As we step into a new year, it’s essential to assess the long year we leave behind. In these final days of 2023, I’ll briefly review the past 52 weeks or 365 days. When entering a new year, we often set new goals. Among these goals are commonly starting to exercise, living a healthier life, career aspirations, and numerous personal goals and dreams. The list goes on. However, when setting new goals, we seldomly consider how successful we were in achieving the previous year’s goals or how consistent we were. Do we content ourselves with exclusively making new resolutions every new year, or do we implement these decisions consistently? There is a crucial difference between making decisions and implementing them, between talking and acting. Taking action is imperative; it’s about more than just words. Therefore, setting new goals without analyzing the goals set in the previous year and their outcomes might be well-intentioned but somewhat naive. Furthermore, this approach could potentially harm ourselves.
Similarly, aside from individual goals, we shouldn’t forget that our companies are also legal entities. Hence, we should remember that companies can have their goals and aspirations too. It’s crucial to recall how successful the goals set in the previous year were and to impartially evaluate them, essentially being able to ‘’call a spade a spade’’. This is significant and necessary for our businesses.
Following this preamble, as the Founder and CEO of Emperia, I felt compelled to convey to our esteemed investors and valued business partners how the year 2023 unfolded for the Emperia brand and the overall market situation.
2023 was a pivotal year for our company. Our Emperia office located in the Esentepe region commenced operations from January 1st. Simultaneously, we began construction on Siesta Beachfront, our first project in the Esentepe region. Our office, spanning 330 square meters, was specially designed to accommodate teams such as Architects, Engineers, Sales, Technical personnel, Software teams, Accounting, Site Management, and After-sales services. Alongside these operations, we meticulously considered the capacity to conduct simultaneous project presentations in our office for up to 20 people. Indeed, throughout 2023, our office hosted highly successful field and sales operations.
Emperia Projects garnered significant demand from buyers focusing on real estate for both living and investment purposes. To address these demands, following our “Siesta Beachfront” project, in the first quarter of 2023, we initiated our “Vikingen Sunset” project, the first phase of “The Blue” projects in the third quarter, and in the final quarter, we launched the second phase of ‘The Blue’. All our projects achieved substantial sales success.
For every project bearing the Emperia signature, we have certain standards for our customers. We explicitly outlined our values, principles, service policies, and quality standards during the planning, construction, and living phases of Emperia Projects. All customers who became homeowners through Emperia Projects were continually involved in the construction phase. We provided them with monthly reports on construction progress. We kept them informed not only when things progressed faster than anticipated but also when they took longer than expected. We regarded ourselves not as the owners of the project but as custodians entrusted by our customers. With this mindset, with custodial sensitivity, we produced and continue to produce our projects.
In 2023, we established our company’s organizational structure and arranged our management plan accordingly. We centered this organizational structure around the motto of “EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE“. Accordingly, we designed our entire system to focus on providing “Exceptional Customer Service” to our clients. Given that our company is a young establishment, we faced no difficulty directing all our resources toward establishing a system built around this goal with our young and dynamic team. I have full confidence that our team possesses extraordinary skills in providing Exceptional Customer Service.
Within 2023, we decided to develop our company’s mobile application named “Emperia Style“. Following extensive meetings with our software teams, we meticulously detailed how this application would function, what tasks it would perform, spanning approximately 120 pages. In brief, the Emperia Style mobile application will be used by the Emperia team within the company, serve homeowners from Emperia Projects, and provide exclusive access to our agents involved in marketing our company’s projects. It will be a unique and exceptional application, assisting them in their marketing activities.
Through the Emperia Style application, our customers will be able to track their past and future payments, submit maintenance and technical support requests, make reservations for communal areas, monitor live progress of projects under construction, and instantly communicate with the Emperia team.
Moreover, with the Emperia Style application, our agents will have access to visuals, specifications, and price lists of projects. They can create instant customer records, request appointments with the Emperia team to present potential clients, and instantly view the status of contracts and payments made by their purchasing customers.
The Emperia Style application will also enable us to fulfill two commitments to our customers:
1- 6-Hour Rule: Whenever contacted through any channel, the Emperia Team will provide a written and/or verbal response within 6 hours.
2- 48-Hour Rule: Issues or technical support requests made by homeowners regarding their residences will be resolved within 48 hours from the date of the request.
These two company rules will be integrated into the Emperia Style application. This way, our customers will be able to track the time taken for resolutions after damage/issue requests through a countdown timer within the application and, more importantly, evaluate and rate the services they receive.
As I mentioned earlier, our team is highly skilled in “Exceptional Customer Service”, and the Emperia brand is exceptionally ambitious.
In addition to these topics, we experienced extraordinary market changes throughout 2023. Land prices surged by approximately 450% from the beginning to the end of the year. Similarly, we encountered an average increase of up to 300% in labor and material costs. Such increases pose considerable and risky challenges for organizations operating on fixed sales prices. Unfortunately, we couldn’t foresee these increases at the beginning of the year. However, our strategy of minimizing turnkey delivery times for Emperia projects protected us from the risks associated with this situation, even though it was unforeseen. I hope for a more stable market in 2024.
At the beginning of 2023, we committed to completing our “Siesta Beachfront” and “Vikingen Sunset” projects in March and June of 2024, respectively. Successfully implementing the planned program in 2023 to be able to deliver our projects on these dates allows us to say that we reached our 2023 goals.
Besides these, we refuse to turn a blind eye to the cruelty faced by street animals, their pain, and hunger. This reflects our character. In this regard, during the first and second quarters of the year, we conducted renovation and maintenance operations at the Esentepe Municipality Dog Shelter. I extend my gratitude to the Çatalköy-Esentepe Municipality teams and administration for their assistance, which opened doors for us. Furthermore, we contributed approximately 2.5 tons of solid food by neutering dozens of stray dogs from surrounding areas and shelters.
What Awaits Us in 2024?
Having achieved significant success in 2023, witnessing our company’s exponential growth, we eagerly anticipate the year 2024 with pride and great excitement. This year, besides being a mere change in the calendar, holds special significance for completing the two main projects I mentioned earlier.
The projects we commenced building in 2023 were a significant milestone, particularly in terms of sales, and we successfully crossed this stage. 2024, on the other hand, will mark a crucial phase where we will deliver on the promised service and quality standards. With our experienced and meritorious team, the Emperia business plan will achieve this goal. I firmly believe in the confidence my team inspires and am already proud of them.
In 2024, we will witness a transition from the creation of a house from the ground to the construction and from constraction to a home. It will be a year where we can document the embodiment of our hopes, promises, and quality. It will be a beautiful year where we solidify our standards.
I wish a fantastic 2024 to all our business partners, team members, investors, homeowners, and workers. Hopefully, it will be a year filled with beauty, kindness, and the realization of our goals, aligning with our expectations.
Happy New Year!
