CASE STUDY
From Referrals Only: A €3,000 Advisory Mandate Signed in a 2-Month Pilot
How a one-person search firm replaced a referral-only pipeline with a mapped market across Europe.
  • 14 Interested Leads
  • €3,000 Mandate Signed
  • 2-Month Pilot Across Europe
About OCTANS asia
OCTANS asia is a boutique search firm that helps startups and SMEs build advisory boards and place fractional CXOs. Founded after ten years in Singapore, it works with founders across Europe and Southeast Asia.
  • Solution
    B2B Sales Engine
  • Industry
    Executive Search
  • Headquarter
    France
  • Company size
    1-10
Challenges
  • Referral-Only Pipeline
    New business came only from a small personal network built over ten years in Singapore. When the network was exhausted, the pipeline stopped.
  • No Sales Process
    Prospecting happened in two- to three-hour bursts whenever there was time, with no list, no sequence and no follow-up discipline.
  • An Unmapped Market
    Two very different buyer groups — early-stage companies and investment funds — had never been mapped, sized or tested against each other.
  • Founder Does Everything
    One person ran discovery, delivery and acquisition at the same time, so acquisition was always the part that gave way first.
Solutions
  • Two ICPs, Mapped and Sized
    Startups and scale-ups under 100 employees, and venture, private equity and incubator funds — defined separately so each could be judged on its own response.
  • Multi-Market Outbound
    Cold email from dedicated sending domains, localised per market, so the founder reached buyers across Europe without adding a single hour of manual research.
  • A Weekly Operating Rhythm
    A weekly report and a standing call with a dedicated customer success manager, so targeting decisions were made on data rather than impressions.
  • Every Lead Handed Over Warm
    Interested prospects were passed over with the full context of the conversation, ready for the founder to take straight into a first call.
Results
“I signed with GlisRisk, a lead brought by UltB. I wanted to thank you and your team for the great work you delivered to OCTANS, and for your commitment and flexibility.”

Loïc Dujardin,
Founder at OCTANS asia
  • €3,000 Mandate Signed
    A lead sourced by UltB became a signed advisory mandate, with the client’s deposit paid within days of signature.
  • 14 Interested Leads
    Buyers from both target groups replied with interest over the two-month pilot, across Europe.
  • A Second Deal in Play
    A second prospect from the same campaign stayed in conversation with the founder after the pilot had ended.
  • A Market Finally Mapped
    Two buyer groups sized and tested against each other, replacing ten years of referral guesswork with data.
Resources Allocated by UltB
Each client requires an individual approach and dedicated resources. For OCTANS asia, we have comprised a team that worked on every aspect of this project:
  • Dedicated Campaign Manager
  • Customer Success Manager
  • Interested Reply Manager
  • Technical Infrastructure & Deliverability Expert
  • Admin and Operational Comms Specialist
  • Internal Expert for Sales Call Reviews
Ready to see results like these? Book a call now!