Empowering people through innovation: How this leader adopts a high-tech, high-touch approach to real estate success

While his contemporaries relied on conventional marketing methods in 1996, Marcus Chu was already envisioning the digital transformation of the real estate industry. His prescient $2,000 investment in building a website – though rudimentary by today’s standards – signalled the strategic thinking that would later define him as the CEO of ERA Singapore, ERA Asia Pacific and APAC Realty Limited.

“It was amateurish but I was willing to step up,” he recalls, adding that the website was not very successful at the time as not a lot of potential buyers used the internet to search for properties. But this small setback did not diminish his belief in the potential of technology.

Today, ERA spans 13 countries and territories across the Asia Pacific, with close to 25,000 advisers at over 590 offices, reinforcing Chu’s long-term vision of blending innovation and entrepreneurship with sustainable regional growth.

And his commitment to innovation has been crystallised in ERA’s proprietary SALES+ app which offers everything from a specialised property calculator to a one-tap iSubmission button for HDB resale transactions to a centralised news feed with real-time project updates and policy changes.

The platform offers more than operational efficiency. It’s a competitive advantage that enables ERA Singapore’s close to 9,000 agents to deliver analysis and presentation capabilities.

This system generates AI-powered property reports and converts raw data into investor-ready charts and presentations in mere seconds and then syncs this vital information to each agent’s phone and email.

“SALES+ is built by agents, for agents. It is truly a super app – an eco-system that supports every stage of the agent’s workflow,” Chu says. “My long-term vision is that every agent opens SALES+ every morning with a to-do list that tells him or her which client to call and why.”

Chu’s leadership philosophy is rooted in a ground-up understanding of real estate, shaped by a career where he has consistently been at the top. He began as a rookie agent and quickly rose to become ERA’s Top Rookie Achiever, eventually becoming the Top ERA Agent in Singapore and internationally.

In fact, he was the first agent in Singapore to cross $1 million in annual commission back in the 1990s – a groundbreaking achievement at the time.

In the early 2000s, he went on to lead the largest team in Singapore, with over 2,000 agents under his leadership. His track record of being the best at every stage – as a top agent and a top leader – sets him apart from his peers.

Before his appointment as ERA’s CEO, he spent 16 years in its agency business support team.

This unique journey allows him to relate to high-performing professionals across every level, seeing agents not just as teammates but as “realtor-preneurs” – empowered business partners who can operate from anywhere, whether livestreaming from home or hot-desking at the ERA APAC Centre in Toa Payoh Central.

Their work is outcome-driven, not hours-based so Chu practises “decentralised leadership” which is about leading by influence, not by instruction, and maintaining a balance of trust and guidance.

“I cannot manage them in the traditional employer-and-employee way. Every agent has their unique strengths and can be invincible if they are empowered with training, tools and support to help them thrive.”

To him, technology empowers and motivates his agents by freeing them up to focus on the human side of the business. Even as more agents turn to social media to advertise or showcase content related to projects, the personal touch is still important.

Chu emphasises that digital efficiency is not replacing the fundamental human elements of real estate transactions – trust, discretion and personalised service are still paramount in this industry.

“Digital speed could never replace empathy,” he says. “Trust is invisible but essential for connections. We appear at the milestones of someone’s life journey so our personal high touch cannot be replaced by AI or social media.”

As he strongly believes that constant learning is a powerful motivational tool, he schedules one-on-one mentoring sessions with team leaders every week.

Besides this, ERA’s comprehensive development approach includes about 35 monthly formal training sessions. While 42 per cent of these focus on technology proficiency, the rest cover a wide spectrum of topics like negotiation and project expertise.

Aside from the ample learning opportunities, Chu believes that recognition is another powerful motivational tool for his agents.

Every year, the ERA Millionaire Gala celebrates the outstanding agents known as Millionaire Achievers, who have earned $1 million in commission within a year, as well as Rising Millionaires, who have earned between $500,000 and $1 million annually.

But to recognise a broader group of high-performing agents, the company also presents special awards such as the Young ERA Achiever Award for agents under 35, Family Awards for husband-and-wife, sibling, or parent-child teams, and the Top Gun Award for long-serving agents.

Chu’s growth strategy is anchored on three key pillars: putting people first, leveraging training as a core growth driver, and building platforms like the SALES+ super app that connect people and property seamlessly.

Says Chu: “My vision for ERA is to be the first call for discerning clients who expect tailored analysis, strict confidentiality and seamless execution. I want to hand over an organisation that continues to empower advisers, embrace innovation, and remain trusted by generations.”

Marcus Chu is available on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.