Meng Chang didn’t look down on Tian Mo because of what he said; instead, he became even more attentive.

Regardless of what Tian Mo was like before, someone personally discovered by Mr. Pei must have something extraordinary about them!

Besides, whether Tian Mo’s understanding of the rental agency profession was deep enough to provide the answers Meng Chang wanted would only be known after they talked.

Meng Chang decided to get to the point: “So, what’s your view on the rental agency profession?”

“For instance, people generally have certain prejudices against this profession now. Do you think it’s a problem with the individuals, the companies, or the entire industry?”

Tian Mo took a sip of coffee and said after a moment’s consideration: “Actually, if you had asked me this question when I was working as an agent, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to answer.”

“Because I didn’t understand anything then. Even if I saw many things, I couldn’t analyze them.”

“But after working as the head of the Sales Department at Tenda for a while, under Mr. Pei’s guidance, I suddenly gained some insights.”

“Looking back at my experience as an agent, I suddenly have some new perspectives.”

Meng Chang’s eyes lit up.

What was this?

This was mastering everything through understanding one thing!

Originally, Tian Mo could only be considered a very poor rental agent.

He only closed two deals in a month. To say this wasn’t due to a lack of ability but rather having too much conscience—that couldn’t be right!

But now, Tian Mo was thriving and highly regarded in Tenda’s Sales Department, obviously having received Mr. Pei’s true teachings and becoming enlightened.

The nature of work in sales departments is quite similar.

The enlightened Tian Mo, looking back at his previous experiences, would naturally gain some new insights.

Especially when comparing his experience working at Tenda with his time at the agency office, he would naturally see the differences.

Meng Chang suddenly became very eager to hear what Tian Mo was about to say.

After careful consideration, Tian Mo said: “The sales method Mr. Pei taught me is actually the method for an ideal state.”

“Tenda has the most excellent products, and as a salesperson, I just need to honestly introduce the products to customers, treat them sincerely, and this will naturally leave a good impression, building trust imperceptibly.”

“Trust in the salesperson, plus the excellence of the product itself, naturally ensures good sales.”

“Treating people with sincerity and serving them wholeheartedly—this is the sales philosophy Mr. Pei taught me.”

“But when I tried to apply this sales method to my previous work as an agent, I found it completely impractical, even incompatible.”

“Looking back now, the reason some rental agencies are annoying to people is partly due to the varying quality of practitioners, partly due to the profit-seeking nature of agency companies, and partly due to the special nature of the entire industry.”

Meng Chang nodded happily, taking notes in his small notebook while saying: “We have plenty of time, no rush, take your time.”

Tian Mo continued: “Most people’s bad impressions of various sales and agency personnel are formed when dealing with specific individuals.”

“Similar professions have relatively low recruitment requirements, especially the quality of employees in some shady agencies varies greatly, so they easily leave a bad impression.”

“But at the root, I think it’s a problem from top to bottom, from the industry to the company, which is ultimately reflected in specific individuals.”

“Low recruitment requirements don’t necessarily mean the people recruited have low quality. I also have a low level of education and couldn’t survive in ordinary agency companies, but I’ve done well at Tenda.”

“It’s clear that many times it’s not a problem with the people, but with the industry and the company. The environment creates wrong inducements for people, and individuals find it difficult to change the entire environment. Over time, it becomes what it is now—a muddy pool where no one can remain untainted.”

Meng Chang nodded: “What do you think is the root cause of people’s prejudice against this industry?”

Tian Mo thought for a moment: “It’s the operating model.”

“I didn’t realize this at first, but after comparing with Tenda, I understood. Tenda’s sales and some small agency companies’ agents seem to be doing the same kind of work on the surface, but in reality, they have nothing in common.”

“Tenda’s sales are service-oriented, adding brilliance to perfection. Our job is to objectively introduce the pros and cons of products to customers, given that the products are already solid. Whether customers purchase or not depends entirely on their own will.”

“But the agents and salespeople of other companies aren’t like that.”

“Their work is inductive in nature, like giving a fan in snowy weather. Not providing coal in snowy weather, but a fan.”

“They strive to induce and distort customer needs. When customers urgently need something, they use sales tactics and other methods to make customers believe that what’s in front of them is exactly what they need, thereby facilitating the transaction.”

“Customers need coal in snowy weather, but salespeople try hard to sell them fans.”

“For example, many real estate agents post fake photos online, or list information about properties that don’t actually exist. When customers see this and think the house looks good, they call to inquire. The agent will say the property is still available and offer to show it to them.”

“When customers arrive, the agent takes them to a different property, saying the one they saw earlier was just reserved by someone else, but fortunately, there’s a similar one available. Since the customers have already come, they can only follow along to see.”

“The so-called ‘similar’ property is actually vastly different.”

“Many agents use this method to close deals, finding ways to sell poorly renovated, environmentally inferior properties to customers.”

“This is a fairly common approach, almost becoming mainstream. Customers have no way to confirm whether the photos they see on the website are actually of the real property, and in fact, they probably aren’t.”

“By concealing and deceiving to facilitate transactions, customers naturally learn their lesson after being scammed once and don’t want to be scammed a second time, thus forming a bad impression.”

Meng Chang nodded: “Yes, I’ve heard about this approach, and it’s indeed infuriating.”

“Should this issue be attributed to the employees, the company, or the industry?”

Tian Mo said: “I think it should be attributed to the industry and the company.”

“In Mr. Pei’s view, agencies and sales should be service-oriented industries.”

“Many rental agency companies’ primary work should be serving tenants, meeting their needs, providing them with quality housing resources and good guarantee services, and charging commissions for this.”

“But many companies now, such as Zhujia Group, are no longer service providers but middlemen.”

“By establishing storefronts, they monopolize surrounding properties. When landlords post information, agents constantly call to grab these resources for themselves. Ordinary tenants can’t contact landlords and are forced to find agency companies to rent from.”

“Then, agency companies use their advantageous position to coax or trick tenants into signing contracts, transforming from service providers to masters of the tenants.”

“They even lower prices for landlords and raise prices for tenants to maximize profits.”

“On the surface, they’re providing a service, but in reality, the service they provide is completely disproportionate to its actual value. Essentially, they use industry monopoly and artificially created information asymmetry to isolate the true demand sides—landlords and tenants—making themselves middlemen who profit from both ends.”

“Once this change in nature occurs, from service-oriented to middleman-oriented, these companies naturally generate all kinds of shady operations to make more money.”

“As I mentioned earlier, they lure customers with fake listings, partition houses to rent to many people, use low-quality materials for renovations but charge high rent, and even intimidate or extort customers who try to bypass the agency. Various tactics emerge endlessly. Although there are differences in tactics depending on the company—large companies relatively consider their reputation while small companies have no bottom line—at the root, it’s because their nature is no longer that of a service industry, but has changed to that of middlemen who monopolize channels by any means.”

“At the root, all these shady operations have only one purpose: to make more money by any means necessary. They’ve even come up with and implemented extreme plans like persuading tenants to sign loan agreements, then using loans to monopolize housing resources, completely disregarding the consequences.”

“Many people call these companies bloodsuckers because the services they provide completely fail to match the profits they actually extract.”

“With the industry and companies like this, the employees naturally can only pursue profits and commissions by any means necessary, resulting in the current situation.”

“The true originator should be that ‘business genius’ who first changed the nature of agency business from ‘service’ to ‘middleman.'”

“Many people appear to be creating new business models on the surface, but are actually dropping rat droppings in the pot, making the entire industry a mess, earning unscrupulous money.”

“Mr. Pei, on the other hand, has been doing exactly the opposite. He has been consistently trying to use a new business model to replace the current mainstream, deformed, and distorted business models, returning these industries to their original, proper state.”

Meng Chang nodded frequently while rapidly taking notes.

After hearing Tian Mo’s speech, he felt he had really found the right person.

Incisive and straight to the point!

Indeed, many people’s bad impressions of agents might come from certain low-quality agents.

But the source of this phenomenon is actually that the entire large company, and even the entire industry, has fundamental problems.

When a company’s nature fundamentally changes, every employee, regardless of whether they’re willing or not, regardless of whether they’re forced or motivated by commissions to do these things, the results won’t differ much.

Often, there’s even a phenomenon of bad money driving out good. Companies want tools that pursue profits by any means necessary, squeezing both landlords and tenants, not to mention their own employees.

In this situation, many people can’t handle this type of work. After continuous turnover, those who remain are naturally assimilated.