The son of a developer told me his innermost reflections.
My father has always done things his own way. He started from scratch, built his real estate development company without training, based on effort. I admire him, but since I joined the business with all my fresh ideas, friction arose.
“That’s the way we’ve always done it, and we’ve done well,” he repeated when I told him about investing in 3D visualization, virtual tours, and a stronger digital presence.
I understand his point of view, of course. For years, he has sold apartments with barely a floor plan and, at best, a printed catalog (he calls it a catalog, not a dossier).
But now, the customer is different.
Well, it’s the same but search in a different way.
You start your search online, you want to see everything before you come to our offices. And if we don’t invest in showing you what you need from the start, we fall behind.
After many failed attempts, I decided to try another strategy. Instead of talking to him about technology, I showed him numbers. I explained how our competitors’ sales were accelerating thanks to 3D video.
But what really changed his mind was a meeting with a potential client who asked to see some renderings.
There, my father, who didn’t even know what he was being asked, realized: “We’re missing something here,” he said.
It was not easy, we had to make a significant investment. My father, as a good manager, saw risks, but he understood that adapting is not spending, it is moving forward.
Today, a few months later, we are more than happy. Sales are going better, and although my father is still traditional in some respects, he now sees the benefits of the changes I suggested.
And me, I have learned a valuable lesson:
it is not a matter of changing for the sake of changing, but of knowing when an evolution is necessary.