Coming to Singapore to Build a New Business? Here's Some Food for Thought

You are coming to Asia; you want to build out your business and this is the next market for you. I thought it would be easier to write out how I would do it if I was you.

?As I say, it's exciting to do what you are doing. I've opened in three new markets now, and each time doesn't get easier. It's time-consuming, fraught with risks, sometimes doesn't work, but always—and I really mean always—it's worth it. As you work through my notes, feel free to discount them, challenge them, ask me questions, and just plain ignore them, as one size does not fit all.

?Culture Shift

Coming from Scotland is in your favour. Singaporeans are lovely; they will talk to you and will help you, but they also don't suffer fools gladly. They will happily help you, but not if you are needy or overbearing. The Asian cultural response to overbearing behaviour is to gently agree but walk away from the situation as quickly as possible. Singaporeans generally love food; they like talking about it, and if you get a chance, go eat with them. Go where they like, be adventurous and try what they are eating. It's very unusual for it to not be tasty. Normally, you will meet for breakfast or lunch, as most go home for dinner.

?In Singapore, there is a thriving expat world. Remember that with expats, there is a lot of transience, and when you have lived here for so long, people come, and people go. To get the most out of these relationships, you need to, again, do what they do: go for a jog, a bike ride, or any other things they are doing. It's okay if you are tired; you can sleep when you get back to Scotland.

?The best way to experience Singapore is to do stuff with locals. It can be a walk, a BBQ, dinner, breakfast in a hawker centre, but getting out of the office and into the city is always going to be better.

?Taxis and public transport are amazing. Get Grab and Gojek (the taxi apps) and a bus and train card. I would recommend getting taxis if you can save time and have more meetings. Most meetings last an hour or so, and it takes 30 minutes to get almost anywhere. Google Maps for planning works and is accurate. Remember that on Monday and Friday, traffic is not so bad, but the rest of the week, there's a little traffic.

?The right clothes are critical. You will need light, comfy clothes, and you will (if you're like me) change two or three times a day.

?The Market

Singapore is a multicultural world. This means it's a melting pot of Asia. The most common ethnicity is Chinese, with Malay and Indian following, with an expat community after this. They all work well together, and you can be talking to anyone from any ethnicity in any company. It's a country that focuses on whether you can do the job, not whether your face fits.

There are many industries here, from manufacturing and engineering to oil and gas and hundreds of others, almost 500,000 companies registered. Don't be fooled by its small size; it's a huge place with 5 million people. When you know your market and who you want to talk to, you will find that, for this visit, there will be a lot of what you need.

?Singapore is both an export hub (it imports everything) and a transit hub for goods. There is a fascinating business world, with everything from manufacturing to fintech, medical, and many, many others.

?When you come out here you will need to be focussed on meeting people and the core of this is how you run your lead generation model. If you do it badly you will see few people and less chance of them being the right people. Better to see many of the right people and really get to build you base. For me personally on a short trip, volume is the game, with quality being managed as much as possible.

?Lead Generation

This will make or break your trip. If you get this right, you will come away with a highly profitable trip, but if not, you will have fun and maybe get lucky, but not really get what you want.

Lead generation is broken into a few parts for me:

???????????? Who do I want to talk to, and why?

???????????? How do I work out who I can talk to?

???????????? How do I talk to them and get meetings?

?You should have a clear understanding of who. I would do this by listing:

???????????? The industries

???????????? The companies and organisations

???????????? The people in these organisations that I would want to talk to

?From here, I would look at where they are:

???????????? LinkedIn

???????????? Within groups (Global Scot, SDI, Chamber of Commerce, etc.)

???????????? Centres of influence

???????????? Networking events

?How do I meet people? The secret to your success will be the number of people you meet when you are out in Singapore, in conjunction with the quality of who you meet. There will be four types of people you meet:

???????????? Potential clients now

???????????? Potential clients in the future

???????????? Enablers/centres of influence (e.g., Global Scots)—they cannot buy and will not buy, but they know people you want to know

???????????? Partners

?They are all critical to you, and over this trip, you should have clear goals on how to meet these people.

Remember, lead generation will come from:

???????????? Partners referring you

???????????? COI references

???????????? Networking

???????????? LinkedIn

?Here are some ways to engage with these people and find them. A little anecdote: When I did this (not in Singapore, but coming back to Edinburgh from Singapore), in Edinburgh for 10 weeks, I went to a networking event on day 2 with a small group of too-early-stage startups for me to consider as clients. From here, I met James, who brought me to an event and introduced me to over 80 founders (not all from him, but they were all there). I met them all, got cards, and then followed up over the remaining time there. It helped me hit my target of 5 new meetings per week. Here is how I would and do approach this.

???????????? Map lists of companies on LinkedIn Navigator.

???????????? From the lists of companies on LinkedIn Navigator, then list people that you want to talk to in these companies.

???????????? Connect with all these people.

???????????? List all Global Scots in Navigator and work out who could help you and reach out.

???????????? Connect on LinkedIn and message them.

???????????? Message people in the Global Scot app.

???????????? For the important ones, get SDI ?to help or another Global Scot knows and ask for help.

???????????? Go to three networking events a week. Collect cards and names and build relationships. Try and focus on events where you can meet people—both the large ones and the smaller ones with 20 or so people.

???????????? Map all your contacts in Singapore and reach out to say you are coming and that it would be great to grab a coffee.

???????????? Map your COIs in Scotland and ask them for contacts in Singapore. As an example, I was in New York and asked a cycling group who they knew in New York; one of them introduced me to employee number 14 at Booking.com.

How do I talk to them? How do I engage? When you are with the following, think about or use some of these ideas:

???????????? On LinkedIn, use this: "I am from Scotland, exploring Singapore as a market, and reaching out to say hi and see if you had time to have a chat and help me understand Singapore. I would really appreciate your time." Something like this. Be humble, don't be transactional, get advice.

???????????? With partners, be very specific on who you want to talk to.

???????????? COIs are the same: be specific. Know what and who you want to talk to.

???????????? Networking: Collect all cards, connect on LinkedIn, and when you connect, take a screenshot so you remember. Dictate notes or write them about what you talked about, their name, and what you want to do with them.

???????????? Partner creation: Ask lots of questions, understand them. There is a cadence to building partnerships. Make sure that you are not pushy.

?Creating partnerships:

???????????? Research on the person and the company you want to partner with

???????????? Work out why they would want to work with you.

???????????? Partners work with you for the following reasons:

???????????? You provide a dominant source of revenue.

???????????? You are a good lead generation tool.

???????????? You provide a resource they cannot get elsewhere. (E.g., 1000Steps partners: we do their lead generation, and it's invaluable to them. We do it at a price that locks them into us. It's great value for them.)

There needs to be a reason that motivates them.?

Meeting People and How to Engage

First meeting’s structure: With all first meetings, the key is not to be a blabbermouth. You need to ask questions and listen. Remember, you are in a first meeting, and the goal is not to sell, not to get them to want your product, not to win—it's to start the relationship. Think about how it would feel for you when someone just downloads a whole load of passionate guff. Patience, cadence, listening.

All these things change the way you engage and are too much to go through here. But the following is a flow you could follow:

???????????? Research them. Look them and their company up on LinkedIn. Look for something interesting or, better yet, something you have in common.

???????????? When you meet, build rapport for seven minutes or so. Talk about food or the weather, etc.

???????????? When you chat, I would suggest you ask for advice and explain that you are in town for three weeks, getting to know the market and meeting as many people as you can during this time to get advice and build your base of contacts.

???????????? Ask if they have been to Scotland. It's a good talking point.

???????????? Explain in 30 seconds what you do, and ask them about themselves.

???????????? Listen and engage with them. The conversation will flip eventually (unless they are a sociopath), and they will ask about you. If they don't, I think you should look upon this as a sign.

???????????? It will become clear what the next steps are as you go through the meeting: a Zoom call, talking when you're back in Scotland, or meeting again in Singapore, etc.

???????????? Summarise the meeting, what you have learned, what you will do with this, what the next steps are, and arrange those next steps.

???????????? Take notes, you will forget

Goals and Metrics

Look, seriously, if you miss this bit, the likelihood of success is minimal. You need targets. I am sorry but I cannot tell you what metrics you should track, but your businesses are all different, so the only thing I can do is explain what I would set so that it gives some context.

???????????? New contacts

???????????? Intro meetings

???????????? Discovery meetings

???????????? Partner meetings

???????????? New partners

???????????? Events attended

???????????? Leads collected from events

???????????? Leads collected from partners

???????????? Leads collected from LinkedIn

???????????? Meetings completed

???????????? Intro meetings completed

???????????? Discovery meetings completed

???????????? Proposal meetings completed

???????????? Opportunities created

???????????? Opportunity volume created

As you can see here, there is a big spread, and let's be honest, it's unlikely you will sell anything, but you might create some opportunities, so I would track those and set goals around these. What I have done below is laid out my targets for a three-week trip if I were you. Remember, I have a team and full support.

???????????? New contacts: 60

???????????? Intro meetings booked: 20

???????????? Discovery meetings booked: 6

???????????? Partner meetings booked: 6

???????????? New partners: 2

???????????? Events attended: 9

???????????? Leads collected from events: 30

???????????? Leads collected from partners: 10

???????????? Leads collected from LinkedIn: 30

???????????? Meetings completed: 30

???????????? Intro meetings completed: 15

???????????? Discovery meetings completed: 8

???????????? Proposal meetings completed: 2

???????????? Opportunities created: 2-3

???????????? Opportunity volume created: 60,000 SGD

You must start somewhere. Now you have a number, and you can start to work out how to do it. This is tough; it's a rough estimate, but it gives you an idea. Also, the metrics might not be right, but there will be numbers there, and working out what's important is critical.

Follow-Up

Well, the trip is coming to an end. You have had a ball. You need to make sure that all the data has been updated, all in a spreadsheet, and you know what you are doing. Without this, following up will not work. For me, follow-up is:

???????????? Make sure the database is accurate, with three actions for each contact:

???????????? Say thank you.

???????????? Book a meeting or next step.

???????????? Plan a touchpoint after this.

???????????? Make sure you have time to do this.

???????????? Do it the week you are back. Do not delay, or you will not do it.

???????????? Get the info into your CRM or spreadsheet ASAP.

???????????? Analyse your data. How did the trip go?

???????????? Write a report.

So here you are. I hope this helps. I could write a lot more, but I reckon this gives you a bit of a framework. Feel free to ask questions.