Mark Giles Interview

Today, Ben Berry-Smith had the pleasure of sitting down with our chairman Mark Giles, and posed a few questions to him about leadership and getting the most out of technology. Here are some of the key takeaways.

1. What are some common struggles that businesses are facing in NZ?

Kiwi businesses are faced with challenges in post Covid New Zealand, not because of COVID decisions, but simply because people are working from home a lot more. In the Auckland CBD you see a lot of empty offices. Flexible working has changed the way we work and this requires an adaptive approach.

“There’s just a different way of doing business, and it’s actually a better way of doing business”.

Other than recession and the change of government cycle, and the OCR – we need to ask ourselves,  how do I make money, and how do I look at things differently.

Mark says you have to be looking at ways to diversify your go to market strategy, and often in bigger companies that means a different route to market.

Businesses can look at utilising third parties, distributors and service providers, but they also need to be conscious of the margin mix, and making sure they’re not giving it all away.

2. What is the most underutilised technology?

Plainly put – CRM – but not just CRM for CRM’s sake – there are too many sales teams and businesses out there putting structured data into a CRM that nobody goes back to, and nobody uses.

“How do we capture, how do we delight, how do we deliver to a customer? Done simply that’s what it’s all about”.

It’s important to look at the data and processes and consider what you’re really trying to achieve.

Many businesses are under utilising the functions of their CRM, particularly in regards to data insights and automating workflows by integrating them with their other business applications.

3. Any advice for business leaders?

“CEOs are faced with so many different challenges that often they’re losing sight of their own business.”

Stay close to your customers and your staff – wander around and speak to your people, understand what it’s like to do the job & to deal with your business from a customer’s perspective.

“Who is your customer? What are your value propositions? If you can’t espouse your value proposition then you’re too far removed.”

If you’d like to chat about any of these topics, get in touch with Ben Berry-Smith or call on 021376313.