Expand your effectiveness by taking the big leap to digitally transform your business.
COVID-19 struck the world when we least expected it. Life was going on as usual, and we were operating businesses without knowing there was a massive wave of pandemic just around the corner. Once it hit the world, we were doomed. Like a domino effect, it severely impacted every section of society.
When Malaysia went into MCO lockdown, my phone started ringing with notifications from clients’ emails and messages cancelling hundreds of thousands worth of contracts! I was devastated, demotivated, and depressed. But I decided not to stay that way.
I reorganised myself and brought the team together, deciding that I would continue paying my team, with no firings, no pay cuts, and no unpaid leaves! I am proud to say that we managed to pull through as a team, even though it was tough. And do you know our secret to the lockdown success was?
Digital Transformation
That’s right! One of the many changes we embraced was going digital. If we look at businesses around us, everybody is learning to digitise their products and services. This ranges from remote work for high-skilled employees to access to digital health.
“If there were any lingering doubts about the necessity of digital transformation to business longevity, the coronavirus has silenced them. In a contactless world, the vast majority of interactions with customers and employees must take place virtually. With rare exception, operating digitally is the only way to stay in business through mandated shutdowns and restricted activity. It’s go digital, or go dark.”
Before I dive into how digital transformation helped our business, allow me to tap into our background.
As one of Asia’s top Sales Solutions company, Sales Ninja Training helps small-medium, listed and global companies in various industries – be it B2B, B2C, direct sales, enterprise sales, retail sales, channel sales, dealer sales, or project sales, to transform their organisations into sales performing departments. Leading Sales Training in Malaysia, we’ve impacted in excess of 12,000 salespeople in more than 800 corporate companies and thousands of SMEs across over 30 industries.
Starting in a 400-square-foot room with only myself, I set up Sales Ninja Training with the goal of changing the sales performance of companies all over the world. From there, Sales Ninja Training has doubled in team size, revenue and office space – expanding to an office that is over 2000 sq feet and backed by a solid team of more than 10 driven individuals. Over the years, the desire to ensure that Sales Ninja Training’s clients achieve their sales targets and to safeguard the company and our salespeople, has not changed – it’s just gotten stronger.
How We Went Digital During the MCO 2020
While many people wait for the virus to be over, I worked my way out of the crisis, not by cutting expenses but by challenging myself to change. I developed a sales plan, refined the sales strategy and in nine days launched a new business model, renewed my team's mindset and sharpened their method to generate revenue and income. With the team closing sales “daily” since 30 March 2020, our companies are pouring in cash on a daily basis.
Constant communication is necessary to keep the business strategies aligned and morales high!
Go Digital
We shifted our business entirely onto digital to reach the people we needed to. We were an enterprise corporate selling at a B2B level and we switched to B2C for a while. We put massive marketing campaigns on Facebook and launched apps. We targeted people by doing lookalikes to ensure that we generated leads.
In two months, we generated over 2,000 leads that my sales team eventually followed up with and closed sales. And because we’ve got tons of leads, it actually generates back our B2B sales but using a B2C channel. That is something that most enterprise sales companies or enterprise companies don't do. They only do B2B, which is cold calling, email marketing, and AdWords. But we proceeded to use a B2C strategy for our B2B business!
And so far, it has worked for us, so I hope that it can work for you as well – digitalising your channel. So, to sum up, below are the key takeaways on how we survived the pandemic and coached 324 businesses to thrive during the crisis:
Talk to a Lot of Prospects and Customers
Kept in touch with the market to figure out who is buying and who is not. Used the power of social media platforms such as Linkedin, Facebook, etc., to network. Basically, hang out in the same place where your target customers are located.
Keep Innovating
Kept innovating and creating new solutions to serve the market’s wants until they started buying! Successfully tested and pivoted our business model.
Constant Communication
We had four meetings a day to keep everyone aligned with the markets’ needs. Spread the energy and enthusiasm to your teammates. There are days when they may lack motivation and may have other responsibilities to take care of. However, it would make a lot of difference if we conduct virtual meetings to keep the teammates on the same page, motivated and optimistic!
Keep Fighting
Day and night until we got results. Nothing could stop us. All of us had our eyes set on only one goal. We joined hands and made things happen because the energy was so high!
Go Digital
Shifted entirely to digital to reach the people we needed to. Optimise your Facebook Ads. Create a lookalike and re-targeting strategy to target the right market and obtain successful sales conversions.
Strong Mindset
Cultivated mental fortitude, reinforced with persistence and perseverance.
Hanzo Ng, the founder of The Sales Ninja Group, is an entrepreneur, sales trainer and consultant, delivering sales solutions since 2009. He is on a mission, and he lives by his favourite saying; “Sales have changed my life, now it's my time to help others change theirs.”
