In an increasingly multicultural country, the ability to market to clients in their native tongue has never been so important. We look at what bilingual brokers can do for your business.
In an increasingly multicultural country, the ability to market to clients in their native tongue has never been so important.
A study from industry research firm Common Sense Advisory has found that 72.4% of consumers are more likely to buy a product if provided with information in their native language, and more than half rate the ability to obtain information in their native tongue more important than price.
Nicole Cannon, founder of Pink Finance, said these statistics come as no surprise.
“Totally understandably, clients want to be able to speak and communicate with someone in their native language because there are no communication barriers. It provides a bit of peace and comfort to them that they can speak to somebody in their first language.”
Changes in the demographic landscape of Sydney, and Australia as a whole, formed a large part of Cannon's decision to hire a new-to-industry broker who speaks Cantonese and Mandarin, Elaine (Ying) Lam.
“If you want to keep up with the times and the trends of the demographics then you have to adapt. The statistics are clear that 30% of all migrants now to Sydney are Chinese. That in itself made me realise that what I’m doing is the right thing to do.”
Esther Yong, co-founder of AC property told BRW that the entire property industry is gearing up for a change in the market.
“More and more real estate agencies, developers and service providers - mortgage brokers, solicitors - are hiring Chinese speaking agents and are preparing separate set of marketing material in Chinese as they can see the demand,” she said.
Cannon points out Chinese people tend to have very tight networks, and says Elaine is already getting a large number of enquiries from her own social groups, even as a very new broker.
“They’re very supportive of each other, and you do see this, so I’ve been really excited for her to see already she’s getting opportunities from her friends and past colleagues, getting the word out there to support her in what she’s doing.”
As a business owner, Cannon says the ability to target an entire section of the market that wasn’t available to her before is an invaluable advantage.
“I think it was a smart business move for Pink Finance, and pink is a lucky colour for Chinese so that’s got to be a good sign.”
