14 September 2020

018 Making the Most of Losing Clients due to COVID (with Nayaz Noor)

We speak with inbound tour operator Nayaz Noor from 39 Degrees South about how he is making the most of losing 100% of his clients due to COVID19.

A Wharton School of Business Alumni, (University of Pennsylvania, USA) Nayaz has over 35 years of experience in the travel & tourism industry, working for Travel Agencies, Airlines and Tour Operators in India, Middle East and the USA.

Key learnings:

Moved to the USA in 1990, then moved back to India and started his business
Circa 2010 visited and fell in love with Melbourne
Perseverance and following through were values that kept Nayaz going with major challenges starting out his business, Safir Tours
Researching places to sell: do it, learn it, and sell it
Realised there will always be more ongoing competition and started focusing on niche products and how to differentiate themselves from competitors
Started the process of rebranding in 2019 from Safir Tours to 39 Degrees South
March 15, 2020, was the total turning point for his business due to Australian PM’s declaration of travel bans.
Enrolled in Deakin University to get out of comfort zone and challenge himself and do something to give back to the tourism industry, which was cybersecurity.
Being hacked is not if, but when.
Protecting yourself online: create a complicated password, 2-factor authentication, be aware of people looking to take advantage of you.
Mumbai Mission was the ah-ha moment for Nayaz when he realised that he had a cricket group booked without even selling
Understand who you’re selling before you start selling
Risk management and back up: Focus resources in the right direction NOW. Learn and do something different. Reskill NOW.
Personal habits: Must write down what you’re going to do that day (the night before or the morning of) no matter how mundane.
Helpful resource: Harvard Business Review, TED, Radio Garden, How Will You Measure Your Life