Thailand-Property.com and the challenges of successfully running a multi-cultural startup
The property market in Thailand is booming. All around the country modern developments are springing up, and in Bangkok especially, you can hardly go anywhere without dodging a construction zone. This is great news for Thailand-Property.com, a one-year-old company that already claims the title of being the largest English language real estate portal in the country, and is right on the heels of its Thai language competitors.
Headquartered in Bangkok and managed by British expatriates, Thailand-Property.com is constantly working on identifying the best way to gain market share across both expatriate and Thai demographics. It’s an ambitious goal that has led to some interesting challenges over the past year, from both a business and a cultural perspective.
At a multi-cultural office like Thailand-Property.com, various and often unexpected cultural differences will naturally arise which the company must work through. Things like adapting different management styles and promoting a feeling of unity among staff members are just a couple examples of the unique situations that come along with international business.
Sales Director, Adam Sutcliffe says that one of the major challenges in this kind of office setting is staffing, as bi-lingual locals are needed to fluidly manage the constantly growing team, and the pool of skilled Western workers already living in Thailand is limited. Maintaining a team of skilled and open-minded individuals who are eager and excited to work in a diverse setting requires constant searching for new talent, but Sutcliffe says it makes the reward for finding the right people that much greater.
“Because the diverse work environment is so unique, when we do find the right employees who are perfect for the job and genuinely enjoy working with and learning from people of other cultures, we become even more confident that we are growing our business in the most positive direction possible,” Sutcliffe said. “While this niche group can be challenging to find, it also pushes us to grow. “
Although a large contributor to the growth of the business is the workforce itself, Sutcliffe says another large factor to the company’s success has to do with its focus on creating a team environment. Weekly team meetings for the entire staff, recognizing both Thai and Western holidays, and even playing music from both cultures during work hours have helped establish a feeling of unity at the office, with all employees working toward the same goal.
Focusing on the online-business aspect of the company, differing selling and marketing tactics as well as advertising preferences also need to be considered when targeting customers from diverse cultures.
“What works online in one culture doesn’t always work in other cultures,” Sutcliffe said. “It’s important to be aware of different stylistic preferences when designing a website; what colors, slogans and images grab the attention of your target demographic. When you have two target demographics like we do, it can be a challenge finding something that works for both, but luckily we have the resources in our office to ask around and get opinions from both groups we are trying to reach.”
Making changes based on what works and what doesn’t is not a new concept for web startups though, no matter where they are located. Currently, the bread and butter of Thailand-Property.com is the English-language site. This can be attributed to the constant updating and changing, in addition to the fact that the site filled an important gap in the market for the developing nation. While expatriates and foreign investors currently make up only a small percentage of home-seekers in Thailand, there was previously no central property resource for English speakers in Thailand. Not only does the site now provide the largest number of English language property listings and listed agents, it also serves as a comprehensive resource for all things real estate. Publishing agency news and informative expat lifestyle content are also key components to making the site a single-stop spot for anyone interested in investing in, or relocating to Thailand.
Armed with this experience of running a multi-language website business, Thailand-Proper ty.com is looking forward to expanding into a number of new languages over the course of its second year. Due to the large Russian population in Thailand, the site is already in the process of adding Russian as the next language, and is working on identifying other helpful languages. For Thailand-Property.com, more languages means a greater reach, more enquiries and transactions on site, as well as a greater need for more nationalities represented in the growing office.
