When wandering Taipei's bustling Guanghua Market – the premier retail battleground for 3C products in Taiwan – you're sure to see the red and black logo of Optoma prominently displayed in all the shops specializing in digital video projection gear. And most sales clerks are quick to begin introducing the company's projectors to potential customers.

Despite a 10-percent decline in the domestic digital projector market during the second quarter of this year, Optoma Corp. managed to buck the trend and continue showing sales growth, becoming Taiwan's number-one digital projector brand with a 20-percent market share in the process.

Just five years ago, Optoma was a no-name second-tier digital projector brand.

"At the time, I was going on about how we would become one of Taiwan's top three brands, but nobody would listen," says Telly Kuo, vice president and general manager of Optoma's Asia-Pacific operations.

Helping Clients See 3-6 Months Down the Road

During each of the past five years, Kuo managed not only to meet or exceed the annual sales growth targets he personally set for the company, but also to beat the odds of doing so during a prolonged economic downturn. Initially, Optoma was only selling around 100 units a month, a figure that has grown 100-fold in five years to reach the company's current sales volume of more than 10,000 units a month.

Optoma has laid siege to the market and seized the erstwhile territory of its rivals, even ruffling the feathers of industry bigwig Hank Hung, general manager of BenQ China's sales division, who recently threw down the gauntlet from the other side of the Taiwan Strait, declaring: "It's game on – the loser has to jump into either the Keelung River or the Huangpu River."

The rise of the 41 year-old Kuo, son of a fishmonger, to preside over Taiwan's top digital projector brand can be attributed to his "incredible ability to launch into action, overcome any obstacle and persevere to the end," in the observation of one top executive at a Japanese digital projector company.

After his graduation from National Chiao Tung University's Department of Transportation Technology and Management, Telly Kuo opted against going abroad for further education like so many of his classmates, instead taking a job as an entry-level sales associate with a foreign company, selling electronic components to Quanta Computer and other Taiwanese firms.

Although Kuo's corporate clients were fairly well concentrated, even such an apparently easy B2B sales operation actually required consideration of many peripheral issues.

"You can't always be thinking that the deal is done once the sale has been completed," he says. "You've got to stand in the client's shoes and visualize the production process three to six months down the road."

To that end, he held frequent in-depth discussions with clients regarding future product planning to assist them in guiding their products onto track with future mass production planning.

From Dawn to the Wee Hours

The other key that separated Kuo from the sales force chaff was his rigidly disciplined work ethic. Under the flextime policy at Philips, it wasn't long before much of the sales force started showing up at the office at noon. Kuo, however, was always at the office just around 8 a.m., staying well into the night.

"The most important thing for a salesperson is to demand a lot of themselves and, in particular, a strong desire for success," he says.

Kuo's diligence soon caught the attention of his immediate supervisor, C.Y. Chuang, current president of Philips Electronics Industries (Taiwan) Ltd. Over a seven-year period, Kuo was promoted six times. Within 10 years he had risen from his entry-level sales position to vice president at Philips.

In January 2003, Kuo left Philips to take up his position as general manager of Asia-Pacific operations for Optoma. Exhorting the company's then fewer than 20 employees with their first pep talk in the cramped confines of the corporate offices in Sindian, Kuo resolved to turn Optoma into one of Taiwan's top three brands, leaving many rolling their eyes.

"First you have to have a big goal, and then set about finding a way to achieve it," Kuo insists. Sales managers must have full confidence and absolutely must not shy away from battle, he says.

Squaring off against the massive sales teams fielded by Epson and BenQ was Optoma's four-strong sales crew, who managed to sell just over 50 projectors a month in Taiwan.

"At the time, nobody thought Optoma would survive," recalls one senior journalist.

Putting the company in an even more precarious position, Optoma had no money for proper marketing and advertising.

"Clients just didn't want to sell Optoma projectors – they only wanted Japanese brands or BenQ," says Kuo, his voice rising.

Instead of complaining about having no marketing or advertising budget, and no means to achieve brand recognition, Kuo consistently greeted every adversity with a positive outlook, believing, "I'd rather directly catch the chicken to lay the eggs – use exports to subsidize domestic sales efforts, and develop marketing from sales performance."

He first approached Coretronic Corp., inviting that company's foreign sales agents to tour Optoma's production facility and then persuaded them to act as Optoma's agents in their respective countries.

In Taiwan, he took the opposite approach, canceling the company's agreement with its Taiwan agent and setting his sales force loose to set up direct sales operations.

Bad Sales Make the Salesman Bolder

"The worst case scenario was sales falling to zero and having to start again from scratch," Kuo notes. When sales drop off the scale, it conversely makes you bolder in demanding a new and different way; with audacity comes opportunity, he says.

Kuo hoped that reclaiming the domestic sales rights to his company's projectors would help the organization overcome its managerial sluggishness by putting its back against the wall, and also reduce distributors' erosion of company profits.

Faced with a souring business climate, Kuo refused to back down, instead seeking to set an example by personally scouring the far corners of Asia for sales opportunities rather than laying off staff and slashing salaries.

"Laying off staff only drags morale down even farther. Where others are in retreat we must be even more active on the attack," he says.

When the chips are down, good salespeople seize the initiative.

During the SARS panic of 2003 when most businesses were lying low, Kuo, then fresh at the helm of Optoma, refused to be trapped in Taiwan. So he packed up his electronic ear thermometer and flew to South Korea.

"When I walked in the client's front door I pulled out the thermometer and stuck it in my ear to show I wasn't infected and to get them to relax," he says.

The day after he returned from South Korea, he flew to Macau to visit another client, refusing to let the somber circumstances thwart him, and scoring a contract in the process.

Kuo was willing to take such risks because he understood that when the chips are down a good salesperson has to react with even greater alacrity. A fan of the novels of ancient China, Kuo is particularly fond of one dialogue exchange in the television series Han Wu Da Di (The Great Emperor Han Wu) in which Han Wu asks one of his generals, the famous Huo Qubing, where his base camp is located. The general spiritedly replies: "My base camp is on the back of my horse."

"That's what I strive to be: a general manager from the back of my horse," Kuo says.

"When I want to get something done, I definitely have to make things happen," Kuo says.

Kuo's positive, pro-active approach to his work has led Optoma's sales team to consecutive victories in the Taiwan, China and South Korean markets.

Translated from the Chinese by Brian Kennedy

---

Telly Kuo's Secrets to Success

1. Have a strong desire for success.

Do not relent in your desire for success. Don't think the deal is concluded as soon as the product is sold. Stand in the clients' shoes and help them visualize the production process three to six months down the road.

2. Dare to set big goals.

First set the goal, then find ways to achieve it. Sales managers must have full confidence and not shrink from battle.

3. Assertively sell, instead of laying off staff.

In hard times, taking the offensive is even more vital. Where others are in retreat, going on the attack is imperative.

Chinese Version: 郭特利 5年爆衝業績100倍