[Marketing Secret] Regional University Graduate Who Used to Earn 600,000 KRW Monthly "Now Receives 700 Million KRW Annual Salary"

"Even Regional University Graduates Can Achieve First Place"
Jung Jun-kyo, Sono Hotel & Resort Leisure Consultant
Daily Recorded Customer Data as Sales Asset
4,000 Customers Organized Over 8 Years... Annual Sales of 10 Billion Won

His academic background was modest. He graduated from a university in Gangneung, Gangwon Province. Despite that, he achieved annual sales of 10 billion KRW at Sono Hotels & Resorts, one of the leading resort companies in Korea. Among the approximately 6,000 employees at Sono Hotels & Resorts, no one has recorded higher sales than him. Recently, he published a book titled The Life of a Number One. The first chapter begins with the words, "Nevertheless, you can do it."

Jung Jun-kyo, a leisure consultant at Sono Hotels & Resorts, is having a photo shoot at the office in Songpa-gu, Seoul.
[Photo by Sono Hotels & Resorts]

Jung Jun-gyo, a leisure consultant (40) who has been the 'Sales King' at Sono Hotels & Resorts for seven consecutive years, said in an interview with Asia Economy on the 14th, "I wanted to show that even graduates from regional universities can become number one if they work hard," adding, "I hope the book serves as motivation for novice salespeople and provides an opportunity to learn the know-how of successful salespeople who have walked this path before."

Jung started his career in sales in April 2011. He said, "I briefly worked handling payroll for sales staff at Hansol Oak Valley Resort. Seeing the top one or two earners there making so much money, I thought, 'Could I do sales too?' I got close to them, and then I was encouraged to join Sono (then Daemyung Resort), where I was told I could do well, so I started."

The beginning was not smooth. Jung’s first monthly salary was 600,000 KRW. He recalls that the salary at the time was basically just enough for transportation and meals. Jung said, "For about a year after joining, I worked overtime alone almost every day, familiarizing myself with membership sales products and learning reservation system know-how. When I came to Sono, I had 5 million KRW in hand, and I endured with that."

Last year, Jung earned an annual salary of 700 million KRW. He has maintained his position as number one since 2016. He credits his transformation from an unpaid worker to a high-income earner to his ‘routine.’ Jung records all calls and text messages from the day before ending each day. He explained, "In sales, there are many calls and text messages every day, especially inquiries about reservations or meetings. Since I’m likely to make mistakes, I write everything down. Doing this daily has made note-taking a basic routine." The result of this routine is his customer database (DB). Over eight years, he has organized information on about 4,000 customers.

Another key to his success is consistency. Jung has maintained his membership in the business breakfast networking group ‘BNI’ for 13 years. He also participates in several other long-standing groups, though he admits he plans to reduce these gradually. Additionally, he has been sending weekly leisure industry trend reports to customers for 12 years. He said, "By not being lazy every day, every week, and every month, I have come this far."

Jung also expressed pride in Sono. He said, "Sono is no longer a mid-sized company but is becoming a large corporation. The chairman has been involved in various businesses, but the best thing he did was change the company’s brand name." Sono is the brand name that replaced Daemyung in 2019. Jung said, "When I do sales, I tell people that the name was changed because they want to franchise the Sono brand worldwide. As someone introducing a company going global, I often think, 'The company has done a great job branding itself.'"