Over the years we have seen how technology has changed the property buying process. We use apps, websites and many other digital platforms to find potential properties and even set alerts for new listings that suit our needs.
However, the power of a potential property buyer ends with just finding the information. They still need an agent or broker to let them inspect the property and if suitable proceed with other legal or documentary processes.
This is when there comes a need for real estate consultants. Their proficiency paired with profound knowledge and experience helps them deliver the best service and address their clients’ needs. Real estate consultants help in navigating the property and housing and property market while providing insight into current trends and conditions. With services tailored to the clients’ needs and their best interest in mind real estate consultants provide true objectivity and a keen eye for detail.
Now when we pair technology and an industry expert, the results would be extraordinary. Leveraging the right technologies will enable real estate consultants to be more effective and agile. It will help them to serve more buyers in less time and also help them improve client satisfaction.
Recognizing this opportunity, Yogesh Jaiswal the Director of Le Classique Realty entered into the realm of the real estate industry with an aim to offer efficient customer-centric and tech-driven services. This company offers solutions that empower property buyers to make an informed decision and make a deal. The below-conversation with Mr. Jaisawl will give us further insight into how his company provides real-estate management services of the highest caliber.
Kindly brief us about your company.
Le Classique Realty Pvt ltd was found in August 2019 and is headquartered at Dahisar. However, we also operate from the various sites we have a mandate with. Usually, our sales team operates out of the site venues. Employee strength, to begin with, was 2 employees and it has grown to 60+ since we started.
What inspired you to step into the construction industry?
Over the years I have spent in real estate, there has always been this burning desire to do my own. I have always apprehended the need for a reliable professional channel between developers and buyers.
The RERA Act has brought real estate brokers under its ambit – but there is no minimum qualification, experience, or certification for agents. It was evident to me that there is a massive opportunity for large and upcoming organized broking firms to address this gap.
Upon observing this gap in the industry I decided to bridge this gap and bring the desired change. However, it was very clear that the business approach in today’s date cannot be the way we have done it even 5 years back. There were many drawbacks and loopholes. In all my earlier stints at various realty organizations, I have tried to bring this change in go to market strategy.
But it never worked out and soon I realized I was never in the driving seat. I wasn’t the owner of any of these organizations. And because of that I could not influence such radical change or bring complete paradigm shifts in the way we look at the industry sales. It then I realized that it’s time to do my own. Le Classique is in the business of providing end-to-end services to its customers through a tech-driven approach and organized professional human interface. The vision with which I established this company is, “to be the first choice for our consumers in their journey of home buying.”
Brief us about the industry scenario from your perspective.
The Indian real estate industry has been badly hit by the pandemic and there seems to be no respite in the near future. The sector is already experiencing a major dip in property visits and reduced buyer interest. Sales figures have dipped sharply and the decline will continue for the next 6-9 months. Public sentiment is just not viable for new purchase and the fear of project delivery getting postponed is lurking large.
Developers are trying their best to attract consumers by whatever means they can. Few developers have come out with an online booking option and heavy discounts on agreement value.
One has offered “buy1 unit and get 1 free”, of course, the free unit is not of the same project but another cheaper option in some other relatively less expensive location. The math is always calculated in such offers. The realtors today may resort to earning lesser profit but wisely keeping the price point much above the construction and incurred cost.
There is no sense of having any new launches at this point in time until such time Digital launches are figured out as an alternative.
Sops might work for a segment, as there will be few consumers who will take these situations to their advantage and get the extra benefit along with their purchase. But by and large, Indian consumer sentiment is that such high priced products cannot be purchased without physically seeing the project. This buying behaviour may prove to be a dampener since the sites are shut for visits for the time being.
The developers will still hold on to prices and rather offer schemes and sops for sales, which they know will be temporary in nature and will not impact their brand value.
But eventually, if the situation worsens or government lock-down prolongs beyond 45-60 days, then chances are extremely high that the realtors will soon be cutting through their prices. The cost of holding up will be too high for most of the developers to sustain.
The drop in prices is only a temporary phenomenon. Prices will remain unchanged majorly for all large developers. The correction will happen only in the secondary market and category B and C developers and their projects where unsold inventory is large. We just may see prices falling off the shelf by min 5 % to 10% on the total consideration value.
Kindly tell us about the challenges you faced to withstand the complexities of the industry.
Like any other startup, I faced the challenge of developing my core team. I knew from the beginning that I needed a strong senior team and the rest can be taken care of. Initially, we had also faced a lot of trust issues from the developers in terms of getting a complete mandate of their projects. People were skeptical about how well we will be able to deliver sales and improve their cash flows.
However, I was slightly lucky with team development. I have worked with many realty companies in my past and always been excellent with my work. Frankly speaking, I had a lot of fan following in my previous companies. That worked! It helped me to pick up the best people from there and trust me. My core team joined me at a much lower package then they were at. Everyone believed in me and hence the first challenge was met.
On the other hand, developers took about 45 days to have faith in me by giving their complete revenue streams as mandate projects. I understood and started doing retail and successfully delivered supreme results. I knew the word will spread in the market and also to the developers I was eyeing for business. That’s exactly how it shaped and here I am today with 10 mandates across Mumbai, Pune, and Shirdi.
Kindly introduce us to the current projects you are working on.
Currently, we are working with –
- Baya Goldspot, Mumbai (The Baya Group)
- Akash Complex, Mumbai (lxmi Infrastructures)
- Yes Residency, Pune (Yemul and Sancheti associates)
- Shree residency, Pune (Ranka developers)
- VTP Urban life, Talegaon (VTP Group)
- VTP Bhagyasthan, Talegaon (VTP Group)
- Shraddha Residency, Shirdi (Sangram realty)
In Process:
- Mont Vert Cresta, Lonavla (Mont Vert Group)
- Mont Vert Valencia, Lonavla (Mont Vert Group)
- Omkar Vive and Meridia, Mumbai (Omkar Group)
- Sugandha Gardens, Pune
- PVR MAHA, Hyderabad (PVR Developers)
Kindly state about your company’s achievements.
Despite being a new company in this industry, I am proud to say that we are continuously striving and moving up the ladder. For instance, in just 9 months we have grown employee size-wise and now have 72 employees. To calculate our achievement in terms of revenue and sales, we achieved sales of 28 units during this pandemic lock-down and are at the Topline revenue of 106 cr for 9 months. However, I consider our achievement as my team’s unfathomable zeal and persistence in offering the premium quality service.
What kind of future advancements you expect in the construction industry and how well equipped are you to face those changes?
The construction industry is all set to go majorly online and tech-friendly. We have anyway initiated these changes long back. The company has a tech-driven approach from pre-sales, lead gen to sales, and online booking methodology right from day one.
Also, we see this phase as a momentary pause to the real estate growth and hence we never stopped hiring. We are not only expanding but also in the process of opening new branches across the country.
Tell us about the future plans of the company.
India is fast on track to become a USD 5 trillion economy and the Indian broking business currently is estimated to be worth nearly USD 1.8 billion, there remains vast untapped potential in the new housing purchase business.
In the coming years, we aim to spread our operations to 8 cities in the next 6 months with 500+ professionals across. We are also about to launch Channel Partner Business vertical application, which will be completely technology-driven and will track from the site visit to closure to automated payments to CP’s.
In the market, we want to be known as Trustworthy, Friendly, Expert, and Professional to the consumers and ‘Jeannie’ to the developers. Whenever the developer or the consumer thinks of availing real estate services, LC should feature in the Top 3 as Top of the mind recall.
Below-mentioned is also some of the other goals that we aim to achieve:
- Reach Revenue positive at Gross margin level in 9 months, Positive in Business contribution level in 18 months, and EBITDA positive in 24 months.
- Have a 50 seater call center for presales within 12 months.
- Have operations spread across 6 major cities of India (Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata, and Hyderabad)
- Have a sales team of 150 plus members in 18 months.
- Have min 30 plus developer mandates across the above 6 cities in the first 18 months.
- Develop a core team of 12 members spread across divisions (sales, presales, digital marketing, collections, PR) within 12 months and ensure they are well-taken care off, as they form the pillars of LC.
- Achieve 200 numbers of transactions in 15 months.
- Achieve sales productivity of 6 times in 12 months, 8times in 18 months, and 10 times in 24 months.
