Case Study: Sales Coach Hong Kong Company Setup

Today we’re going to share a case study! This is a client who does sales and marketing coaching, and I am his past client. He heard all the benefits of a Hong Kong company and his improved sales tactics I learned helped me close him as a client here!

That’s a testimonial on his service!

But today, let’s talk about his experience opening a bank account.

First, I don’t want to promote the fact that he did this with only about 2 weeks notice. He was in Thailand and heading back to his home in France. He asked me if he could get this HK company setup and bank account before he left.

Two weeks is not enough lead time! But I wanted to help my sales coach out and get this kicked off and I accepted the challenge.

Company can be setup quick, but the bank account, that is a bit more sensitive.

We confirmed the bank account appointment. He would only be in Hong Kong one day between Thailand and France, spending 1 night. So we had to make sure everything is right.

Many times, a client will forget a document or proof of business and then the banker will ask them to come back the next day. That is going to be a nightmare if you’re trying to pull this over on a layover flight!

This is why I tell people at least give it a few days in Hong Kong for the banking. This is an awesome place to visit anyway, so many restaurants to try, shopping to be had, and places to see. You can listen to our podcast w/ Sam The Local on places to go, or even use their service for full service tour guides! Enjoy this time on Earth and don’t squeeze things in 1 day Hong Kong trip.

Though I know a few won’t listen to me, at least make sure you have all your documents ready.

Because he was working with our HKVIP package, we prepared in advance. We had been doing a few phone calls and working through template and checklists for the banking application.

I act as the gatekeeper, I checked over what he was going to submit and we added a lot more documentation that he didn’t think to bring. This helped a lot in the bank account application. It depends on what kind of business you are doing. The main point is to show that you are using the business, for what your type of business category is. And second, you as a founder and director are capable of doing this business.

So we had all the documents ready and confirmed the night before he flew into Hong Kong.

As always, when things are last minute, they are always scrambling around and issues pop up. I was waiting for his phone call, but nothing came in. We had about a 3 hour window from when he landed until the bank appointment – which was really cutting it close. He didn’t have any bags checked so that was good, but the flight was about an hour late.

It was also his first time to Hong Kong. I gave him clear directions to our company office – which we keep online here. While he wanted to save money taking the bus, he had to split a taxi with another traveler he met on the plane! The taxi was about 120 HKD each person. That is not too bad, maybe others reading this should try splitting it with someone coming down to the Kowloon district.

So he arrived, finally. And he was in cargo shorts and a t-shirt! Sneakers too! So we had to fix him up and he dressed into one of our suits we keep her. It was a little bit big for him, but he still looked twenty times better. Especially for a sales coach.

Time was running short. The funniest was he brought with him to the office the guy he shared the taxi with. He was also interested in opening a Hong Kong company, and was so impressed with this HKVIP service. He took my name card and we would connect up later.

We had about 15 minutes to get to the bank, and were rushing out the door.

So he left his bags behind at the office, and took the 100% prepared binders from our HKVIP service to go to the bank. A complete turnaround from how he had arrived at the airport! Now he had a nice gray suit on, shoes, and a binder of company documents and a business plan.

We still were a little bit late, about 10 minutes, but the banker was pretty understanding about it. I had been calling to make sure they knew what was wrong and it was to be a short delay. I waited in the lobby as the client had the banking interview and application process, but later in the meeting they invited me in.

Seemed things went well. I helped with the bank transfer to fund the new account (once opened) and also ensured he got the credit card application in and other items he wanted. Everyone seemed pretty satisfied with the process, and the banker said we had a lot of the documents needed and it was a good case.

Time to get some lunch! What a late lunch for me, it was about 2pm, hours past my normal early lunch schedule. The client felt pretty amazed it all worked so smooth, and I was proud to be a service provider who could still hold that together in such a rushed situation.

We kept up with the bank account status. I always tell clients to at least give it a couple weeks, but nowadays it is taking a month or even more! I think it is because there is so much due diligence the bankers have to do to ensure the client is a legitimate business owner. Its part of the KYC (know your customer) regulations.

But we stuck along for the case. The client was back in France, and we were keeping in touch via email. I would check with the banker when I went in with other clients, and made sure there weren’t any issues.

It is a stressful time waiting to see if you got approved for the bank account or not. And stressful for me too! I work hard to ensure you have all the necessary documents and procedures ready, yet it is the bank’s choice in the end.

He had asked me a few times why he didn’t hear back still. It was stressful, yes. But it felt so good when he sent me a short email update that he got the account!

The credit card was the next one to wait quite some time for. It was about a month later. So all in all, it took about 2 months for him to get operational in the business from when he decided to open a Hong Kong company. Hope this helps other readers who are deciding to do this or not to know what they need.

So I hope you enjoyed today’s case study. It’s the first one we have done on the Global From Asia blog. I had to remove the client’s name due to him being a sales coach and not wanting to get the wrong image about how he does last minute business decisions. Yet you get the gist.

Please, prepare at least one month before you want to come to Hong Kong and apply for the bank account. And it is stressful for me too! I am all nervous for you, and want to make sure we have all the documentation ready and lined up so it is a smooth operation.

I’ll work on sharing more cases in the future, if you have any questions, concerns, or feedback I’d love to hear it below.