Our Mission is to assist small to medium business owners
to achieve the results they want for their business.
Who is Tony Simpson?
Like a typical Kiwi boy with a desire to leave school and begin working, I left school at 16 and was offered a job as a store-man, with a business that specialised in supplying materials to Architects, Engineers and Surveying businesses in Auckland.
The early days were fun, learning the products and packing orders with a team of guys who enjoyed working in a relaxed atmosphere, but it didn't take long for me to see that this was not something I was keen to do for life.
A natural cheekiness and the lack of fear that youngsters enjoy, I quickly noticed that customers who visited the showroom were left on their own as all the sales Reps were out visiting client’s on-site.
I showed my first use of initiative by becoming a self imposed showroom salesman, by asking plenty of questions and reading a book on sales by Zig Zigler (a great business coach and sales motivator), I quickly realised that sales was a fun process.
Unbeknown to me at the time, the management were watching closely and started to see the benefit of clients being supported with their buying needs, (a sales plan) until this point the showroom was always regarded as a nuisance (every business should treat all client interaction as a potential sales opportunity) as the real sales came from the reps on the road.
The management decided that this young guy might be onto something and told him if he wanted to continue in this role then he would have to dress appropriately, so gone were the T-Shirts and jeans.
And so my sales career began, over the next six months I took showroom sales from $20,000 a month to $70,000 per month.
Where to next, “Goals”, the sales manager and I were having a coffee discussing goals, the subject of what did I want to do next came up, this was easy, I wanted to be a Sales Rep, now my motivation didn't have anything to do with career enhancement, at this stage I was 17 and a company car was my motivation.
So goals needed to bet set, this was my first understanding of the principal of setting objectives to achieving goals, to begin with we had identified that I wanted a the use of a free car… so to achieve this what would I need to do, firstly demonstrate that I was mature enough to be a salesperson along with actual sales results (at this stage I had only been showroom selling for 2 months, so I started keeping a record of sales made) I couldn't do anything about age, so I decided to replace it with the right attitude ( Harvard business school have conducted studies that show 80% of what it takes to be a great salesperson is attitude – admittedly I didn't know this at the time – so lucky guess)
The reality is once I had realised I had a goal that I wanted to achieve, I was able to break it down into achievable objectives, to then set targets that would allow me to be successful, 6 months later I had increased sales to over $70,000 per month and when it came time for a new salesperson, I had demonstrated that I had the right attitude to be given a chance.
In 1991 the business I was working for decided to make a strategic change in their approach to the industry, until now we were importers – wholesalers and direct to market suppliers, in the interests of developing stronger relationships with their distributors the decision was made to change the business focus.
Two new businesses were created from this and I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to help create a new business with a shareholding promise, interesting lesson here, it doesn't matter if your young or old, if the people you are dealing with demonstrate a perception of trust or not – always get it in writing.
From 1991 to 1995 I worked in the business as hard as any other shareholder, our industry was changing rapidly as computer technology and availability was moving quickly, we had developed excellent relationships with our clients and we were constantly striving to improve every area of our business to the benefit of our clients.
Towards the end of this time I had matured sufficiently to challenge the fact that I had promised much, had delivered plenty and received little, especially in the promised opportunity for shares. There were other changes happening at this stage, it ended with myself and another founding employee buying the shares from one of the partners, leaving behind the resentment of lost shares and focusing on future opportunities.
This change coincided with new technological advances, which we quickly became national leaders in the computer aided design arena. We grew from strength to strength and at one stage we were responsible for approx 80% of Hewlett Packard’s sales in this area.
We considered various growth opportunities one of which was merging with the original company we had come from, this was finalised in 1997 and I now made the switch from partner to shareholder, quite a different challenge.
In the next year was fortunate to learn from senior businessman in the business and also some international investors, it was during this process that I started to be more interested in the business and less in the products, I was developing a model in my mind that could be used in any business, it focused on having quality products and solutions complimented by highly valued staff with clear objectives of their roles and the expectations of management, finally it delivered results that left clients choosing to business with this company.
This resulted in me questioning my position in the business, were we living up to the model I wanted to be associated with? The answer was no and as a shareholder (a young one at that) I had no real opportunity to change what I felt was a draconian business model, staff were being treated as numbers, with unfair under resourced expectations, the products were compromised for margin – meaning that it wasn't necessarily the best solution sold, but the one that had the best margin, ultimately this means the clients are not getting the best solution they can, the big question I was asking of myself was, am I doing business with integrity? Can I change it?
The reality was that I was not in a position to change the direction of the other shareholders, so I resigned and sold my shares, at the time the decision was scary, as this was the only industry I had ever worked in, but I had a plan.
1998 was in hindsight the beginning of my Business Coaching career and my first client was I. When I coach my clients now I use similar methods to what I did back in 1998, my first task was to identify what role I would be playing in the business and these included;
Shareholder
Director
Manager
Worker
Sales & Marketing – entrepreneur
Most business people when they start and even once their business is established have difficulty understanding their roles and giving the right attention to each role. By having the time to analyse my new venture I was able to create a blueprint that I could follow, I know use this to coach business owners to the same success.
The reason I was starting a new business in a very new industry was because I have an entrepreneurial nature, a great natural asset, but one that needs to managed – not suppressed – managed. I needed to make sure the manager component didn't suppress the opportunities but nurtured them instead, another hugely important component is the worker, this also needs to managed carefully, as you can busy but not always productive.
The balance is critical as the shareholder in you is expecting a return on his investment and the director wants to make sure that you are heading in a direction that will please the shareholder.
I was one of the first specialist Large Format Digital Bureaus in New Zealand, others were offering solutions to niche areas, but I decided to target Advertising Agencies, as each of these has numerous clients that needed my solution, so by targeting an initial 10 to 20 agencies, I would have reach to approx 150-300 businesses.
By doing it this way I wouldn't need a massive sales force and this way I could focus on quality relationships with industry professionals.
I started with one machine that could print a 2 meter drop in 45 minutes, I developed systems for sales processes – Jobbing processes – production processes – quality control & post sale, by following my own processes I was as “the worker” to be highly productive, this allowed me time as the manager to manage the processes, negotiate with suppliers, cap overheads etc.
The entrepreneur in me had sufficient time to plan and dream, but had to present the manager a business case for expansion in technology or new markets, the entrepreneur had his ear to the ground, surveying clients and looking for innovative ways to improve the business offer.
When I sold the business in 2005, we were regarded as the best in the business, we had 14 machines that could print those 2 meter drops in 3 minutes instead of 45 minutes, with a higher quality finish, we operated a 24 hour night shift service that enabled us to meet deadlines that others couldn't and we were highly profitable.
The success came from planning, measuring, testing, and tuning, then repeating the process again and again.
You cannot improve something that you do not measure. I had a dedicated team of workers who loved the atmosphere, they new their roles and never had to assume what was required, this resulted in a workplace that was efficient and fun.
During the time that I owned the business I was constantly looking for opportunities to add value to my services, which would ultimately add value to my clients, I built another business along side this one and I often use it as a test case now, to demonstrate how you can manage sales patterns.
Since I sold the business I have been involved in up skilling my own business knowledge in various ways, I am a licensee of RIBI, which is an international organisation for business consultants and coaches, who work independently but want to share resources, for their and their clients benefit.
I am also a shareholder in an on-line solutions business, which is a licensee of Zeald.com; this enables me to offer world-class on-line solutions to my clients and independent clients.
It doesn’t matter if I am coaching a business start-up, a mature established business or the Cricket and Rugby teams that I coach, the principals are the same and the enjoyment with being involved in something, or people that have succeeded with my help is priceless.
If your business is looking to improve, regardless of what you do, do something.
Every moment you spend working on your business will help your business succeed, visit some of the links below for help and inspiration.
Contact Us now for a free, no obligation Business Development Meeting
Offering you and your business success by working smarter not harder
