Home Appliance Brand, CUCKOO Massive Sales Growth of 190%

CUCKOO is a well-known home appliance brand from South Korea. In South Korea, a CUCKOO water purifier is sold every minute and a CUCKOO rice cooker is sold every 10 seconds.

CUCKOO has successfully expanded its brand to 30 countries over 5 continents. In 2017, CUCKOO’s global turnover hit a record of USD $760 million. CUCKOO Malaysia joined the CUCKOO family in October 2014 and became the first overseas partner of CUCKOO.

Under the leadership of CUCKOO Malaysia CEO Mr. Hoe Kian Choon, in a short period of 3 years, CUCKOO Malaysia has developed multiple unique payment plans to promote water purifiers. At the same time, CUCKOO’s pressure multi-cookers and air purifiers were launched one after another due to high demand. In August 2016, CUCKOO Malaysia achieved a sales growth of 600%. As of 2018, the brand has accumulated over 350,000 customers. To date, it has successfully opened more than 330 Brandstores and Brandkiosks in Malaysia.

2017 marked an auspicious year for the brand. Several marketing campaigns were

launched such as CUCKOO GOOOD Plan and CUCKOO GOOOD Deal. These flexible payment plans were conceived to offer cutting-edge technology from CUCKOO for people of all backgrounds where they are well-received. Natural Chief Officers Shirley Khoo, Michael Lee and Hazman Zakaria are credited to be behind the brand’s exponential growth in sales.

CUCKOO Malaysia

Front row (from left to right): Director of Marketing Division Ms. Queenie Goh, Director of Domestic Sales Mr. WH Mak, CEO Mr. Hoe Kian Choon, Director of Operations Mr. Benny Tan, Director of Overseas Sales Mr. Toh Seng Lee

Back row (from left to right): NCO Hazman Zakaria, NCO Michael Lee, NCO Shirley Khoo

Michael Lee

Accelerate the Expansion of Team to Achieve Biggest Sales

After facing health issues, Michael Lee resigned from his high-paying job. In November 2014, he joined CUCKOO Malaysia, just one month after its inception. He entered the company to showcase his strengths as an entrepreneur. He eventually succeeded in becoming a Natural Chief Officer of CUCKOO Malaysia where as of now, his team dedicates 30 % of the company’s turnover as the company’s largest sales team.

CUCKOO is committed to improve the health of people of all backgrounds. Michael was deeply impressed with this vision as he could see how CUCKOO’s high-quality products are improving the increasingly worrying environmental pollution that includes water, air and food pollutions. He is convinced that the products, powerful resources as well as strong systems can help solve the problems at hand. Not only that, members of the public could also see CUCKOO’s virtue which would consequently increase the demand in the market. CUCKOO Malaysia CEO Mr. Hoe Kian Choon said “I would like to take this opportunity to raise consumer’s awareness on the importance of health. I am proud that most people have expressed their acceptance after getting to know the brand.”

Michael’s team consists of more than 100 managers and more than 130 sales points. Members of the team are mostly located in East and South of Malaysia. When asked about his secret in managing a large number of people, he said “I pay attention to the expansion of the team, I believe that the strength of the team is unlimited. Through the rapid increase in the number of members, the market share will also increase thus, members will be able to sprint beautifully. The secret to this is nothing special, I believe it is simply the result of being diligent. To be the best means to perform better than number two. So, set a big goal, get out of your comfort zone but always remember your limit where you can perform the best to your abilities. Then look for effective ways to accomplish the goal.”

He also advised that in order to find the most suitable method to accomplish your goal, you need to keep trying. Don’t give up after facing one obstacle, he added, “In addition, after reaching the goal, we must not stop. If we are sure of our ability, we should continue to rush forward. Why must we slow ourselves down?”

Michael stressed the most important thing to remember is to believe in yourself. Have self-confidence as leaders are calm and adaptable, a trait highly respected as it can help boost the morale of the team through respect and trust. As a man of the digital era, he is active in social media where he can be seen often sharing his own positive thoughts, personal photos to create personal brand as it helps to increase his confidence.

“If you want to succeed, you must have money, connections and courage. If you lack the former two, you must stock up enough courage to meet any challenge” he said as he then started to reminiscence at one of his most unforgettable challenges he once faced at his former company. He had opposing opinions with his team leader at that time, so he left the company. This has sparked conversations among other co-workers.

He chose to deal with the situation by not letting external factors affect his existing team. He believes in completing the work that is in front of him as it would symbolise his work ethics are louder than gossips. Looking back, he only regrets his broken friendships with colleagues from that company.

About his future, Michael explained, “This year, I set a goal of to have 200 Natural Managers as well as to sell 100,000 CUCKOO products. This will open up opportunities for the team to be successful. As long as they are resilient, the road will always be there.”

▼ Interview video clip of Michael Lee

Hazman bin Zakaria

Believe In Yourself, Everyone Can Succeed