Beyond Waiting: How I Started Using AI to Find Real Customers (Instead of Just Hoping They Find Me)

Painless AI Lab – A Hong Kong Practitioner’s Real-World AI Journey (Part 21)

Let’s be honest. Building a clean website, optimising SEO/GEO, and setting up a nice digital storefront feels productive. You hit publish, look at the product pages, and think: “Okay… now the customers should start coming.”

Then… silence.

In the last post we talked about creating a solid digital presence. That work is important, but it is still a passive game. If you need cash flow or want to develop overseas buyers, you cannot just wait. You have to go where the customers already are.

The problem is that traditional lead generation is exhausting. Sifting through directories, guessing who the decision-maker is, and staring at a blank screen trying to write a cold email that doesn’t sound like a robot can easily eat an entire evening for just a few contacts.

So I took online sales course and tested a more aggressive, AI assisted approach.

Below is the exact system I now use, both for local Hong Kong businesses and for overseas buyers. 

Step 1: Map Real Businesses with Google Maps (Local HK)

Most people only use Google Maps to find lunch or coffee shop. I use it as a free prospecting database.

How I do it:

1. Open Google Maps and zoom into a specific district (Kwun Tong, Cheung Sha Wan, Sheung Wan, Kwai Chung, etc.).
2. Search for the type of business that could buy from me (e.g. “boutique”, “lifestyle store”, “interior design firm”, “corporate gift company”).
3. Click through the results. You immediately get:
   • Business name
   • Address
   • Phone number
   • Website (if they have one)
   • Opening hours

I keep a simple Google Sheet with columns: Company | District | Phone | Website | Notes | Remarks

For local shops, I drop a phone call or  a short visit to the physical store if possible.

Step 2: Let AI Find the Right Person (Decision-Maker)

Finding the company is easy. Finding the actual buyer is usually the bottleneck.

Instead of spending 30–40 minutes on outdated “About Us” pages, I now feed public information into AI.

Copy-paste prompt I use:

text

I am looking for the most likely decision-maker at this company for purchasing [your product category].

Company name: [paste name]

Website: [paste URL]

Location: Hong Kong / [other city]

Based only on publicly available information, tell me:

1. The most probable job titles of the person who would buy this type of product
2. Any names you can find linked to those titles
3. Web links if available
4. A short note on why this person is likely the right contact

AI will not hack private databases, but it is surprisingly good at reading public signals and pointing you in the right direction in under a minute.

Step 3: Write Better Cold Emails for Overseas Buyers (in under 5 minutes)

When targeting overseas buyers, I first get the company name from trade data, directories, then find an email (Hunter, Apollo, Rocketreach or similar tools). The real problem starts after I have the email: what do I actually write?

Generic templates die in the inbox.

My current workflow:

1. Quickly research the company (what they sell, recent focus, any public news).
2. Feed that information + my product into AI with this prompt:

Write a short cold email to the buyer at [Company Name].

Context about them: [paste 2–3 sentences about their business]

My product/offer: [paste your one-sentence value + key benefit]

Rules:

– Maximum 90 words

– Conversational and human (sound like a real person, not a salesperson)

– No corporate jargon, no “I hope this email finds you well”

– Start with something specific about their business

– Clearly state why I’m reaching out and the potential benefit

– End with a very low-pressure question or soft call-to-action

– Subject line: short and curiosity-driven (under 6 words)

The difference is night and day. The emails now sound like a useful note from a real person instead of a mass outreach blast.

My Simple Weekly System (so it actually happens)

I no longer do this randomly. I block time:

• Monday & Thursday: 60–90 minutes
• Goal: Research and reach out to 5–10 new companies
• Track everything in one Google Sheet (Company, Contact, Channel, Date Sent, Reply, Next Action)

I also have a light follow-up sequence:

• Day 3–4: Short follow-up (one sentence + original email)
• Day 10: Final soft follow-up or move on

Real Talk: It’s Still a Numbers Game

AI makes the research and writing much faster. It does not magically make every email get a reply or every phone call turn into an order. Rejection is still part of the daily work.

The real win is momentum. What used to take me a whole evening now takes about fifteen minutes per company. That means I can talk to more people, test different angles, and learn what the market actually wants much faster.

If you are sitting on inventory or a new project and waiting for customers to magically appear, try this: Block one afternoon this week. Map 5-10 real targets. Let AI help you find the right person and draft the message. Then send.

You might be surprised who actually replies.

Question for you: What’s the bigger mental block for you right now? Picking up the phone, or writing the first cold email?

Drop a comment below.

I’m happy to share the exact prompts or the Google Sheet template I use if it helps.