While she is waiting for the current owner to move out, she went online to a property portal to search for potential tenant.
A man (from Myanmar) has posted an ad looking to rent a room at Novena for $1,500 per month.
As there are many hospitals and medical centers in that area, the lady guessed that this person must be in the medical profession, probably in nursing.
Seeing the high rent that this person is willing to pay, she called him up and found out that he is a doctor.
"Wow, how lucky!" the lady exclaimed silently in her heart.
Unfortunately, the man needed to move out quickly before the lady's house is ready.
Now, what makes the lady think that this man would be interested in renting a flat that is at least 7 stations away from the area he is looking to rent a unit? Even if the man is fine with the location, does she think that he will pays $1,500 for a room which does not provide him the convenience of being near his workplace?
If the lady has bothered to check out Novena, she would have find out that there are no flats in that area. Most of the houses there are either condominium or landed properties. The nearest flats are on the other side of the road which is quite a distance away. The man probably quoted the$1,500 rent based on condominium.
Of course, you might say there's no harm in asking. Who knows maybe the person might be interested after all.
That is perfectly fine.
The issue here is did she try to find out what the man really wanted? Even if she knows that he is a doctor and probably wanted a place near to where he works, did she verify it with him? After all, this is just her assumption.
I attended an exhibition the other day. Out of all the exhibitors' booth I visited, no one actually bothered to ask me about my business. They were all too busy trying to sell their products and services, hoping to get me interested to buy from them.
For every brochure they gave out, all the exhibitors asked for my name card or requested me to write down my contact details so they can follow up with me. While it's important to collect leads, I wonder how many people actually remembered what was shared and communicated with all the visitors at the show.