How Allan Ling uses custom GPTs as virtual employees to scale SME growth

Singapore growth architect Allan Ling explains how 20+ custom GPTs drive SME growth, revealing a 600% ROI AI strategy and his human-AI workflow for lead generation.

How Allan Ling uses custom GPTs as virtual employees to scale SME growth

Most SMEs struggle with the same three problems: inconsistent lead flow, untapped AI potential, and teams that aren't aligned on execution. Allan Ling, Growth Architect and founder of The Leads PathFinder, has found a solution that addresses all three through strategic AI integration.

Allan runs The Leads PathFinder, a Singapore-based growth consultancy that helps purpose-driven businesses scale through AI integration, strategic lead generation, and team alignment. The company works exclusively with venture builders, ecosystem builders, UHNWIs, family offices with portfolio companies, growth-stage SMEs, and funded startups.

What sets The Leads PathFinder apart is its approach of combining AI integration with Human Design principles to ensure teams can actually implement and sustain improvements. Allan claims his methodology has generated over US$500 million in revenue for clients across various industries and markets.

In this interview, we explore Allan's journey from static customer personas to building 20+ custom GPT "employees," his practical AI toolkit for SME growth, and the specific strategies that helped one luxury client achieve 600% ROI through AI-driven personalization.

The turning point: From static ICPs to AI-powered customer insights

Allan's AI journey began with a common frustration many marketers face. "I've often faced this pain with many clients where they just had a single slide or one-pager dedicated to their ICP (Ideal Customer Persona)," Allan explains. "They'll just update it once every 3-6 months and forget about it when it comes to planning their messaging/offers for their marketing campaigns."

The breakthrough came when Allan realized AI could become the "ideal customer" representative for strategic discussions. "The day I started thinking AI could help become the 'ideal customer' representative for me to debate with and enquire, I tried it by learning what custom GPTs are; the insights really shook me and I've never stopped since."

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Allan's AI toolkit: Beyond platform-centric solutions

While many marketers rely on platform-specific AI tools, Allan has built a more sophisticated ecosystem. "Previously I've tried some platform-centric AI such as Apollo's for cold email writing, but the personalisation didn't generate much results," he notes.

His current toolkit includes:

  • OpenAI's GPT-4o, 4.5 and o3
  • Claude Sonnet 4.0 (previously 3.7)
  • Genspark AI
  • Firebase studio
  • Automation platforms like n8n and Exabloom for building custom AI agents/workflows

The key differentiator is how Allan integrates these tools with automation platforms to create custom AI agents tailored to specific SME client needs. 

Allan's philosophy centers on strategic AI integration rather than wholesale automation. "AI is great for data processing and analysis, segmentation, initial outreach, and content drafting," he explains. However, he maintains clear boundaries: "I believe right now and in the near future, it's still going to be a minimally human > AI > human > AI cycle before content or other outputs are generally acceptable to be within the top 10% (aka quality)."

He identifies specific areas where human expertise remains irreplaceable: "Subtle Asian/Singaporean emotional cues, strategic decision-making, genuine long-term relationships, trusting intuition; all key irreplacement human elements."

This balanced approach has delivered impressive results. Allan shares a recent case study: "One recent case involved a niche luxury business. We used AI to deeply personalize different ad messaging going out to various platforms, based on behavioral data from past customer interactions. Within 90 days, we observed a 90% decrease in cost per signup and a notable boost in monthly leads, translating into an approximate 600% ROI."

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Personality-driven segmentation and overcoming adoption barriers

One of Allan's most innovative applications involves using personality frameworks for marketing segmentation. "I frequently use a simplified Human Design or Enneagram-based segmentation approach," he reveals.

His methodology involves working with clients' sales teams to identify top customers through micro-quiz style questions like "Which of these statements best describes their current challenge at work?" Combined with specific language linked to each personality archetype, this approach dramatically boosts follow-up relevance and response rates.

However, implementing such sophisticated approaches isn't without challenges. Allan identifies the biggest friction point in SME AI adoption: "SMEs feeling overwhelmed by complexity, especially if the team doesn't have technical or structural people...often doubting if their team is capable enough to manage AI systems."

His solution focuses on gradual implementation: "I suggest starting small with a single high-impact workflow/AI project, clearly demonstrating tangible ROI or huge time-saving results, and ensuring the solution feels easy to use by anyone."

Allan's philosophy: AI as capability amplifier

Allan's overarching philosophy is refreshingly practical: "Let AI do the heavy lifting so we humans can excel at being ourselves and with the human tasks of building+maintaining relationships, empathy, creativity, and nuanced judgment with our intuition."

He summarizes his approach with a simple formula: "Experts + AI > Amateurs + AI > Experts without AI."

The focus on sustainable scaling through AI efficiency while maintaining human connections reflects industry best practices. As the global AI in marketing market is projected to reach US$47.32 billion in 2025, Allan's methodology offers a practical roadmap for SMEs looking to harness AI without losing their competitive human edge.

For marketers and business leaders seeking to implement AI-driven growth strategies, Allan's approach demonstrates that success lies not in choosing between human expertise and AI capabilities, but in thoughtfully integrating both to create sustainable competitive advantages. The key is starting small, measuring results, and gradually building confidence through iterative successes—exactly what Allan helps his clients achieve through The Leads PathFinder's proven methodology.

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