Many were bigger, or more established, than Cisco at one point. I'd like to believe they just couldn't keep up, but the truth is that many stumbled because the world changed faster than they did. While each company had its own unique set of circumstances, they all failed to catch one thing: a market transition. Some became so focussed on winning the game they were playing that they didn't notice a new game was starting on the next field. Others stopped listening to their customers. They focused on improving products that were becoming obsolete, diversified into the wrong business, or picked the wrong partners. They held fast to analog technology as the world went digital. They didn't disrupt, so they were disrupted.' - Quote from the book 'Connecting the Dots' by John Chambers.

The year 2020 would be remembered for the tough times and setbacks caused to most of us on this planet. One had hoped to breath a sigh of relief that the most disruptive year in business / life was finally over. But, 2021 is already beginning to look more ominous with each passing day and could end up becoming worse than 2020. These years have forced on us market transition / disruption / change, of a couple of generations served up in less than a year.

Change / Disruption is not an option now, it is already thrust on us quite forcefully. Going forward, disruptive and radical ideas seem to be the only ones that would survive in business. For us at Trinity Partners, we have always been fence sitters about two changes / disruptors. First, better use of technology in our business. Second, relaunch our own residential business. In the past we have tried 'dipping our toes in water' or piggyback strategies with respect to above 2 disruptors but now seems the right time to take the plunge in the icy waters of change.

We have always adopted available technology but could never put in adequate time, efforts and resources to morph our 'good to have website' into a proper client / business focused website. New technology adoption is not for the faint hearted as far as the costs go. It is quite expensive and one is never sure of the kind of technology partners one encounters and if they know our consulting business well enough to deliver on expectations. To begin with we now have developed an in-house proprietary CRM which would enable our team to offer better services to our clients. This would help our teams respond faster to the ever changing needs of our clients.

Trinity Partners new and improved website (www.trinitypartners.co.in) is designed with customer centric content in mind. The home page gives 3 options to a visitor i.e. explore about Trinity, commercial and residential business segments. The content on the 'Who we are' page gives a snapshot of Trinity's decade+ journey in the real estate consulting business.

The commercial page gives the visitor 5 choices i.e. office services, co-working, retail services, land & warehousing services. When a visitor explores the office services pages, care has been taken to not confuse them with complicated sounding service offerings. A visitor is guided through a range of pre-qualifying queries that any client should decide upon before firming up their office requirements. We have always believed that a client needs to be taken through a proper process of requirement analysis before actually starting work on locating the office. Better understanding and planning of the client's office requirements, will save their time, cost and resources.

Co-working has developed as an important facet of the office space industry and will continue to play a pivotal role for occupiers. Our co-working page gives a quick snapshot about what a client can expect by opting for a co-working space. Most of the services covered by any standard co-working centre are briefly explained on this page. It further gives details about how co-working options would benefit large occupiers and developers.

The retail services page has been developed with content specific for a retail brand's requirement analysis or planning. The attempt on this page is to explain the different types of properties (high street / mall / shops ) available for retailers and how to go about selecting the same. We also give some brief indicators for retail property developers / landlords about points to be kept in mind while developing a potential high demand retail development.

The land service page offers advice on 'do's and dont's' to be followed when a client wants to buy land. This is one segment which can be the most tricky and needs to be handled properly and carefully to ensure a good title is bought by a client. All these pages would continue to improve the client centric content so that a reader gets maximum possible information before they embark on getting any specific type of properties.

The residential business in our city has seen its share of ups and downs and has started to show positive momentum with better sales numbers across the city. We had a difficult decision to make in terms providing the best array of residential options. In our research we found that the Hyderabad market is clearly divided into 2 segments purely based on level of compliance. The first segment is a section of developers who religiously follow statutory compliance requirements and the second segment is a portion of developers who are a rule unto themselves.

They extent of non-compliance in this market is unique and scary. Undivided share land deals, pre-sales being done before obtaining RERA licence, assured income / rental schemes, UDS sales of commercial floors, plotted development being sold off as agricultural land etc., and the list goes on. Non-compliance is being touted as a badge of honour actually it is a badge of disgrace. Unfortunately a few brokers are also hand in glove in such non-compliances.

Sales in both compliant and non-compliant projects seem to be good currently. Not sure if sales in non-compliant project can be legally called sales. We wonder sometimes as to why clients fall for non-compliant schemes and bet their hard earned money on projects which might never see completion. Have seen smart / intelligent people also fall for such non-compliant projects / schemes. It is as though our IQ suddenly dips when we buy real estate and we start treating the developer as somebody engaged in some high end space technology project who is trying to explain how to reach Mars instead of selling a house to us. Clients need to be more vigilant about how and with whom they are investing. Ignorance of the law could be financially quite detrimental to buyers.

• For Trinity Partners residential business, we decided to strictly follow the compliant route only. We will work on marketing and selling of projects which have obtained RERA and all other necessary compliances. Our own due diligence will also play a role before picking projects for marketing. Our selling principle has remained the same from day one i.e. if we are convinced we will invest our own money in a particular project, only then would we recommend it to our clients. We feel there is an immense scope in the current market for a brokering firm focused on compliance.
• Our residential model focuses on providing brokerage services to clients / developers from the designing stage to handover. It is a thrill to engage with a client through a deal till they take handover of their property. In our residential model we have never charged our primary sale clients brokerage / fees rather charged fees from our developers only. As important as it is for a client to engage with a professional and RERA approved realtor, equally important is for them to know their realtor's revenue source. A lot of firms claim to give free service or no brokerage service but at the end of the day they charge by padding their fees in the final cost or through some hidden cost. Clients should avoid working with brokers who lure them with free service.
• There are no free lunches and free service generally is the first step towards mistrust. Please note the term 'realtor' does not signify a builder, it is a globally patented word referring to brokers only.
• Compliance is the most important aspect of a project that we can assure for our clients. They invest their hard earned money in buying a house and we want to make that experience compliant and smooth. Trinity Partners residential team will enable our clients to not only buy their dream house but hopefully also see their investment grow in value to get them good returns in future. When we meet our clients who invested with us earlier, we are pleased to see that they are not only happy with their investments but have also seen many fold appreciation in investments done through Trinity Partners.
• The compliant only decision has not been an easy one rather we have faced quite a bit of pushback. A few recent fact finding meetings were interesting. It was pointed to us that if we only play by the book and not practically then we would be left holding the rule book and not earn much. Thought this was a huge complement that Trinity Partners would hold onto to the rule book than loose its shirt for non-compliance.
• Another interesting discussion was about marketing assured return schemes. SEBI has debarred such schemes for the real estate sector terming such assured return schemes to be ponzi schemes. A developer enlightened us that assured rental is not assured return. Amazing how people convince themselves rigorously that non-compliance is the best way forward.
• Mark Twain said, "You're never wrong to do the right thing" and this quote fits perfectly the recent positive actions of the current CREDAI leadership working tirelessly to stem out industry ills such as UDS sale and pre-sales. We see a lot of press interviews, videos and representations being done to the government to stop this menace. The government also has taken note and some of the recent statutory orders under the stamp act would come in handy. The recent warning by RERA to developers to follow compliance will also help. All these actions will come down hard on non-compliance. The non-compliant lot are not only harming the industry but ruining brand Hyderabad.
• The new residential webpage of Trinity Partners currently hosts a few projects on which we are putting in focused marketing efforts. A visitor will get all relevant info on the same page / screen and can go onto book a site visit. A client checklist has been added to help site visitors evaluate their residential investments in a wholistic manner rather than approach it piecemeal.
• Trinity Partners looks forward to the new decade with excitement and hope, as we take another 2 steps in our relentless pursuit for excellence. Planned transition is not something new but we hope to put in our brand of passion and vigour behind it. After all it not always about how much we sell but how we sell to win customers by selling them what they need, not what we want them to buy.