Swimming with Asian Sharks - Business Secrets from the Pacific Rim

The Importance of Language

When we landed in Korea, we were greeted by two people one of whom was the first shark in Korea. We shall call her Mrs. Queen.  Mrs. Queen was the CEO of the company we were coming to visit.  In fact, George was the CEO of Mrs. Queen’s Asia Pacific division.  Mrs. Queen not only was classy, but had an almost noble characteristic.  It was clear to me that if this were ancient times, she would be an empress.

George had met Mrs. Queen a few years prior online while he was researching how to get into the skin care businesses.  After many online meetings and discussions, George decided to make the trip to meet Mrs. Queen in real life.  They shortly established the Asian Pacific version of Mrs. Queen’s Korean company.

Mrs. Queen took George, Lisa and me in her car, while Jessie and Mr. Physics were driven by Mrs. Queen’s female employee.  In the car, I made it a point to learn all about Mrs. Queen and Korea.  Mrs. Queen is in her forties, but still embodies timeless beauty and youthful vigour.  She has two children—a son and a daughter. Her forethought was evident when she informed me that she sent her son to Beijing to study Mandarin.  Mrs. Queen had also noticed the increased trade going into China, and the economic power there.

Mrs. Queen drove us to our hotel and on the way we chatted about the economics of Korea.  It turns out that Samsung not only does electronics, but also does skincare products and it also does food.  It got to the point where Samsung was producing breakfast buns more cheaply than local restaurants, and the government had to step in to regulate them.  The area where we stayed was in a suburban part of Seoul, a few hundred kilometres from the border of North Korea.  From where we were staying, it was about one and a half hours subway ride to the city center, Gangnam.

Finally, we arrived at the hotel where Mr. Physics and I shared a room while Lisa, Jessie and George had their own rooms. We arrived on a Saturday night. As a group we decided to go wander the district.  Despite being a suburb, it was very lively with bars and grill houses. The streets were filled with many beautiful women and people getting drunk and having a good time.

It turned out the area where we were staying was considered the new go-to spot for young people to hang out, as downtown had become too commercial and expensive. The area where we were was filled with shops and restaurants, giving me a feeling of Hong Kong, but far less crowded. There were bars and restaurants three floors up, filled with endless activity.

Despite not knowing the language, we were able to buy food and merchandise.  Proving the need to make money trumps the need to communicate.

The next day, we arrived at Mrs. Queen’s office. Korean offices have an interesting custom of removing your shoes and wearing slippers when entering.  This also applies to the washroom, which you switch from hallway slippers to the bathroom slippers. After putting on our slippers, we were escorted to a meeting room.  Mr. Physics and I presented LoyalPlus, emphasizing the reach of the company. After our presentation, Lisa presented a multi-level marketing group (MLM) that she was a part of that may be interested in buying skincare products en masse. 

Mrs. Queen listened very thoughtfully and asked quite a few very specific questions, such as the number of people each of our proposed channels could reach, the cost of these channels, and so forth.  More importantly, she was calm and attentive during all the presentations.  Once she was done asking the questions, she was clearly impressed by what we had brought to the table.  We had successfully packaged LoyalPlus and this MLM as a potentially massive channel.  She decided we would need to meet one of her new directors, Mr. Cosmetics.

Mr. Cosmetics had been in the skincare industry for 17 years and was currently a director of the second-largest cosmetic company in Korea.  Mrs. Queen had recently recruited him into her company as a director.  Mrs. Queen’s Korea company was by no means big, but at the same time, I think due to the volume of sales, they’re doing pretty well.  While we were in the office, there was only a total of three staff.  Though the company was not large physically, Mrs. Queen was able to make the company’s reach and connections seem enormous.

Mrs. Queen informed me with confidence that she could get any Korean product we wished to export out of Korea.  At the same time, she informed us that if we had products that matched the target demand, she could push that product to many chain stores.  Of course this is easy to say because there was no way for us to verify this fact, but I made it a point to keep it in mind throughout the meetings Mrs. Queen arranged for us.  It became immediately clear that Mrs. Queen commanded the respect of all the company with which we came in contact, due to her strong character and unique abilities to communicate.

She demonstrated this ability when we had dinner one night with Mr. Cosmetics.  Despite the massive push for English teachers to come teach in Korea, most Koreans can’t speak a single word of English.  Mrs. Queen had to help me translate while I was talking to Mr. Cosmetic.  This was also the case at every one of the meetings she organized, she was the main point of contact and communication.  Presentations needed to be translated to Korean by Mrs. Queen in order for the managers and directors of the various brands we visited to understand what was said.  This was vital because the amount of “help” in the form of discounts and samples they would provide hinged on how impressed they were by the presentations.

Playing to your strengths is the key to business.  In this case, Mrs. Queen’s unique advantage of knowing Korean, Mandarin, and English, as well as her incredible network, gives her a massive edge making her an effective shark.

To give George value, I made it a point to exercise my communication skills.  Through the presentations, I was able to negotiate exclusive online rights to sell the product, as well as very favourable discounts on the product.  Strong communication skills pay off.