don't want to cooperate with others. We corporate with every office, every sales person, but for the cells, you know, we like to advertise right away. It sells fast, it sells fast. What can you do? So they're very comfortable when they're working with you. That comfort level has to be there in any office, even between other officers. You've got to have that comfortable. I would with other C21 offices managing brokers, they all cooperate. And when that cooperation is there, you all try everybody through. Well, you know, when I've experienced your culture myself back in, I think was the Christmas party of 2019 course prior to COVID. And I think there were 600 people there, as you said, there is like, you know, the realtors, you know, wife and the kids. Everybody felt like one big family. So I've had the honor and pleasure of being able to experience that myself. So you're right. It's just that it's, that that culture that you've created is just, it's just quite amazing. What do you think let's just go, let's just talk, not specifically now about Century 21, but let's just talk about your real estate career. What is one of the biggest challenges you've encountered in real estate and how did you overcome it? And I did not know anybody. So how do I stop? No, it does basically family friends, and I've done very little business with family and friends. I generally have done the business outside. So I remember I some plant called me, uh, they saw my sign somewhere. They call me and they said, okay, well this listing and there was another gentleman hearing my conversation and I did say something wrong. And that gentleman got up from the seat came and corrected me. So you shouldn't have said that because that is not correct. You haven't done your homework. I at all. So I went back checked and it was right. I said, how do I correct this? And he corrected it. So what I learned from that, that you've got to do your homework. You got to be very honest. If you do something wrong, See if you have done something wrong and how can we correct that? So when that trust is built between your client and yourself, or between other realtors, you know, then anything you say that trust is there, you do better business, they will deal with you all the time. So that is very important to have the knowledge and be honest. And if you, if you have done something wrong, take the responsibility, right. I L I liked, I liked that philosophy, jazz bear. Um, I think I share the same thing. Um, you know, Jasbir, if you could go and tell your young self whatever age that might be in the twenties, or, you know, when you're a teenager, if you could tell yourself one thing, you know, what would that be? You know, have confidence when you have that belief that you can do it. You'll do a, don't say maybe. I may be able to do it. No, you will be able to do it when you have that. You go out there and you'll do it. I remember when I started, I didn't know anybody. I used to knock doors and I used to knock those for four or five hours, hours continuously every day for two months, I did not have any results. Third month was my first listing. And when I opened the book, I didn't know how to fill out that sheet. Okay. So anyway, I asked them if I could go for a little while, uh, to check something and, uh, you know, they allowed me and I went there. I talked to another gentleman who was the old time realtor. He helped me how to fill that out, came back, listed that property, and we moved further. And then the second listing came the next week. And so on. And one month I had almost like 35 or 36 months. And the following month 30, one of them sold, this is 1981. Oh, wow. That builds the confidence. So, but for the first two months, I was very disheartened that I'm not getting any listings and all that. So you got to keep going. Don't think that it is not going to happen when you keep at it, keep at it. You'll seize a dessert. But when you give up in between, when you're about read. Uh, the finals, the final goal, you are going to get it and you just give up, it is not going to happen. So believe in yourself, keep going and things will happen. You got to be persistent. If you were to make so many calls a day, do it. If you've got to knock so many doors a day, do it, and you should be disciplined in that. And once you are, you'll get, see the results and you'll get the. Those are just great at words of wisdom. It's, it's interesting because you share a very similar. Um, philosophy that our founder,U. Gary Charlwood, of course, that started Century 21 Canada here. Gosh, 46 years ago, he, his motto to me all the time is never give up no matter what. And that's kind of what you, you know, lived in, right. Is that's what your, your message would be as like, believe in yourself. Never give up, keep going. You're going to be successful. You got to just keep trying, right. So let's, let's talk about. You know, just going from an independent brokerage to essentially 21 brokerage. If someone wanted to convert their brokerage now from, you know, another brand or independent brokerage to the century 21 brand or any other brand, what do you think? Some of the things they should consider? This will certainly look at, uh, you're not that when you are going to a brand, any brand young people are directed even, or elder elders, I can say middle-aged or elders, even they're attracted because you're working for a brand. It is their business. Uh, people know them. You don't have to explain to them. The client, when you're knocking doors, that this is not a security company, this is a real estate company, you know? So it makes a big difference. Number one, number two, you got to check with them how flexible the head offices are, how much help you can get. Are they approachable? Um, what type of atmosphere they have, you can be very strict in business. You've got to have that flexibility there when you're dealing with. You know, I'm sure C21 fields that when they're dealing in India, it's a different technique. When they're dealing here, you got to be a little different, you know, so same thing applies within visit the brokerage or within BC or wherever you are. So you've got to see that. And, but at the same time you got to see the, what type of tools they have. How can those tools help? I know it is about tools, but it is more about relationship. You know, uh, but tools to help to do your business better. What type of website? Like we have C21.ca, right? Um, your, uh, we used to call it, uh, uh, online office. Now you call it twenty one, twenty one. Right? So all those tools do help, like, but more than that, It is your relationship with the blind? The complaint I've had from people is that when they talk to somebody and they talk about buying a home or listing a home, they start getting emails like crazy. No, you got to sit down with them first and talk to them. What are their needs? Why are they changing? What are they looking for for. Has their family grown or they're moving to a different area. What's the reason how much will they spend there, all those things. And then you start sending them emails because once you build that trust, they will stick to you. And it's a lifetime thing. Uh, I don't want to deal with the client and let him go. He becomes part of my extended family or my friends circle. I treat them good. And they will deal with you forever if they trust you. My very first client till today is my client. Even though I don't sell, he still will call me and talk about real estate. That's the type of relationship you should have with your clients, so that the trust and that can happen. When you have knowledge, you stay in touch with them, give them a call once in a while. Don't just disappear and not contact them. You know, things like that. So build relationships, uh, sure. Technology health, but relationship is very important with your clients that your bleeds for does a sales people, and everybody you work with. Great. Well, that sun, those are some good things. Okay. Let's now talk about the past 18 months. It's been quite the challenge for all of us, lots of ups and downs in the real estate market. How has this situation we've all been faced with Jasbir how has it affected your leadership style or your management style or how you run the business or has it even affected it? Are you doing things differently than you used to prior to COVID or, you know, are you, are you just this really. When this pandemic started, we thought that this business is going to go down. It is going to effect the business. It is going to affect the jobs, but actually it went in the opposite direction and it was very surprising. The prices started moving up. People would work out of their homes. They needed more space and they felt that because now their kids at home, a small area will not. Be right to work in. Uh, when there is family sitting there, children's sitting there and I see that people were out buying, but we had to follow the COVID rules. We had to lock our office doors and, uh, only people would come in with masks and they had presented, we had to write their names. We had to follow the instructions that were given to us by the government. But to my surprise, we had a lot of calls and, uh, People were showing by appointment. It was no more open houses and the market actually heated up because people were buying and selling quite a bit and, uh, never thought about that, but it was nice to see that the market went up and people made some wise investments. Lot of people worked on. Uh, oh, sorry. A lot of people, they went out of town and started working from home, the rural areas where there were no sales that went up to, so there was demand and later on display went down and even today you're seeing that, that there's not enough supply in this too much demand. And also, uh, there are a lot of people coming in as immigrants, which we need for. Uh, we can give pensions to her tired folks and all that. We need immigrants here. And, uh, even that happened, you know, until recently, uh, until they shut down the flight. So stop the flights from coming in because of COVID, but they're starting again. So I see that actually market. And, uh, business went up. People were still knocking doors, but they will, uh, making sure that they keep their distance. They wear their masks and people at welcome realtors. Then they're not towards very seldom. You'll see where people get denied. Why are you not dosed? Or why are you coming in? The thing that I want to present offer here, but also. Uh, the DocuSign and authenti sign, a lot of deals were signed by that, uh, with that. So it was amazing to see how the system changed, but yes, the market went up and, uh, we were, we just had to follow the rules and people respected that they would go check out the house, wouldn't touch anything. We have hold their gloves for their masks and everything. We had to coach them that this is what you do when you get it, you know, but it worked fine. I mean, Jasbir what did you do with regards to cause you were doing lots of training classes and at some point, you know, we weren't allowed to be in you and in groups, um, you know, bigger groups, um, you know, there was parts of, of, of the year that that happened. You know, people aren't coming in real your realtors, aren't probably coming into your office as often as possible. Like how do you keep the culture going? How do you keep the philosophy of training going in your, in your broken. Uh, in the beginning, my classes were reduced to five or six people because I'm a guy who would like to interact with people because my classes are like a workshop where you also have discussions on different topics. Um, but when things got worse, I learned a little bit of technology, went to zoom classes, and I'm still doing that because now my classes are getting bigger because of new folks joining. So I learned how to, uh, go and teach on zoom, how to share the screen, et cetera, et cetera. So, which is good. But the only thing I missed in that is that I can interact with them face to face because still when you meet a person in-person, that is different than meeting on. You know that that has to be there, but still it is doing well, but I still. Teaching in a classroom. So do you think once we get up back to whatever normal is going to look like, do you think that you'll do a hybrid version of your training? Like some, you know, in class and then the people that, you know, might not be able to, to come in person to your classes, would you be, you know, somehow, you know, doing it remotely too, or have you given it some thought as, you know what that will look like down the road? Um, I'm doing that right now in class, some students and on zoom, but eventually Iwould like only in class because that has got more effect what you learn in a class by having discussions. You'll never forget it in your lifetime. Have a discussion. Like, just like you said, when I met you first time, this is what you said. That's exactly. When they're in the field doing this, they will say, oh, we had this discussion in the class and this was the final result. They will never forget. So that has to be there. So I'm not very pleased with Zoom when it comes to teaching. But yes, we have got to go with that, but eventually I would like to have everybody. You know, it's, it's interesting because, you know, we all went, oh, zoom, this is great. You know, this is going to be the new way. And then we spend 18 months on zoom and go, no, I can't wait to be face-to-face. And you know, there's nothing better than being face-to-face with someone, as you say, teaching them, interacting with them, giving them that guidance, you know? And, um, so I I'm with you. I cannot wait until we can, we can be together more often with more people. Um, so that's, that's great. Okay. Jasbir so this is the last question of the episode we're going to talk about today is what has been the biggest challenge you've ever faced? So it doesn't have to be in real estate. You know, it doesn't have to be in your career in your personal life. Anything, what is the biggest challenge you've ever faced that ended up being a blessing in disguise. It is inreal estate? My biggest challenge when I became a manager, I never thought I could be a good trainer. As I got into it and I looked at it and I said, okay, come up with the ideas, what is needed. And I started training and I realized that I could be a good printer and we see the results today. And I love teaching. I love meeting people, um, discussing, uh, real estate with them, uh, solving problems. So I became a decent trainer that helped us achieve what we have achieved today. And, uh, um, I see that, that helped us to move to a different stage as an office and being out of the top 21, because there's ample training. I never thought I could do it, but I believed in myself and that fear was. So I would say anytime you want to do anything, even if there's fear, believe in yourself, keep doing it and you will win. It is a win-win situation. That's great. Jasbir as you said that, you know, you overcame the challenge of, of, you know, thinking that you're not a great trainer and kind of overcoming that obstacle. And now really Jasbir, you're such a mentor. You're such a leader. You're such a great manager. We are so happy and thankful that you've been able to join us today. We sincerely appreciate the time that you've taken, uh, to be with us. And again, congratulations on your accomplishments and thank you and thank you for all your help at C21 Canada. Thank you. Great. Thanks. Jasbir.