Tips About Marketing Strategies and Challenges for IPMI in Southeast Asia from Tenzing Pacific’s Managing Partner, Quinn Miller

Mr Quinn Miller is the Managing Partner of Tenzing Pacific Insurance Services is the first 100% foreign owned insurance agency in Vietnam. The company also offers full insurance services for expats all over Southeast Asia.  

Mr Miller has been with Tenzing Pacific for three years and had experience sales and marketing particularly in the Southeast Asia region.

Learn more about Quinn Miller and Tenzing Pacific Services in his full interview below.

Q: Having the first 100% foreign owned licensed independent insurance agency in Vietnam is quite a feat. What are the biggest challenges you encountered in setting up the company?

A: We had many challenges in setting up; both internal challenges of finding the right team and external challenges of being first in the market.

The hardest challenge was finding the right team, people committed to a high level of service, honesty and transparency and then maintaining these standards as we continue to grow.

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Q: What are the main providers you will be representing in Tenzing Pacific Services?

A: Tenzing works with both local (Vietnamese) and international providers, and we are always sure to do due diligence on provider we represent, which can be a challenge as new providers come and go, and as developing insurance, organisations are constantly changing rules and policy wording trying to compete. Our clients are quite diverse from recent short-term expats to large local companies, so we need to have a range of providers and price points to match our client's requirements and budget.

Q: Are there any specific sales and marketing strategies that you use as an expat business in Southeast Asia?

A: It is an increasingly competitive market, and at Tenzing, we try and focus on the consistency of our message rather than any short-term marketing gimmick. We use a range of traditional marketing and social media platforms however 

At the end of the day, nothing is better than a referral, and you can only get regular referrals by maintaining high standards of client service.

Q: Can you tell us more about your experience as an expat in Vietnam?

A: Vietnam is advancing at a rapid pace and with this comes some growing pains such as increased traffic congestion and pollution. The whole country is progressing in so many ways that can be hard to see it all moving as one as there is so much happening all the time. Overall it is a great place to live and work.

Q: Does Tenzing Pacific have any plans for further expansion in Southeast Asia?

A: Tenzing already has clients across SE Asia, and we would like to continue to grow client numbers with a focus on Cambodia and Myanmar. Again this comes down to finding the right people to join the Tenzing team as finding great people still is the greatest challenge.

Q: What else can we expect from you and Tenzing Pacific in the future?

A: Tenzing Pacific Investment Management is a new business that launched about 12 months ago expanding the services the Tenzing Group can offer to clients across Asia. With this new entity, we are bringing a modern approach to financial planning and asset management to retail clients across SE Asia with a focus on investment platforms that are not as restrictive and opaque as the ones that have been peddled to expats for the last 20 years. We are moving slowly into this space as we are well aware of the bad reputation of this industry and want to leverage and grow the Tenzing brand that is all about putting our clients needs first and helping them navigate and mitigate risk to achieve their goals.