Janne Peltonen

• +786% — Revenue Growth Online
• 30-70% — Product Profitability (EBIT %), Starting Point: 10%

A B2B company in the certification, training, and consulting services field had a growth strategy. Despite its efforts, the company battled slow growth and low profitability.

Things started to turn around when the company leaders made the strategic decision to digitalize the business. The company put offline services online and started selling the services (as products).

I had the privilege of contributing to the business’s transformation after conducting due diligence and recognizing its significant potential for growth. When the company started its transformation, I handled online sales and marketing. I implemented two initiatives to deliver sales online: one central marketplace to sell the company’s products and proper measurement in the web store and across channels (important keys to scaling up the sales with digital advertising).

I developed an automated marketing process and established a new digital advertising presence for the company, which accounted for the vast majority of online sales over the course of five years. The system I created will continue to deliver and bring in new customers over and over again for many years to come.

Digital advertising became a major driver of new product sales online and boosted the company’s total sales. With a total of 36 new products launched and promoted, we moved as quickly as possible for a small company with limited resources. We became one of the top-selling companies in this market. We became #1 in market share with the market’s best-selling product.

Sales reached high volumes, considering that we operated in a small country with a 5.5 million population (e.g., the United States is 63 times larger). Approximately 77,000 products were sold directly online. Two products reached 7-figure direct sales online, 16 reached 6-figure direct sales online, and 18 reached 5-figure direct sales online. Online sales increased product sales 8.9 times (786%). The operating profit (EBIT) margin increased from 10% to 30-70% (3-7 times higher), depending on the product type.

• 21.3% — Monthly Growth Rate
• €725,000 — Direct Online Sales Revenue (First 12 Months)
• €1 Million — Direct Online Sales Revenue (First 16 Months)
• €1.5 Million — Direct Online Sales Revenue (First 24 Months)
• €2 Million — Direct Online Sales Revenue (First 29 Months)
• €2.5 Million — Direct Online Sales Revenue (First 35 Months)

A small B2B company was training customers offline in a traditional classroom setting. However, the company’s number-one selling flagship training was suddenly halted and banned due to the pandemic, which triggered the company’s need to relaunch and sell the training as an online live training.

I executed digital marketing for the new service product. I was responsible for delivering online product sales.

The strategic approach was to build awareness through top-of-funnel “performance-branding” campaigns, with a clear purpose of driving purchases (dual goal). We also aimed to capture search engine traffic (non-brand and increasing brand searches) with middle-of-the-funnel/”pure performance” campaigns. We also utilized remarketing across all selected channels for the bottom of the funnel.

We achieved rapid sales growth through effective advertising. The product sales remained very stable for the next 3.5 years. Scaling sales online improved the company’s bottom-line profits. This had an even bigger impact on profitability: the company’s profit margin (EBIT) improved due to cost-efficient processes in product delivery and more efficient processes in marketing and sales. As a result, we were able to grow sales volumes fast and simultaneously improve the profit margin.

We achieved a monthly sales growth rate of 21.3% for the first 12 months, with an operating profit (EBIT) margin of 33.6% over the three years. The starting point was approximately 10-15%. Product sales reached €725,000 in 12 months, €1 million in 16 months, €1.5 million in 24 months, €2 million in 29 months, €2.5 million in 35 months, and €3 million in 42 months.

Note: We operated in a small market with a population of 5.5 million.

• 29.2% — Monthly Sales Growth (First 12 Months)
• **€227,000 ** — Revenue Generated in 12 Months
• **€500,000 ** — Revenue Generated in 20 Months
• €1 Million — Revenue Generated in 29 Months
• €1.5 Million — Revenue Generated in 38 Months
• €2 Million — Revenue Generated in 50 Months

This small B2B company wanted to grow aggressively in the certification, training, and consulting services field. Despite its various efforts, the company was experiencing slow growth and low profitability.

The company had identified a growth opportunity in online training that its competitors had not yet capitalized on. In addition to sales growth, online training would offer an opportunity to increase a company’s profitability due to its lower cost structure.

A web store was ultimately built to sell the new training products online, and I handled digital marketing and online sales results for the new website.

My approach to generating sales was simple: using a proper analytics set up and a reliable conversion measurement across the channels. That allowed us to run digital advertising more efficiently and scale up the product sales. At that point, the company relied solely on Google Ads and middle-of-the-funnel traffic to generate sales. I asked for permission to add new channels to the mix. I wanted to run top-of-funnel/”performance branding” campaigns to speed up growth. The purpose of “performance branding” was to increase awareness of the new products and drive purchases (a dual goal).

The new data-centered approach with new channels delivered groundbreaking results, considering the limited resources of our small company operating in a small geographic market. We succeeded in earning the trust of clients and end-users who lacked experience in purchasing and utilizing online training in this particular niche. Soon after releasing the new online training, the company became the number-one service provider in the market.

The bottom-line reason for our successful market entry was that we beat the competitors due to our significantly lower cost structure in our business operations. This lower cost structure enabled us to place more aggressive bids to win the bidding wars and secure the sales. We took over the market with this particular product, which gave us the confidence to repeat our recipe with other products later on.

The monthly growth rate (CMGR) was 29.2% for the first 12 months, and the operating profit (EBIT) margin reached 70.1% over a three-year period. That profitability increase was a huge accomplishment for our small company, and it was achieved by efficient processes and automation.