Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa April/May 2019 | Page 14

MASTER INVESTOR
were in terms of platform, user interface, organisational structure
etcetera. They were quite impressive in their innovation. We were
less than half their size in terms of audience. And we took a look
at this and thought ‘wow we might have missed the boat here’, it
was quite daunting,’ says Farinha. ‘But we knew it was the way
to go because it was working internationally.’ So Property24 had
to completely transform to start competing properly. The group
called on its resources from Korbitec, the technology business
Property24 merged with. They started the process of retooling
the business from the ground up. ‘It was a bit like changing
the engine while flying. At the same time we didn’t want to
completely kill what we had in the business, but we were also
competing with the incumbent.’
According to Farinha, the South African property industry
should always be nervous about a big international disruptor
that could come in and eat our lunch. ‘This is where we had
quite a big disconnect with the real estate industry: we realise
that a big company can come in and disrupt us tomorrow. So
we have to do everything to stay as competitive as possible.
And sometimes that means making decisions that the real
estate industry doesn’t like. For example: valuations or stats
or trends. Consumers want more information, they need to be
informed and they’re going to get it; it’s just a case of where
they get it from. So, if you don’t offer that service, then you
open that door to a competitor from overseas and then it’s too
late for the industry and for us.’
‘The internet flattens everything, there’s no home field
advantage,’ says Farinha. ‘The only defence you have is to be as
competitive as you can and you do that through focusing on
your consumers’ needs.’
Although some in the estate agent industry are not happy
about Property24’s success, if it wasn’t Property24, it would’ve
been someone else who saw the gap and did it.
A major reason for Property24’s success was getting a lot
of stock listed on the site. In exchange for property listed by
estate agents, Property24 charged a smaller fee than their
competitors. They also offered different business lines like
digital instructions to recover some of the fees. The model was
interesting but very ambitious. ‘Like many of these things you
only find out what the pitfalls are once you start implementing.
But what did happen is it got us all together and it got all the
big estate agents to start using the product. At the same time
we really focused on the user experience and Google SEO and
SEM. All the things that makes a good website and give the
user a good experience. It was actually harder than starting
from scratch. That took us about two years to get right,’ he
says.
At the end of 2011 Poperty24 ran its first TV campaign,
and it seemed to work. The business saw a major jump in
brand awareness and traffic. This success gave it the confidence
to invest further and spend more money on marketing and
the user experience side. ‘The two go hand-in-hand because if
you’re spending a lot of money getting your consumer to your
site, it doesn’t help if it’s a bad experience. It has to be good
enough to retain the user and give them a good experience.’ A
team of people are constantly focusing on the tiniest details on
the website to make it a very responsive user experience. For
example, images have to be the right size. ‘We find there’s a
direct correlation between speed and conversion,’ says Farinha.
Farinha says the surprisingly difficult part of reinventing
Property24 wasn’t the human aspect, the organisational issues,
but rather getting their product right. ‘If you go onto the site
and use it, you’ll think it’s so simple and that anyone can create
it. But to get the site simple was incredibly complex’. Simplicity
improves human engagement, according to Farinha.
12
APRIL/MAY 2019 SA Real Estate Investor Magazine
‘Estate agents have had to become more efficient because
an online platform puts pressure on them. In the past the
big brands had an advantage due to expensive print costs
and the smaller, independent operator found it quite hard
to compete. But with online the small operators have a more
equal footing. So I think the competition has increased
immensely from online, and that means service to consumers
should have improved,’ says Farinha. ‘Although we still see
some bad service from certain estate agents. It still happens
today that some agents don’t return calls to a lead. But I think
the incidence of that is declining. Because they’ve realised
the importance of speed, service, the consumer expects more
these days. You’ve got to be more on your toes in servicing the
consumer.’
Farinha also touched on the tough economic times and
Eskom woes the country has been experiencing. His advice to
entrepreneurs is that you have to stay positive and determined,
because although there are tough times, they do not last
forever.
As the Go-To-Guy of a large business, Farinha’s learnt to
harness his stress to help him focus. It’s easier to manage at
work because it’s a structured environment. ‘At work you have
a role to play and you can manage that,’ he says. ‘But I think
it’s when you get out of the office that you have to manage
the stress. Do you then take it home and let it influence your
family life? There I think it’s really important to stay healthy
and take time out.’ According to Farinha weekends are sacred
at Property24. ‘Weekends are not for work, if you’re working
on weekends then something’s wrong, that’s an abnormality.’
Even through the most stressful times in the company’s past,
the tech employees weren’t placed under massive stress and
weren’t pressured into working extra hours. ‘We get through
it, we deal with it. Otherwise you create an environment and
culture that is reactive and that operates that way. And then
you’re not going to get the people you want, because people
don’t want to work like that, they want a balanced lifestyle.’
Replying to a question about his free time and how he
spends it, Farinha replied that he has three kids and that
consequently, there is no such thing in his life.