Orchard Property: Enduring success in real estate

MANILA, Philippines - If there is any indication against the speculated property bubble in the Philippines, it is the continued healthy take-up of property offerings in the market, as veteran developers like Sta. Lucia Land would attest to.

The company’s enduring success in real estate is due in large part to its maverick marketing and sales strategy, which it started 19 years ago with Orchard Property Marketing Corporation (OPMC).

It is the largest subsidiary of Sta. Lucia that exclusively markets and sells its developments all over the Philippines.  It is also the biggest marketing arm of Sta. Lucia with 25 new projects to boost.

OPMC’s annual sales of Sta. Lucia properties is close to P2 billion, using a business model that combines continued recruitment and training of agents, fast commission payments, attractive incentives to sellers, substantial benefits to employees and a targeted marketing approach.

The synergy of Sta. Lucia and OPMC is in many ways a perfect partnership based on trust and mutual concern that is difficult to find in enterprises these days. OPMC was conceived in 1995 by Tirona and Sta. Lucia chairman and president Exequiel Robles.

Tirona recalls a memorable task of selling shares of the Alta Vista Golf and Country Club in Cebu, with the help of the Johnny Walker Classic tournament earlier held at Sta. Lucia’s new Orchard Golf and Country Club in Cavite. Cebuanos who watched the tournament were charmed by the beauty of the course, so Tirona easily sold them the vision of Alta Vista.

With such brisk sales, Sta. Lucia encountered some difficulty getting commission checks out for the sales people who sold the Alta Vista shares, so it was deemed better to separate the in-house marketing department. Tirona set up an office in Cebu City and OPMC was incorporated in October 1995.

OPMC started with only three employees: a sales director, a secretary and Tirona. Its office was first located at the East Tower of the Tektite twin building in Ortigas Center before moving to its West Tower. Today, the company employs about a hundred people, who does back office work mostly processing sales documents. They are spread out in 11 offices nationwide.

OPMC also has a pool of 6,000 trained agents in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Laguna, Cavite, Rizal, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Bacolod, General Santos City and Quezon. The recruitment and training of new agents is continuous to keep up with sales targets and unavoidable attrition of sellers to other brokerage or sales companies.

Tirona admits that OPMC agents are usually not college graduates. Rather than view this situation negatively, the company sees it as a valuable contribution to entrepreneurship and providing livelihood even to the most ordinary of Filipinos who may not be formally educated but possess innate salesmanship.

OPMC also boasts superior customer service because their sellers are intimately in tune with the same demographic of middle-income and aspirational Filipino homebuyers that they sell Sta. Lucia properties to. The sales firm takes advantage of socio-cultural networking skills, encouraging agents to sell to relatives and friends as these people are more open to being neighbors in the same subdivision.

Recruitment is challenging because OPMC does not give monthly allowance to agents. Tirona says the company will not match the monthly allowance offer of other property sellers because of the sheer number of its agents. But OPMC compensates for it through faster payment of commission and attractive incentives based on performance.

Also, OPMC gives the full commission within a few days from the time the buyer makes a downpayment. Agents also get their commission through e-cards issued to them by the company to spare them the inconvenience of going to the office to claim check payments. The modern payment method and centralized document processing is made possible through the adoption of a computer system four years ago.

In terms of incentives, Tirona says OPMC is the pioneer in sending top sellers to foreign destinations.

“Every year, we have an incentive travel for agents who meet targets. We give cash incentives. We also gave away cars three years ago and we have plenty of gadgets that we give away because these are items that agents can use in their work,” says Tirona.

OPMC also takes care of its regular employees in the same way it treats agents well. Apart from the usual benefits of health insurance and salary loans, they also provide company-paid travel and discounts or easy payment terms in buying Sta. Lucia homes.

Tirona believes that the growth of OPMC can be sustained and exceeded by maintaining good people. And the only way to maintain good people is by giving them more benefits and a defined career path.

 “Dependability and consistent growth of the company is important to me because many people depend on us,” he says.

 OPMC’s head office is located at Units 701 and 708 West Tower, Philippine Stock Exchange Centre, Ortigas Center, Pasig City.  It has offices at Bulacan, SM Fairview, Waltermart Calamba, Cavite, Lucena, SM Iloilo, Metro Cebu, Davao City and Bacolod City. 

For inquiries, call 635 4946.