Former Pharmacist James Chan has enjoyed remarkable success since leaving a Warkworth Chemist for Bayleys
James is consistently a top performing agent for the company winning
both Bayleys and the Real Estate Institute Sales Person of the Year
awards in 1993, 1996, 2004, 2007, and 2008 for excellence in commercial
property sales. Year 2009/2010 Bayleys National Wide Commercial Sales
No. 2
His sales reflect a mix of auction, tender and private treaty sales drawing from his network of contacts in both Asian and New Zealand business and property sectors local and offshore.
It's a far cry from James' arrival in New Zealand in the mid-1980s as a Chinese University Graduate working as a pharmacist in a chemist in Warkworth.
James was born and raised in Hong Kong
where he learned to speak Mandarin, Cantonese and English. Like many
young Chinese he went overseas to study and graduated from Melbourne University with a pharmacy degree followed by a business studies degree.
He heard there was a need for pharmacists in New Zealand and came to the country for some work experience before returning home to Hong Kong.
He saw a Bayleys' advertisement seeking Chinese speakers to help with
the number of Hong Kong business people and potential migrants seeking
to invest in New Zealand commercial property ahead of the Chinese takeover of the former British colony in 1997.
Initially James started as a salaried worker acting as an interpreter
and liaison person. However, his role quickly expanded as he became a
direct sales negotiator, while a at the other end of the scale he also
become a benefactor and "social worker" for struggling Asian families
trying to settle here.
Due to "word of mouth" within overseas and local Asian communities,
following numerous successful deals over many years, James has built a
level of client trust to the extent that investors seek him out
personally.
He gives the Bayley family and company credit of "welcoming people of
different personalities and cultures" and says people in other walks of
life could learn a lot from the "people skills" agents must acquire to
be successful.
James is now the director of a multi-lingual Asian sales team at Bayleys servicing investors, predominantly from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Korea.