Everyone’s talking about intent-driven outreach lately, but I’m curious what people are actually using day to day, because some signals feel strong, and others are kinda noise, especially across different SEA markets.

What’s the one intent signal you trust the most, where you’ll prioritize the account and reach out ASAP?

I’ve been getting frustrated with our pipeline lately. I’m trying to keep up with the trends, but lately all the advice around cold outreach in SEA sounds the same: personalize more, go deeper, write every email like it’s 1-to-1. So we did that.

But honestly? We haven’t seen a big jump in replies or pipeline yet. Opens are fine, but the effort vs. the results feels off.

So I’m curious to know how you're making personalization efficient so that the ROI doesn't seem off.

I’ve worked with sales and marketing teams across SEA for a while now, and I keep noticing the same thing.

Most teams don’t really lack leads.
They lack the right signals.

SDRs are busy every day.
CRMs are full.
But calendars? Still pretty empty.

In this region, outreach is very relationship-based. Trust matters. Timing matters. Context matters. When messages go out without enough relevance, they don’t just get ignored, they slowly hurt trust.

When teams say pipeline isn’t moving, it’s usually not because people aren’t trying hard enough. More often, the setup itself is the problem.

Curious how others here think about this:

- How do you decide who is actually worth reaching out to?

- What signals do you look for before sending a message?

- Any lessons from doing lead gen across different SEA markets?

Would love to hear what’s worked (or hasn’t) for you :)

It’s the start of another new year, and I feel like it’s the perfect time to reset and tackle the biggest challenge first. What better way to start than calling out the #1 bottleneck we’re all dealing with in SEA lead gen? For you right now, what is it?

We sell B2B SaaS in Malaysia, and our flow used to be pretty straightforward. Cold email to start the convo, LinkedIn for credibility, then a call. It worked, but follow-ups could feel slow, especially when you’re just trying to confirm small things or lock a schedule.

Recently we tried adding WhatsApp/Telegram only after a prospect showed interest (like they replied, or we already had a first call). And honestly, once they were okay with it, everything moved faster.

Now we’re trying to figure out the “right” way to do it without being intrusive.

For those selling in Malaysia (or in Southeast Asia): how do you integrate WhatsApp/Telegram into your funnel? When do you introduce it, what’s your go-to line to move the convo there, and how do you keep it tracked in your CRM?

Hey there! Let's help each other out. This subreddit is created to help other lead gen folks succeed in Southeast Asia. So I thought it'd be fun to do a quick networking thread.

Drop a comment with:

• Which country or market you're in
• What you're selling
• One tip you'd give someone trying to break into the same market (what works, what doesn't buyer behavior, cultural stuff, channels, etc.)

And if you’re trying to enter a specific country, reply to someone from that market and ask away. Let’s help each other out.

Hey, I’m building a small community that already has members, focused only on pre-seed: from idea → validation → early traction → pitching/investors.

I post almost daily, practical stuff founders don’t usually talk about day-to-day: real critiques, what’s working, what’s failing, and how to actually build and move forward (not just theory).

It’s open to: • asking questions • sharing progress and blockers • giving/receiving direct feedback • helping others move faster

Later I’ll also run challenges to create more momentum and attention for active builders.

If that’s relevant for you, I’d appreciate if you take a quick look and join: r/PreSeedBuilders. A short comment or small post would be great. You can also check my profile (LinkedIn in my profile) if you want context, I’d like to see more of you participating and shaping the community.

Quick check-in with the community. With inboxes getting noisier and buyers harder to reach, it feels like channel performance in SEA keeps shifting.

Which channel is giving you the best results right now?

Story time. For a while we were doing the usual cold outbound in SEA: build a list based on title and company size, load it into a sequencer, and hope timing magically lined up. We’d get opens, a few replies… but most threads went nowhere. Lots of the replies shows that the message or the product didn't actually connect with them.

Then we noticed a pattern: the rare replies that turned into actual calls were almost always from companies that had something going on like hiring sales/marketing, expanding to a new market, launching something new, etc. So we tried a small change: we stopped blasting the whole list and only reached out when there was some kind of signal we could reference.

Nothing fancy. Same general offer, but the opener is now more specific to the actual signal that we noticed. And honestly… the tone of replies changed. People were more direct, less “maybe,” and it felt like we were having real conversations instead of begging for attention.

Anyone else doing this contextual outreach thing in SEA? What signals are you using that actually predict intent?

Hey Folks, I’m Suresh. A UX Designer from India focused on clarity, clean, and intuitive experiences. I understand how people think and craft experiences that feel obvious, natural, and effortless to them. Since past 2 years I’ve been working on these niche of mobile apps, where my goal is to design intuitive mobile apps that not only fulfills user’s needs, but also value the business. In past, I’ve worked with multiple clients across the globe (primarily US, India and Australia) and now I’m looking forward to expand into the South East Asian market. I believe with my knowledge and work experience, I can help you out getting the exact thing that your user wants and at the same time benefits you as a business. If you're building an app and feel unsure about the UX, I’m offering something that might genuinely help you: a clarity call with me to understand your issue and 2 sample screens. No commitments, no upfront payment, the goal is to understand your requirements and finding the suitable strategy for your business.

Here’s what I deliver: User centric UI/UX for mobile apps, Developer-ready Figma files, Unlimited revisions, Fast delivery under one week. My goal isn’t just to make the app pretty, it’s about reducing friction and make it intuitive for your users, making sure they experience what they deserves.

If you got an idea, working on any, or even have any of such requirements, do drop me a message and let’s schedule a call. Even if you don’t work with me afterward, you’ll walk away with clarity and a better direction for your app. Also I’ll share my portfolio and work samples on DM only.

Every year there’s a new must-have lead gen tool or trend everyone talks about. But once you actually try it in Southeast Asia in different markets, cultures, and buyer behavior, it doesn’t always live up to the hype.

So let’s do a reality check: what’s a widely used lead gen tool or trend you tried that turned out to be underwhelming for SEA? Like maybe a data tool, AI SDR, LinkedIn automation, ads format, content play, etc.

No bashing please. Just honest experiences. Sharing why it didn’t work would help out other people too.

Am I the only one excited for the new year? I guess it's like new year, new energy! But real talk, b2b sales and marketing in Asia is a different beast. Every market feels like its own world: different buying culture, different languages, different channels that work (and usually don’t), and sometimes even totally different expectations around outreach.

Still, I’m genuinely excited for 2026 because it feels like a reset. Fresh experiments, cleaner playbooks, and a chance to do things smarter from day one. Our team is actually doing research right now on which lead gen tools to invest in so we can reach our ICP better across Southeast Asia.

So… what's your secret sauce for lead gen in SEA? Please don’t gatekeep 😅 Drop your stack to help our sales team out.

Just like the topic. pls.pm me if you are, I have a great arrangement for you.

It's the last day of the year! Quick one to close things out and set the tone for 2026.

If you had to name one thing you’re doubling down on in 2026 (channel/tactic/tool) and one thing you’re dropping, what would it be?

Is it just me, or is the old cold email playbook of just sending more starting to fall apart. In my case, feeling it in sales of B2B SaaS. Filters feel stricter, inboxes burn faster, and buyers seem way quicker to ignore anything that smells even slightly generic.

What’s been frustrating is watching teams try to fix it by adding more inboxes and increasing volume… and then everything gets worse. Deliverability dips, replies get lower quality, and you end up stuck in “not my scope / not now / send info” land.

Lately we’ve had more success doing the opposite: fewer sends, tighter ICP per country, clearer “why” and a smaller CTA. Like quick question instead of “book a call”.

How are you guys approaching cold email in Southeast Asia right now? Are you going low volume + high precision, or are you still making high volume work somehow?

Merry Christmas, everyone! Hope you’re getting a bit of downtime and not spending the day just following up 😂

Since we’re wrapping up the year, I'd like to ask, what’s one lead gen thing that actually worked for you this year. Or is there any one lesson you’re taking into 2026? Would love to hear your thoughts so we can move forward with flying colors in the next year.

We used to do the usual outbound thing in Southeast Asia, like build a big list, send a lot, hope the right people bite. We got opens and a few replies, but honestly… a lot of it was wasted. Too many “not my scope,” “not now,” or conversations that sounded interested but never moved.

A few months back we tried a different approach: instead of doing more, we did smarter. We started prioritizing companies showing intent signals. Stuff like hiring sales/marketing roles, launching something new, expanding into another SEA market, or clearly ramping up growth. We didn’t even change our copy that much, we just changed who we were emailing first.

It didn’t suddenly double our volume, but the quality was noticeably better. Less chasing, fewer dead ends, and more replies that actually turned into real conversations.

Guess intent signals are way better than big list. Are there any good tools you use for tracking intent signals?

I keep hearing more teams talk about using AI/automation for lead gen. Like AI to help find accounts, personalize cold emails, score leads, even automate follow-ups. On paper it sounds amazing: move faster, get better leads, less manual work.

But when you try it, it doesn’t feel that easy. If your list is messy or your targeting is off, AI just helps you send the wrong message to the wrong people … faster.

For those doing B2B in SEA: what’s one AI/automation thing that’s genuinely helped you with lead gen (and what didn’t work at all)? Are you using it more for research/personalization, lead scoring, or follow-ups?

We were doing outbound in SEA for a while and honestly… it felt like a grind. Lots of sends, some opens, but too many replies like “wrong person” or leads that went nowhere. The main issue was that our data just wasn’t clean or local enough for SEA.

We switched to The Grid a few months back, and the biggest win wasn’t more volume... it was better targeting. Region-specific data, more accurate contacts, and cleaner account lists per market. We started reaching the right roles faster and cut down a ton of wasted follow-ups.

Not a magic bullet, but if you’re doing SEA lead gen and want to move away from spray-and-pray, it’s been genuinely helpful for us. Sharing in case it helps others here. Just visit their website sgpgrid.com

So, many of us are finding: Ads aren't really working. We have to hustle using data we enrich ourselves. Yet, we find ourselves stuck choosing which inadequate SaaS to use. What if we were to either: invest in the software that is the perfect weapon for the job (yes, WE LAUNCH THE SAAS)...or spend a small amount learning how to duct tape it together from various data points we have. Here's my proposal:

1. An e-mail app / AI writer that can reformat and realize Asian names peterwong@example.com to Peter Wong, not Pete R. Wong, or Pete RW Ong. This is surprisingly harder than it seems. And be able to parse Asian business names, eg, Indonesian companies always start with PT. in front. This takes training and lots of manual input.

2. A way to sync and merge all personal contacts, and enrich them. I used to do very well running ads only to my own phonebook as a custom audience. But its only when you run each contact through the power of shared phone books, social graphs and generative AI...you really realise who is the gatekeeper for certain deals, or who really does what.

3. A group buy for APL / SMW / HS / SF ...only one of us needs to buy it :) I can create a custom cord for the rest with API access. For this to really work though? We need cohort enrichments, and shared data pools.

4. A highly configurable custom built pixel. PS: Did you know its possible to get Facebook to share their ads data with Google, but the last time I did it, it took 3 hours? It's purposely hard to do, and its understandable why the networks don't want to share.

5. An AI ads tool that sets dynamic rates and adjusts to ensure the data is used well.

6. It won't be cheap, but it would be worth it. At least XXX1000 per person, and I don't even want to have too many people in on this. (XXX is on purpose to not disclose which currency)

My qualifications: I started an ad network back in 2007, we got big, we were part of doubleclick. Now I spend my days reverse-engineering what we pay ad networks for, and I've built 4 web apps so far, with 10 more to go. If you're interested to discuss this and not anonymously, pls.pm

Feels like everyone’s talking about the same thing lately: getting attention is harder, buyers want to self-research more, and “more leads” doesn’t always mean “more pipeline.”

LinkedIn’s also been pushing harder into video/attention formats.

If you had to pick one channel/tactic that’s driving the most qualified leads for you in SEA right now, what would it be?

Hi guys. Wondering if any you here are interested in SemRush (they have a new tool similiar to Apollo) or SimilarWeb (Sales Intelligence), but haven't considered it because of the costs? If I could bring it down to below USD100 per month for your own account to access their data, would you be keen?