JULY & AUGUST 2012 |www.opp.org.uk WORDS | John Howell Oldies but goodies


The idea of a face-to-face meeting can seem almost archaic in a world where technology allows us to talk to business contacts based thousands of miles away instantly and for next to nothing. Depite their benefi ts, the expense and time needed to arrange a meeting in person often makes it impractical. However, OPP has found a couple of twists to make the old idea seem new...


one of the things that makes the editor of OPP’s job interesting is being able to keep an eye on various new developments within the overseas property industry. This month I am going to focus on


O


some pretty old fashioned ways of doing business but reinvented, with a twist, to meet today’s changing requirements.


Business is about meeting people


and doing deals. For the last few years we have sometimes been able to avoid a physical meeting by the use of video conferencing, telephone conference calls, whiteboards and the like. However, I think that most people would agree that these are, ultimately, less satisfactory than a face-to-face


ne of the things that makes business interesting is that you never stand still – and


meeting ending in a handshake and (depending upon your culture) a beer or a cup of tea.


Probably the two main reasons why face-to-face meetings have been displaced by the use of technology are time and its fi rst cousin, cost. Face-to-face meetings are expensive, particularly if the two people concerned live on opposite sides of the world.


Not only is the actual meeting


time consuming but setting it up (by fi nding the right people to meet, the right place to meet and the right materials to take) can be both time consuming and complicated. So it was with great interest that


I have come across three examples of face-to-face meetings made more attractive. What they each offer, in different ways, is a short cut to fi nding


the right person and to arranging the physical side of the meeting. Expotim International Fair &


Organisation Inc, based in Istanbul, is arranging a real estate exhibition in the Middle East. Nothing new about that, you might think. But this is an exhibition with a difference. In fact, it is fi ve different exhibitions


in fi ve different countries over a period of 10 days. You’ve seen that before? Maybe. There are a number of organisers who run back-to-back series of exhibitions in the same general area as this, obviously, minimises overall travelling time and its associated cost.


“The two main reasons why face-to- face meetings have been displaced: time and cost”


Have you, though, seen it where


the exhibitions are based on a cruise liner, which will sail from city to city and where the public will be invited on board to see the exhibits? I didn’t think so! The exhibitions are due to take place in 2013, in the Middle East. You can contact Sedat Serttas, the


sales representative of Expotim by email at sedatserttas@expotim.com or by telephone on +90 212 356 0056. The second and third services come


from OPP. Also in 2013, OPP is launching its ‘Meet the Chinese’ road trips to China. These will allow master agents


Bright ideas | how can we make face-to-face meetings worth all of the eff ort?


and developers keen to do business in China and to fi nd agents or sub- agents there to travel, as a small group or individual company, and meet carefully selected agents interested in selling their product. These agents will come not only from the major cities but also from so me of China’s 50 second tier cities, so giving the participants comprehensive exposure to China. Run in conjunction with our colleagues at OPP China, these trips will not only introduce you to the right people but also contain sessions to help you understand the cultural and practical issues associated with


doing business in China. A good grasp of these can make all the difference between a successful venture and a disappointing waste of time. Since I mentioned these trips in the


last edition of OPP I have been asked for more information and also whether we could arrange a similar sort of programme for the key countries in South East Asia. In particular, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. I have had preliminary discussions


with experienced agents and intermediaries, including the good people at PropertyGuru, and it looks like we will be able to do this if there is suffi cient demand. For more information about either


the OPP trips to China or possible trips to South East Asia, please contact john.howell@OPP.org.uk or call on +44 208 734 3963. Finally, a quick word about something completely different. You may already be familiar with


the OPP Deal Zone on the OPP Connect website. This is a service, entirely free, through which you can fi nd or make others aware of major investment opportunities in international real estate.


While there are no hard and fast rules about what will be included in the Deal Zone, most offers involve projects of over $10 million. They tend to involve joint venture opportunities, people seeking or offering equity funding, the sale of major projects or other top level investment offers. Over the last few weeks we have


been asked whether we could extend this facility to smaller projects. We have decided to do so, not just by lowering the price range for the offers but by extending the scope of what can be posted. Basically, we are replicating the sort of ‘for sale and wanted’ adverts that you might see in a supermarket. So if you are looking to sell your


business or to buy an existing business, or if you are looking to sell a plot of land or a partially completed development, feel free to place details on OPP Connect. Once again, the service will be free to OPP Connect members.


BUSINESS


NEW IDEAS | 27


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