Should I pay someone to research the Asian market for me?

Dear Aunty B,

I keep reading about Asia but don’t know the first thing about whether our products would sell well there. I am also so flat out just keeping my head above the day to day that I wondered whether I could pay someone to do some research for me. What do you think?

Too busy to export,
Col

Dear Col,

It is fine to get some research done after you identify the opportunity. For now there is only one thing to do – you book a ticket to Hong Kong and Singapore for a week. Do it now. The weather is great and the place is booming.

Then you spend a few weeks calling lots of your mates and asking them for introductions. You then simply call or email these people in Hong Kong or other relevant Asian countries and ask them for meetings. I have done this and they always yes and go out of their way to give thoughtful, helpful advice. You also have some good Austrade experts in Asia who know the ropes.

So set yourself a schedule of meetings with a variety of different type of people that will give you many views on the business. It will be a fantastic week and by the end of it you will have some sense of what you might ask a researcher to do.

Good luck!
Your Aunty B

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