Goldmark Estates is one of North Cyprus’s most successful Real Estate Agencies and is celebrating its 5th year in the sector. Although still working briskly during the pandemic, Goldmark’s company director, Erman Esentuna, found the time to sit down to answer our questions.

• Can you tell us how your company came about? What are your latest successes?

As a result of our previous experiences and the knowledge gained from previous fields, we have been working successfully with a large sales team since the day our company was established. As Goldmark Estates, we are very pleased with the point we have now reached in our 5th year. It must be said that we have achieved our success with a growing team, by working together with business partners and consultants who embrace their responsibilities, in line with Goldmark’s objectives.

Our company’s saying is, “it’s not just local”. By increasing our international connections, the company has become stronger and has developed into a well-known brand, not only in North Cyprus, but also worldwide. The company’s brokers have redirected their interest to international networks. We have travelled overseas, seeking out international partners, participating in exhibitions and hosting seminars. Today, as Goldmark Estates Ltd, our company has secured a successful place in the local Real Estate Market and has also had success in the international marketing and sales sector. We encourage our team members to have complete knowledge of the international market as well as the local market. With our high number of qualified staff, we are able to address movements in the market and provide services in different areas. Receiving the Platinum Award for both “Best Estate Agency” and “Best Sales Team” in the Propertync Awards 2019, gave us the motivation required to broaden our vision.

• To what do you owe your success as a company?

Goldmark Estates, is growing due to both its employees and partners. The company owes its success to team work. We closely evaluate employees and business partners who start to work with the company and then add them to our family. We have to say that Goldmark is a big family that has achieved success through a committed and respected team, dedicated to their colleagues and their jobs. Friends who join the Goldmark Sales Team do not often leave. I believe that consultants who constantly change companies in the sector, set their goals based on earnings and therefore are not successful. That is why we are loyal to our team and our team is loyal to us.

I should mention that the Real Estate sales and marketing sector involves some simple and other more difficult tasks, therefore each team member gains support by sharing job experiences and offering mutual support. Before working on anything and making decisions, we share our ideas and come to an agreement together. We want members to contribute to our plans by believing in ideas as much as we do. This is why teamwork is one of the most important factors; it’s what makes us strong.

• Are there any specific methods you follow in marketing?

Technologies developed recently have brought about changes in the traditional methods of reaching potential customers. If we do not renew ourselves, we will fall behind the latest trends, which will result in a decrease in our success. Conventionally a property consultant has added a property to their portfolio, placed a ‘for sale’ sign outside, loaded the property onto their webpage or the portals they have membership to and then waited for customers to contact them. Nowadays, using these methods to make sales is near enough impossible, this docile method will not allow you to make above average sales. Understanding the constantly changing social media and internet algorithms are just as important as following people’s preferences and placing advertisements to attract the most attention. Image based advertisements have been replaced by video advertisements. Internet marketing and sales have gained increasing value during the pandemic process we are in today, but it is clear that applying them alone is not enough. It is also important for the advertisement to stand out and attract the attention of potential buyers. The length of the video advertisements, which must convey the required information without the customer becoming bored, and other aspects must also be considered.
 
Since our company’s formation, we have worked with many professional, advertising companies and have completed successful advertising projects. We have also participated in workshops. We have always tried to develop ourselves by focusing on our work and including our love for the job. Our company has invested in basic electronic devices such as cameras and microphones, but this now includes such extras as graphic computers and drones. Nowadays we have the technical knowledge and equipment to complete our own administrative work on our internet page, to create and publish content which will gain interest and increase the number of potential visitors. Moreover, we can record and arrange our own videos. Our company can create its own advertisements, in many different languages and can match potential buyers and followers on the internet with available property portfolios.

• Are you using social media effectively?

With a great amount of effort and investment, Goldmark Estates Ltd has worked on its social media pages and has reached a high number of followers, even higher than that of the construction companies. On our Turkish social media account ‘Goldmark Kıbrıs Gayrimenkul’ we have around 23,000 followers. On our Persian, English, Russian and Arabic pages we have more than 45,000 followers in total. Our ‘You Tube’ channel, Goldmark TV, posts popular videos and provides services for potential customers. We are constantly investing in advertisements over the internet and reaching out to our target audiences. Today, we think that success is not possible without all of this hard work and research.

• You have platinum awards for both Best Estate Agency and Best Sales Team from the Propertync Awards 2019. Can you tell us about your sales team?

The Goldmark Estates Sales Team is divided into groups, aiming for success while upholding the principle of customer satisfaction.  Success is achieved through the departments, department managers and consultants working as a team, combined with the technical team supporting them.

Goldmark Estates consists of consultants responsible for the local market, consultants working with international clients, a team of consultants focusing on land and property investments and Sales Departments for Turkey, Europe, Russia, Scandinavia, The Middle East and Iran. Each department provides services as individual companies with its own manager and consultants. Our principle is not to necessarily provide the same services to every country but to address each person’s needs individually.

• Have you been able to meet the expectations of local and foreign customers?

In reality, we do not work too differently to other successful companies when focusing on the local market. Our greatest strengths are to focus on correct pricing, customer satisfaction and honesty. As for our foreign customers, we find them by using large advertising budgets and to offer them the services they need, even though they are in an environment where we compete with many unregistered real estate agents. Our past experiences reflect our success. We take pride in endeavouring to employ team members from those countries whose market we provide services for, because a foreign customer is best understood by a national from their own culture. The services we provide are an important factor in the investments they will make.

A Foreign Investment is impossible without Empathy

If you don’t answer the difficult questions asked by foreign investors, you may lose them as a customer. You must show empathy and not forget that marketing our country to international investors is not an easy task. Merely knowing the house or project you want to sell in detail, is not enough to sell it to foreign investors. Knowledge of the banking system, the legal processes for foreign investors, immigration rules and also the financial laws in the home country of the investor must all be obtained. You have to tell the foreign customer everything they will need to know and handle the process patiently by putting yourself in their shoes and embracing their fears of investing in a country they do not know. More importantly, honesty is very important for our country to win and gain a place in what is now a global marketplace. This is why our struggle against sales made by unregistered real estate consultants, who promise people things like citizenship and indefinite residency permits, continues at the Cyprus Turkish Realtors Association.

• We hear you have been consulting for both investors and developers, can you give us details?

We provide consultancy to many foreign investors who come to North Cyprus and also local developers by comparing both perspectives and visions. We give detailed information to the foreign investor about their potential investment return, the tax system, legal advice, land planning permits etc, based on the investment they plan to make in North Cyprus. Our experts advise the investors on land investment, build and sell investments, tourism investments and rental return investments, then provide a safe environment to proceed with their investments.

We offer consultancy services to local developers on subjects such as the dynamics of the area they are planning to build, purchasing rates in the area, the demographic structure of the buyers, the types of residences sold and pricing before they start their projects.

• You are known for your success in marketing projects completed by developers. How do you determine the projects you will sell?

Since day one, our company has become one of the largest for sales relating to project marketing, some 70% of our company’s sales are in this segment. We work on these projects as if they are our own and all our departments work together to market the project either/both locally or internationally. All aspects of each project, ranging from initial discussions and research on the developing company, customers’ payment plans, the projects’ main advantages and target customers are all evaluated as a team, before we take on the selling of the project. We inform our international partners about the project, use our international connections, participate in expositions and prepare presentations for international seminars in order to reach potential customers.

Marketing a project requires working together with the developer. For this reason, we maintain close relationships and collaboration with the companies whose projects we are selling. It is very important to focus on, and believe in, a project you are selling. Of course, it is also vital that the company stands by us and supports our sales and marketing team when needed.