Page 292 - merged.pdf

CHAPTER 9 GROWING YOUR BUSINESS EMPIRE

• What is the inflation rate? What are the interest rates?
• What are the foreign exchange rates?

As you can imagine, all this information is crucial to you in
planning your costs structures, sales projections, profit margins,
marketing strategy etc… Because every market is different,
you will have to modify your business practices to adapt to
the different environments, in order to maximize your chances
of success. I have found that there is a different formula to
succeeding in every new market.

Let me give you examples of the changes I have had to make
in order to adapt my product overseas. In Singapore, the best
way to reach our target markets for our students’ program
(i.e. parents of kids and teenagers) is through newspaper ads.
At the same time, the primary school segment is much larger
than the secondary school one.

The reason is because parents of primary school children tend
to take a bigger role in their children’s education and see their
PSLE (Primary school Leaving Exam) at age 12 as crucially
important to their future success. As a result, my advertisement
message tends to be skewed more towards helping primary
school students to excel in their exams. In Singapore, the
average income of a middle-income family is about S$4,000
to S$5,000 and therefore my program (which costs around
S$2,000), is pitched at the mass market.

The situation however is completely different for the Indonesian
market. In Indonesia, I have found that radio and referral
programs work much more effectively than newspaper
advertisements. At the same time, parents of secondary school
students are much more willing to send their kids to our
programs as compared to parents of primary school children.

SECRETS OF BUILDING MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR BUSINESSES 283