It's Only Complicated Because You Do Not Know It Pt.2 Pick Your Fights, Even More So When You Are Not In Your Own Ring.

One of the things that really stuns me is when huge corporation’s think because they are huge corporations, they cannot fail, even more so when moving into a new territory. 1 of these mega corps messed up in South East Asia, waited 10 years, tried again, made the same mess, waited 5 years then tried again with a Head Office in a new country and yes you guessed it, made the same mistakes but even worse. There first attempt cost them biblical amounts of money, there 2nd attempt, not too much on the great scale of things and their 3rd? cost them 80% of their new company set-up, which was at one point 49% theirs.

Just because you have lots of money and are big in your own country, does not mean another country will let you do business 'there' you way. Even if you follow the black and white of the law, there is the grey and as they are from that territory, they know how to use the larger grey area much better than you.

There are ways of mitigating all of these issues, it’s called (sorry to blow my own trumpet) bring on Peter Banks

Let’s start with a simple one; only bring to their market a product or service that will actually work there.

I have to be careful when giving this example in my past, as I do not want to give the company away, as people may figure out who it is. They wanted to pay me (thank you) to figure out, if Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Mainland Chinese market a good one for them? Stupid me trying to save them money LOL! said, “no need to pay me for this, as I can tell you right now, it will not work, it is embedded into the culture in those countries and many others around the region, no one would use this, they will not even want to talk to you, it's all based on ‘Loss of Face’”. They paid no attention and still wanted me to do my stuff and paid/sent me on my way to collate data and make a big posh report, which I knew they would not follow.?

The data showed yes, the net value of the industry, if they could get anyone to take their services would be in the 100’s of millions. Start-up costs would be very low, I mean TUT!! It’s Peter they would be using and finally, they had a very experienced (In London business) person willing to take the MD role on. But no matter what I said, they just did not believe me and they were so confident this would work.

Roll on 2 months of me begging them not to waste their time and money; a new MD at ￡200k a year, a super high-end apartment bought for him in one of the most expensive places in South East Asia and they were ready to start. In one last ditched attempt, I asked the global CEO and the new local MD to let me explain to them in more depth in person why I knew their service would not work locally.

I took them to the Kempinski hotel in Bangkok behind Siam Paragon and invited an Ambassador, I did not prime him about what to say but I explained what the business was and I also asked can he bring in 2 individuals of high net worth that could use this service and see what their reply was.

This is where I have to be careful, as some people may figure out who the company is. Their product is basically “if you were unfortunate and invested in companies that did not make profit or even made a loss, they may be able to get you your money back and, in some cases, make sure you make profit in the end. This service is free and they take a cut of what they make for you, off your portfolio.

First they asked the Ambassador for his opinion and even though he is from the region he very much understands the western business mind and he is very open about what is different good or bad about his local people. He just said straight away “no way, it will not work here” I stared at the MD and I said, “I promise I have not guided him here, why would I?” The MD asked why it would not? and the Ambassador said “its culture, no person or family of the wealth level that you are looking for, would let you dig around their portfolios and pick out errors, what you would be effectively saying to them is 'you have been making mssive mistakes because you've been investing your wealth into stupid western companies" I looked at the CEO and I said, “sound familiar?”, the CEO pointed out that they have 2 customers they were working with in Singapore and 1 in Hong Kong, I explained and the Ambassador agreed with me, “yes even here, you may get the odd 1, so your ratio would be 1 in 300 as there are only 300 groups that could use your services here plus, ok, these 3 cleints are based in this region but their business culture (Sing and HK) in many cases is very western, meaning you will get a little success but please do not fall for a false dawn. ??

The ambassador then brought in, one at a time, the 2 people of high net worth I asked him to conact for us; the company did their sales pitch to both of them, and yes, they got, as I forcasted, that look at the floor and a sort of 'loss of face giggle' and they said, and I paraphrase, “no point in looking at ours, as we are performing very well, you will find nothing”. One did say at the end, it is a family portfolio and to open it up to you, would take lots of lawyers and legal complications, so best not to.

This is prime what I call “too big to only fail syndrome” it is not enough to only think international but think like the locals.

An important sales trick in Asia, is learn the construct of the local language, as it shows a great deal of the culture of a country. For example, in almost all tonal based South East Asian languages, there is not a real word for 'no',……. They are all what I call ‘not positive languages’ the word for ‘no’ in fact translates to “not yes” the whole construct is positive only. Taking this on-board you cannot have a whole business model based on a negative premise.

I did sit down with them to try and come up with a way to make it positive first but the Ambassador I brought in just looked at me and said to me in the local lingo “this just will not work” which I knew. Even though it was totally this company’s fault for not listening to the expert they brought in, I wanted to try and find a way. Even more so as the MD, who become a friend in the end, had just left his amazing London job for this about to do nothing company in Asia.

If you bring on an expert, use their knowledge, not yours only and not the data only as data needs to be put into context. ???

Pick Your fights

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I have in total 20 years of experience in APAC/ASEAN and an award winning entrepreneur in the region.

If you want mass growth in a territory that hardly any company dreamed of entering, partner with me. I am multi lingual in the region and have direct access to an array government agencies and think-tanks in ASEAN.

Who wrote this article? Peter Banks

A great business is always built on great communication. Driven by a passion for digging out improvements and a love for making things grow. I’ve spent my career creating and delivering growth, spanning multiple global markets. Show me a CEO who has led through a spreadsheet and motivated his staff through Microsoft Word; data alone doesn’t drive people. Technology helps a business, but it isn’t?‘the’?business. The key characteristic running through my career is that of a polymath. Through my deep interest in different yet complementary areas, cultures and countries, I have been able to deliver multi-million-dollar growth for a variety of companies. I love to lead, invent and inspire, and I have used this passion to bring great commercial success with my own companies and for my employers.

As a leader, I believe the secret is in hiring the right people and training them properly. After that, they need space to deliver results, and if the work environment is right, they will dedicate themselves to this. For me, there is only need for one KPI, and I encourage my professionals to improve on it as they see fit.?

I have always lived by my motto: ‘Be comfortable being uncomfortable at work.’ This maxim encompasses the concept that building something is never easy and rarely follows a blueprint; it is up to all of us to forge a path forward together and keep learning along the way.?