Know what the customer wants to be successful in your own business

KNOW WHAT THE CUSTOMER WANTS TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN YOUR OWN BUSINESS 
Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS

"The success of a karaoke depends on the Mummy," Henry said confidently to Mr Xi, a businessman from   China. "The Mummy must have a network of pretty girls in large numbers. She must be easily contactable."

Henry had introduced me to Mr Xi some 2 weeks ago in Hainan. Mr Xi had the concept of starting a pig slaughterhouse approved by the Singapore Government to export frozen pork to Singapore and had asked Henry about the regulations.


Henry contacted me for veterinary advices and simultaneously marketed Mr Xi's pig business in Hainan for potential investors. 

I asked Henry, "Let me make a study tour in Hainan. Can we go to see the pig farms tomorrow?"  Henry did not procrastinate when there is an interested party. He is a bona fide marketing agent and has applied his real estate marketing "strike while the iron is hot" principle very well.

So Henry booked the Tiger Airways flight and we went to Hainan on March 18, 2008. That was how I got to know Mr Xi and met a Haikou squirrel in a run-down taxi that would be condemned by the Singapore bureaucrats as fit for the junk yard.

Now Mr Xi was in Singapore on business and had informed Henry. Henry said to me, "We will split the cost of lunch invitation for Mr Xi. I will book a nice restaurant."

After tasting 3 meals of the excellent cooking at Mr Xi's restaurant in Hainan when I visited him with Henry 2 weeks ago and being offered a special rare pig-meat like dish reserved for good friends according to Henry, I said, "No restaurant food in Singapore will best Mr Xi's restaurant in Hainan, in my opinion. Besides, Mr Xi has had dined in the best restaurants in China, Hong Kong,  Singapore and other countries he has had done business in. It is better to take him to eat what he likes - hawker food. Something uniquely Singaporean."

Henry would not entertain such cheapskate nonsensical advice from me. However, Mr Xi requested lunch at a famous chicken curry mee and bee hoon at the hawker centre in Chinatown.

There was a very long queue at this stall. A wait of 15 minutes. Mr Xi wolfed down the curry chicken and drank three quarters of the  bowl of delicious curry. This was the type of Singaporean curry not available in Hainan or any part of China. "Curry never taste the same as in Singapore due to the lack of fresh coconut as ingredient," Henry said. 

Henry had decided that Singapore is a hopeless place in starting up a business. "Too many bureaucratic rules and regulations," Henry complained to Mr Xi in my presence and to me at other times. He said, "One day I applied for a loan for the Singapore Government's small and medium industry group to expand my enterprise. I was asked to fill up many forms and submit many records. It is so difficult. Such loans must be granted for their own contacts rather than to help small businesses."

I did not bother to explain to Henry that all big grantors want financial records of success. The paper work is needed to assess the quality of the application and the applicants. If Henry dislikes their operating methods, he may need to go to the ruthless loan-sharks of Singapore to raise capital!   

Henry was the blue-blooded Singaporean who heeded the ex-Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong to go regional.  He gave up real estate as an employee of big companies to become a self-employed student agent as he saw the trend that the Singapore government intends to make Singapore an educational hub.

After 3 years of going overseas to look for foreign students to place them in government or private schools, he was proud that his income is not reliant on the domestic market at all. 

Henry went to Vietnam, Thailand and now Hainan to collaborate with overseas education agents. He would qualify the students to make sure they have the proper certificates and not bogus qualifications. He then place them in government or private schools.

"The secret to success is not to contact the big companies  whose boss just play golf and delegate to an employee," he told me. "I contact the small companies whose proprietors are hands-on and who will provide personalised service."  There are more hands-on business secrets Henry generously shared with me although I have no interest in being a student agent.

 

Today, he rented a few apartments to accommodate at least 40 teenaged foreign student boarders. He cooks special curry dish for them once a week, advises them on their personal problems and provides feedback to their parents. He is their  guarantor and a guardian.

On the side, he makes some money selling Singapore properties to parents of the boarders. He may not be as successful as Mr Xi, but he is successful in his own right.

Being in business has its big risks too. In 2007 and 2008, his Landlord increased his apartment rentals by 200% in line with the market. Now his margins are reduced considerably in 2007/2008.   

Life is full of changes. This large rental increase motivated poor Henry has to seek alternative means of earning a livelihood.  He said to me, "I cannot increase my rental fees like the Landlord as my students may leave. So, I am making much less money.

"However, I will never be a mere employee in the clogs of a big real estate  company where bosses demand unrealistic targets and do not give you time to make a project successful." 

"Should I focus on doing business in Vietnam or Hainan?" Henry reiterated to Mr Xi quite a few times in Hainan and now in Singapore. "In Vietnam, I can't speak the lingo. In Hainan, I have relatives there. I can speak Mandarin. I have been to other cities in China to do research. Hainan is safe unlike Guangdong and Shenzhen where you are afraid to go out in the evening." 
 

Hainan was good for him. Mr Xi has businesses in Hainan too and he had known him for at least 15 years, starting the relationship as a realtor for Mr Xi.

Mr Xi has a lot of respect for Henry who proved he had done a regional business. He had an idea to start a new business in Hainan, utilising Henry's self motivation, high energy and track record of being a successful student agent.  Last year, Mr Xi had asked him to start up a Singapore-based education pre-school in Hainan in a condominium function room. 

Henry got 2 Singapore principals to go to Hainan to explore and start up the business. However, the project failed as the Landlord of the  premises had not agreed to Mr Xi's terms and conditions. So, Henry spent his money for no return.    

Apparently from this experience, Mr Xi decided to buy rather than rent the premises first before starting up a business. Now he had bought a building and wanted to start up a hotel of around 200 rooms and a karaoke room and restaurant.

Henry saw lots of business opportunities in this hotel, tourism marketing being one of them.

During the lunch, Henry asked him what renovations he wanted to do with his new building, his hotel floor plans and when he wanted to start business. "I have joined the Hainanese Association today," Henry informed Mr Xi. "The Association is very helpful and is interested in tourism and other ventures in Hainan."

Henry has seen a link and he is a Hainanese.  

"Can I join the Association?" I asked Henry casually when he said that the fees are only $90.00 per year. The Association does not need to charge high membership fees as it has prime properties bequeathed to it."

"Sorry," Henry said. "It is only for Hainanese."

Mr Xi who is not a Hainanese said, "The Association has 200,000 members in Singapore." It was a surprise to know that there are so many Hainanese here. How can Henry help him in his new hotel business?

Mr Xi said, "Can you recommend to me a Singapore architect? A young person."

Henry was perplexed. Architecture was out of his circle of expertise.

"Younger architects know the latest trends," Mr Xi laughed. It is tough be an old fogies nowadays if all successful businessmen thinks like Mr Xi. 

Whether you are old or young as a self employed business man, giving what the customer wants is a big factor to be successful. This involves doing intensive research, working very hard, being aware of the culture of the overseas country and be prepared to lose money in failing start ups. Focus is the main thing in building up a business, like what Henry did as he did not have vast financial resources to back up his failing start ups.

Mr Xi has the financial resources. He is a man full of business ideas and is able to employ and retain good people. He could afford to fail in some start ups but not Henry. 

For those who have little money, it will be best to be like Henry if you want to venture overseas to do business. Work closely with some successful businessmen with integrity and good business sense and learn from them. Produce results like Henry who got 2 principals to Hainan. Henry is a go-getter and has the confidence of Mr Xi.

As for Henry's assertion that the Mummy is core to the success of business, Mr Xi has no objections to his claim. But there is more to a Mummy with a large network of pretty girls to make a cut-throat competitive karaoke-hotel successful in Hainan or Singapore.

In 2008, Henry has more students than he can handle as his honest and personalised services generate more referrals from the overseas student agencies. He cannot find a one-location inexpensive accommodation for them.

He sees opportunities while others see challenges and problems.

"Did you provide match-making services for Singaporeans to find Vietnamese wives?" I asked as there was some demand and he travels to Vietnam to source for students.

"It is not worth doing this business," Henry advised. "Lots of headaches and time needed. I did one matching successfully."

I was impressed. "How did you do it?"

"I went to my village in Hainan and advertised," Henry said. "In my village in Hainan, the girls are from the rural communities. They want to get married at 18 to 20 years old. Or they will feel that they are past their marriage shelf life."

"Really?" I was surprised as many Singapore girls are still in school and there is no real farming girls to be found anyway. "What kind of Singaporean did you match-make and how did you do match-making?"   

Henry said, "The Singaporean is a shy man working in his parent's business. His sister asked me to help find him a wife."

"How did you do it?" I was surprised that he could be successful even in this business which is out of his expertise.     

"Well," Henry said matter-of-factly. "I advertise in my village. There were at least 10 girls interested. I had to take the prospective groom to Hainan and introduced them to the girls. He selected one and since both clicked, they have got married. Lots of work and follow up and emotional problems. I will not go into this match-making business."

Henry shows me that giving what the customer wants is one big factor in being successful in any type of  business.

Now, I wonder whether he will be recruiting Mummies for the karaoke rooms in Hainan.  I have no doubt he will be successful if he becomes a "Mummy" agent. Will it be worth his while to do such a business?



NOTES ON STUDENT AGENTS IN SINGAPORE
IN 2008

1. Around 300 - 400 student agents including free lance.
2. In 2007, around 86,000 international students in Singapore. By 2015, target of 150,000 by the government.

3. Singapore Tourism Board accredits around 210 Singapore Education Specialists.
4. Income of student agents is from:

4.1 fees ($3,000 - $6,000) from the parents to place the students in government schools.
4.2 commission from private schools (5% - 20% of course fees).
4.3 fees of up to $2,000 from students and commission from private schools.