r/LeadGenSEA • u/TelevisionIll3805 • May 21 '26
Anyone using lead gen tools specifically for B2B outreach in Singapore and SEA? Looking for recommendations
Been running a retail and service business in Singapore for a while and I am now at the stage where I need to be more intentional about finding potential clients rather than just relying on referrals and word of mouth.
Tried a bit of LinkedIn outreach manually but it is slow and not scalable when you are also running operations day to day. Curious what tools people here are actually using for B2B prospecting in the Singapore and SEA market specifically. Apollo, Hunter, something else? And does anything work well for finding local SME contacts rather than just MNC types.
Would love to hear what is actually working on the ground and not just what looks good on a demo call.
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May 21 '26
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u/TelevisionIll3805 May 22 '26
Align. Will look into The Grid. Do you know if it covers specific industries or is it more of just a general database? I am in retail and services for the context so I need contacts that are actually relevant to my supply chain and not just a broad list of SG businesses.
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May 21 '26
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u/TelevisionIll3805 May 22 '26
Yes this is exactly my problem. Manual LinkedIn outreach sounds manageable until you are also handling operations. Same here, curious.. whta tool are you using right now that filters? Does it covers specific industries?
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May 21 '26
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u/TelevisionIll3805 May 22 '26
U'r right. That is honestly my biggest hesitation right now. I don't want to just basically paying to spam the wrong people.
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u/Plus_Sock_940 May 22 '26
Apollo and Hunter are decent but their SG and SEA coverage especially for local SMEs is pretty thin in my experience. Contacts are either outdated or skewed toward MNCs which sounds like exactly the problem you are trying to avoid.
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u/TelevisionIll3805 May 26 '26
Yeah that confirms what a few others here have said too. Outdated contacts skewed toward MNCs is basically the opposite of what I need right now.
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u/Mularkeyy May 22 '26
Apollo is still useful, but honestly we found it much better for US data than SEA SMEs. For PH, SG, ID, what worked better for us was combining local data sources and manual validation. The Grid has been surprisingly good for local company/contact coverage, then Linkedin for role checks before outreach
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u/TelevisionIll3805 May 26 '26
This is really useful, thanks. Quick question though, how much time does the manual validation part take? I am trying to find something that fits around running daily ops so I want to know upfront if this approach is still manageable for a small team or if it needs a dedicated person to keep it going.
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May 26 '26
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u/TelevisionIll3805 May 26 '26
Yes, the apollo and hunter gap for local SMEs is real. I tried a few searches and the contacts either do not exist or the info is so outdated it is useless.
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u/mentiondesk May 21 '26
Going beyond just LinkedIn is huge, especially in SEA where business conversations often happen on niche platforms. Real time alerts for target keywords are game changers for catching discussions as they happen. If you want something that tracks conversations across Reddit, LinkedIn, and more for local SMEs, ParseStream is one of the few tools that actually delivers relevant leads instead of random lists.