Business Channel November 2012

CELEBRATING BUSINESS EXCELLENCE

AUCKLAND NORTH

BUSINESS AWARDS AWARDS AW WARDS

SU P R

Inside

10,450

Finalist interviews

with the Award Winners & Finalists

10,450 copies posted and distributed to Businesses north of the harbour Bridge.

November 2012 - Issue 9

2012 2011

E M E WINNER

Out & About on Business

on the Shore The Business Channel is published bi-monthly, 5 issues a year – March, May, July, September and November.

Published and printed by

Recreational Services We uncover the full award-winning story

Feature Columns

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Building & Construction With Phil Brosnan

Phil Brosnan is the managing Director of North Shore based company, Brosnan Construction. Since setting up Brosnan Construction in 2010, the company has built up a strong team of qualified individuals who working collaboratively and are focussed on ‘making a positive difference’. The team at Brosnan Construction understand the importance of strong relationships, quality, and reliability within the industry and have been able to deliver results by thorough application of these principles to all of their work.

Phil Brosnan

Last Planner

measuring the success of projects In my last column I discussed my involvement in the Construction Clients Group and in this edition I’d like to discuss the reasons for my involvement.

During 2004 I was involved in a project on Massey University’s Albany campus when I came across an organisation called Constructing Excellence New Zealand. This organisation was born out of United Kingdom’s Constructing Excellence which is an organisation that was developed under government sponsorship in response to an ever degrading construction industry. Both organisations focus on best practice, collaboration and waste reduction, both environmentally and economically.

I was attracted to this organisation because one of the services they offered was collecting information on the construction industry’s performance, both qualitative and quantitative. This data could then be used to manage construction teams, comparing them with other teams not only inside an organisation but also with New Zealand’s and the United Kingdom’s industry. I latched on to this as I could see the benefits for continuous performance, marketing and performance management.

There is a national data collection for construction project performance so if you have construction projects carried out for you, your involvement in this would be welcomed. In return you would be provided with feedback on how your projects line up against the national data.

This introduction had really wet my appetite for what I call ‘Best Practices,’ sparking a life long quest for continuous improvement and it taking me around the globe to see what some of the world’s best were doing. I visited many projects around the world including the $US4b Venetian Project in Macau and Heathrow’s £4b Terminal 5 projects.

I saw some great examples of how to do it right, how to break down the barriers that exist in construction teams and how to create a collaborative

I saw some great examples of how to do it right, how to break down the barriers that exist in construction teams and how to create a collaborative working environment. working environment.

Aside from the measurement tools that I picked up, one of the greatest tools that I was introduced to was a management process called Last Planner which was developed in the petrochemical industry in the USA. This was developed by two project managers, tired of being let down by poor performing contractors. It focuses on production and collaboration and in my experience it is one of the most valuable planning tools available. In my view it is one of the reasons why we are able to complete projects faster than most of our competitors, making us much more cost effective for our clients and profitable for our shareholders.

Last Planner is a tool that can be used in many situations so if you are focused on productivity it might be right for you.

If you would like to measure the success of your projects or that Last Planner might be of benefit to your business, give me a call for a chat.

Contact: Phil Brosnan, Brosnan Construction, Phone: (09) 479 4347, Email: enquiries@brosnanconstruction.co.nz.

www.brosnanconstruction.co.nz Issue 9 - November 2012

The Business Channel

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Out & About On Business On The Shore

Westpac Auckland North Business Excellence Awards A big crowd gathered at North Harbour Stadium on Friday October 26th for the Westpac Auckland North Business Excellence Awards. Channel magazine joined in on the pre-dinner drinks. All the winners are detailed in this issue of The Business Channel.

Anita Evans, Kim Hawkins, Earle Dodd, Jade Murison.

Colleen Tilson, Stephen Tilson, Fred Keating, Bob Aylward.

Andrew Thomson, Brenda Thomson, Leanna Covacich.

Michael and Kelly Warton, Jane and John Hartmann.

Antony Barton, Earle Dodd, Kerri Jenden, Patrick Jenden, Lionel Stone.

Wayne Voss, Jude Simpson, Ken Simpson.

Andrea Tibbotts, Brett Tibbotts, Riaan WIlson, Winita Wilson.

Fleur Clough, Lisa Hill, Leanda Spilling, Laura Keown, Jo Cowell.

Linda Flanagan, Diana Hinton, Cameron and Denise Parr, Nick Genet, Nicola Hill, Warwick Sisson, Hayley Ellwood.

Linda Mann, Emma Fairchild.

Kelly Thorn, Maria Teplykh.

Chris and Alex Hart.

We provide quality management that is accountable, transparent and reliable for worry free ownership of commercial property...

Bridget McMullen, Nigel Perkins.

- Wayne Wallace, Ash Barekh, Amit Diuuan.

“we maximize your property’s potential”.

total environment management solutions Ray and Ronda Sheath, Lionel Stone.

Commercial Property Managers Brand Property Solutions Ph: 09 443 8601 info@brandproperty.co.nz www.brandproperty.co.nz

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The Business Channel

Land Development Consultants Project Managers -

Issue 9 - November 2012

Bruce Taylor, Judy Taylor, Ross Keith.

Out & About On Business On The Shore

Takapuna Beach Business Association BMW Evening Benefitz, publishers of Channel Magazine, were the sponsors of the Business Meeting Wednesday (BMW) function held at Jerry Clayton BMW on Wednesday October 3rd. The excellent speaker was Mike Stanley, New Zealand Olympic Committee Chairman and CEO of Millennium Institute of Sport & Health, who spoke about the London Olympics, high performance sport and the importance of the National Ocean Watersports Centre that's proposed for Takapuna Beach.

Roy Richardson, Ben and Liam Wiltshire, Blake Douglas .

Mike Sheehy, Geoff Bonham, Fred Brown.

Graeme Conning, Linda De Vine.

Glen Marsh, Mark Jackson, Russell Ness.

Judith McCorkindale, Gill Staker, David Martin.

Isaac and Mercedes Goldsmith.

Glen Marsh, Mike Stanley, Peter White.

Viv Popplewell, Lester de Vere.

Craig Sutherland, Ali Yildiz.

Martin Richardson, Ron Sadler.

Jared Trice, Rob Gunston, Lee Darby, Nicky Malcon.

Tracy O'Connell, Terry Holt.

Rhys Lloyd, Debbie Campbell, Robert Johnson.

Gareth Wheeler, Kelly Larson, Murray Lockwood, Matt Davison.

Issue 9 - November 2012

The Business Channel

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Out & About On Business On The Shore

Brekky with the Hon. Paula Bennett Waitakere MP the Hon. Paula Bennett, The Minister for Social Development and Employment, and Minister of Youth Affairs, was the entertaining speaker at local North Shore MP Maggie Barry’s October Breakfast held at the Takapuna Boating Club on Friday October 26th. Bennett covered a wide spectrum of topics relating to her challenging portfolios, including her energetic work on the White Paper for Vulnerable Children.

Maggie Barry, Hon Paula

Bennett.

Lesley Monk, Annie Greenheld, Adele Lendich.

Tony Hannifin, Max Russell.

Sue Stanaway, Monika Miller, Karen Chhour.

Carol Gilligan, Joy Still, Bill Still, Alan Gilligan, Diana Bennetts.

Diana Maher, Peter Maher, Marianne Stevens, Peter Stevens.

Michelle and Peter Wall, Hon Paula Bennett.

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Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) North Auckland Regional Awards

YES Male Entrepreneur of the Year Matt Hanson with his proud parents.

YES Company Of The Year, Sector Solutions from Takapuna Grammar School – Paul Symes, Liam Chelley (middle), Harriet Marie.

YES Female Entrepreneur of the Year Sinead Grady-Jones with her step Mum Shari Turton.

Takapuna Grammar team wins top Young Enterprise Award The Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) North Auckland Regional Awards were held at Massey University Albany Campus on Tuesday October 23rd celebrating Auckland’s next wave of entrepreneurial talent.

YES is a national initiative which is co-ordinated in Auckland by Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED). It teaches secondary school students how to form a company, write a business plan, raise capital, and produce and market actual products and services to the public. Students have been working on their businesses throughout the year.

For the finals, YES teams from North Auckland schools were competing against each other to represent the North Auckland Region at the National Awards held in Wellington in early December.

Company Of The Year, Takapuna Grammar’s ‘Sector Solutions’ will be flying to Wellington on December 4th to battle it out for the title of National Company of the Year. They will be joined by ‘Kosmo’ of Kingsway School who have won a National Excellence Award. Matt Hanson of Kingsway School (and CEO of Kosmo) is one

of five finalists for the National Managing Director Award. ‘INCYT’ of Westlake Boys High School were also honoured with a Highly Commended National Award for their written annual report.

Hilary Robotham, one of ATEED’s YES Regional Co-ordinators, says the Regional Awards “are the pinnacle event of the year for our students.”

“We host four award events across Auckland. North, Central, West and South. These events are a fantastic celebration of the students’ incredible efforts and commitment to the success of their first businesses. All students are invited to attend their respective events, along with their teachers, mentors and supporters and interested members of the public.“ Winners of this year’s North Auckland Awards were:

Company Of The Year Sector Solutions – Takapuna Grammar School They received $1200 cash, an all expenses paid trip to Wellington for two representatives, a $2000 Massey University scholarship per student and potential access to a further $5000 scholarship per student.

Runner Up Company Of The Year Kosmo – Kingsway School Received $800 cash and potential access to a $5000 scholarship per student.

Young Entrepreneur’s Of The Year ($1500 each) Sinead Grady-Jones – Orewa College - Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Matt Hanson – Kingsway School.

Excellence in Business Management Award Auxil Designs – Rangitoto College INCYT – Westlake Boys High School.

Excellence in Sustainability Award Lumiere – Takapuna Grammar School.

High Growth Potential Award Sector Solutions – Takapuna Grammar School.

Most Inspiring YES Teacher Award Mrs Sewter – Kingsway School.

Excellence in Innovation Award Urban Development – Takapuna Grammar School.

Excellence in Commitment Awards Kosmo – Kingsway School Breakstone – Kingsway School Lumiere – Takapuna Grammar School Sector Solutions – Takapuna Grammar School Auxil Designs – Rangitoto College.

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Issue 9 - November 2012

In The Business Channel

Inside this is sue…

1 2 6

Aidan Bennett.

Welcome to our November 2012 issue of The Business Channel. We love putting this awards issue together. It gives our team the opportunity to work with some outstanding businesses and people.

The annual Westpac Auckland North Business Awards Gala Dinner is a big occasion for the business sector north of the Harbour Bridge. Some fantastic businesses were celebrated at the event held at the North Harbour Stadium on Friday October 26th.

So a big congratulations to Recreational Services, who became the first business to win the supreme award on two occasions. They first won it back in 2000. Our feature writer Catherine Murray was despatched to their Silverfield head office in Glenfield to bring us the Recreational Services story which is a neat one. Catherine has also done excellent profiles on two other high achieving category winners at the awards, Federation Clothing and Spark Dental. You’ll enjoy these pieces as well.

It was a thrill for me to do profiles on two other category winners, Partners Life and DogHQ. These two businesses are obviously quite different but the common denominator is that they are run by passionate people who really enjoy what they are doing. I hope you enjoy reading my articles about these two thriving local businesses.

There is lots of other reading in this issue as well. Interesting pieces provided by industry specialists offering information and advice on a wide range of business-related topics such as Building and Construction, Management, Governance, Trust Law, Commercial Property, Accountancy, Legal, Training and Development, Freight and Shipping, Intellectual Property Law, Brand Building, Banking, Motoring, Wines, Corporate Apparel and Promotional Items.

Enjoy your November 2012 issue of The Business Channel.

- Aidan and the team at Benefitz Email: aidan@benefitz.co.nz Twitter: @AidanLBennett / @channelmag

The BUSINESS CHANNEL is printed five times a year by Benefitz, PO Box 33-1630, Takapuna. Telephone 09 477 4700, www.benefitz.co.nz. The opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily the views of the publishers. For further details on the magazine please contact one of our team detailed below.

Building & Construction With Phil Brosnan Out & About On Business On The Shore Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) North Auckland Regional Awards 8 ATEED News 9 Mastering The Art Of… Dealing With Difficult People 11 Westpac Auckland North Business Awards 2012 12 Westpac Auckland North Business Awards 2012: Supreme Winner Profile – Recreational Services Ltd (Supreme Winner and Babcock Excellence in Leadership Award) 14 Westpac Auckland North Business Awards 2012: Winner Profile – Partners Life (RSM Prince Excellence in Strategy and Planning Award and the EcoPro Cleaning Best Emerging Business Award) 16 The Alternative Board: Successful business owners know who to talk to 18 NZRPG & Milford Centre: in the Community 19 News 19 Talking Trusts: Tammy Mcleod, Davenports 20 North Harbour Club: News Supplement: Colliers North Shore Commercial and Industrial Selection 33 Accountancy Beyond The Numbers With Hayes Knight 34 The Legal Column With Schnauer & Co 35 Training & Development With David Forman 36 International Freight & Shipping With Oceanbridge 37 News 37 Intellectual Property Law: with with Ruth Skinner, Davenports 38 Westpac Auckland North Business Awards 2012: WINNER PROFILE – Federation Clothing Ltd (Simpson Western Small Business of the Year Award) 40 Westpac Auckland North Business Awards 2012: Winner Profile – Spark Dental Technology Limited Massey University Excellence in Innovation and Improvement Award) 42 Westpac Auckland North Business Awards 2012: Winner Profile: DogHQ Limited (Mitre 10 Excellence in Customer Engagement Award) 44 News: Davenports Harbour News 45 The Brand-building Column with Creative HotPot 46 Banking with BNZ 49 Motoring: with Albany Toyota 50 Wines With Liz Wheadon, Glengarry Wines 51 Corporate Apparel and Promo Items: Davis Doherty Corporate Apparel Superstore 54 Upcoming Events & Important Dates

Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development Ltd www.ens.org.nz / Ph (09) 354 0059.

Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development Ltd is an Auckland Council organisation, which incorporates the business of Enterprise North Shore and a number of other development agencies.

For further information please go to www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

Aidan Bennett Publisher/Advertising

Ulla Bennett Advertising/Photographer

Jared Trice Graphic Designer

DDI: 477 4701 Cell: 021 500 997 aidan@benefitz.co.nz

Cell: 021 411 667 ulla@benefitz.co.nz

DDI: 477 4707 jared@benefitz.co.nz

Dustin Bisschoff Web Designer/Manager DDI: 477 4711 dustin@benefitz.co.nz

The entire content of this publication is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without the prior permission, in writing, of the copyright owner. Colour transparencies & manuscripts submitted are sent at the owner’s risk; neither the publisher nor its agents accept any responsibility for loss or damage. Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, the publisher can accept no liability for any inaccuracies that may occur.

Issue 9 - November 2012

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ATEED News

International business congress comes to Auckland Hundreds of international business leaders will assemble in Auckland next month for the World Business Capability Congress.

A message from Chris...

Welcome to an extra special Business Channel magazine – the November business awards edition.

The Westpac Auckland North Business Awards is an important highlight of the year for ATEED and the local business community. The winner announcements at last month’s Gala Dinner were the culmination of months of behind the scenes work from the ATEED organising team, the evaluators and judges, the sponsor team and of course the businesses that spent time and energy compiling their entries.

It’s fantastic to see so many people get behind the awards process. It is a magnificent way to celebrate and inspire success within the Auckland North region – which is beneficial to the long term health and well being of the local business community, as well as Auckland as a whole.

It’s so inspiring to see the number of organisations in this part of the city that are innovating, embracing new technology, exporting, running niche businesses and making a success of what they do.

It’s a fundamental reason people start businesses.

Many of this year’s entrants are telling us of the benefits they have seen in their business simply by filling out the entry form. Whether it’s the time spent thinking about the business strategically, identifying where the business needs to improve, or the bonus of engaging the whole team to brainstorm the entry – the benefits are being felt right across the businesses which entered.

As you read about this year’s winners, cast your mind to your own business. Could it be your turn next year?

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The three-day congress featuring world-class speakers and presentations will focus on important business areas including leadership, strategy, customer focus, measurement, knowledge management, human resource focus, and process management.

As a major sponsor of the congress, Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) is encouraging local businesses to attend.

“To create a robust business that will survive changing economic climates it’s important to constantly improve performance,” says ATEED’s Manager Business Capability and Local Offices, Smina Vanlerberghe. “One way to do that is to implement proven international ideas and initiatives so you are ready to face changing conditions including technological advances and cultural changes.”

“The global market is of vital importance for Auckland businesses, whether they are looking to export or import. This powerful global congress could assist local organisations to see the benefit of building their own performance to face future business challenges,” says Ms Vanlerberghe.

As well as hearing from motivational and inspirational speakers including Cyndi Laurin, Rob Oram, Tim Bean and Robert C. Camp, the congress will also feature more than 30 presentations from organisations competing to win the first International Best Practice Competition. Businesses are still eligible to enter this prestigious new competition.

For more information and to enter the International Best Practice Competition visit: www.worldbusinesscapabilitycongress.com

Win tickets to the World Business Capability Congress If your SME wants to attend this exciting business event, enter the associated Best Practice Competition and you will receive a free double pass to the three-day conference.

Entering is easy, just describe what your business does to ‘best practice’ standard. It could be a managerial practice, process, system or initiative – whatever you are proud to share with other organisations.

So far more than 30 entries have been accepted from around the world and the entry deadline has been extended so that more local entries can be submitted.

Happy reading, Chris.

The next stage in the competition is an eight minute presentation at the Congress on the 6 December, when the winners will be selected.

Acting Manager Business Growth – North

To enter visit: www.worldbusinesscapabilitycongress.com

The Business Channel

Issue 9 - November 2012

Mastering The Art Of… Dealing With Difficult People

Mastering the art of…

dealing with

difficult

people We’ve all worked with people who are hard to understand or get along with, and every office seems to have at least one difficult personality.

You know the type: they’re always defensive about their work, constantly argumentative, manipulative or just plain annoying. But how do you work with these people without causing more angst?

At the end of the day, most people aren’t really difficult – we just all react and communicate differently. We can’t always chose who we work with, so often we end up working on projects, sitting next to, or even reporting to a manager whose behaviour and attitude is a polar opposite to our own.

The constant head butting and confrontation of working with these people can be exhausting, but there are a few helpful techniques and tips that may help you to manage difficult workmates.

1. C ontrol yourself – The only person whose behaviour we can control is our own. Don’t waste time trying to get others to change how they react, simply manage your own behaviour and reactions.

2. Recognise we’re all different – We all have unique opinions and ways of working. That is what makes life so diverse and interesting. If you can keep this thought in mind, it should be easier to compromise when a difficult person won’t back down. If you can, embracing the differences between colleagues can also be beneficial to the team dynamic.

3. Don’t get emotional – In the case of a disagreement or confrontation, things can get irrational. Try to take the emotion out of the situation and focus purely on the facts and what work goal you are trying to reach.

4. Stay calm – If someone is being difficult they will struggle to maintain this approach if you remain calm. There’s no point ranting at someone who’s not reacting in the same manner. Maintain your composure and they will eventually react accordingly. It doesn’t mean you have to give in to their demands, just create a calm environment so a compromise can be reached.

5. Be objective – Don’t carry ill feeling into a new situation. Just because your colleague has been difficult in the past doesn’t mean every situation will be the same. They may actually be right occasionally!

6. Turn the negative to positive – when having a difficult conversation, try to turn the problem into a solution. For example, if Sally from finance criticises your sales plan, ask her what improvements she suggests. She may have some useful pointers when she’s focused on a solution.

7. N o one likes to feel undervalued – a lot of conflict and difficult situations arise when someone feels their contribution isn’t valued.

Using empathy may help to diffuse any conflict.

8. We all want resolution – as a general rule, everyone wants to resolve a situation. It’s not fun to be in conflict. Keep bringing the conversation back to how you can reach the project goal.

9. Look at yourself – always be aware of how you are behaving. Is it you that’s being difficult?

Remember that life is full of difficult people and so is the workplace.

Putting in the time and effort to master how to work with these individuals could be the answer to a calmer and more productive environment.

Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development offers programmes and services designed to support the growth of your business. For more information visit: www.ens.org.nz or call (09) 354 0059.

Issue 9 - November 2012

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AUCKLAND NORTH BUSINESS AWARDS 2012

Congratulations to our 2012 winners Westpac Supreme Business Excellence Award Winner: Recreational Services Ltd RSM Prince Excellence in Strategy and Planning Winner: Partners Life Babcock Excellence in Leadership Winner: Recreational Services Ltd Mitre 10 Excellence in Customer Engagement Winner: DogHQ Limited Eclipse Recruitment Excellence in Workforce Development Winner: Naturally Organic Ltd 3M Excellence in Sustainable Success Winner: Singh Corporation Ltd Flintfox Excellence in Information Management Winner: Turners Panelbeating and Carpainting 2004 Ltd Massey University Excellence in Innovation and Improvement Winner: Spark Dental Technology Limited Simpson Western Small Business of the Year Winner: Federation Clothing Ltd The EcoPro Cleaning Co Best Emerging Business Winner: Partners Life

Proudly sponsored by

Presented by

BSDE43_181012

Find out more at ateed.co.nz/awards

Westpac Auckland North Business Awards 2012

And the winners are…

The Westpac Supreme Business Excellence Award went to Recreational Services Limited.

The award was presented by Ian Blair of Westpac (left) to Recreational Services Managing Director Brett Turner (right). Also pictured are Recreational Services directors Paul Broom, Keitha Turner and Natalie Turner.

Partners Life picked up two awards on the night. The second award was The EcoPro Cleaning Co. Best Emerging Business Award. Bob Quaid (left) of The EcoPro Cleaning Co. presented the award to Naomi Ballantyne. Also pictured were Naomi’s fellow Partners Life founding directors Chris Coon and Richard Coon.

Ah-Leen Rayner of 3M presented the 3M Excellence in Sustainable Success Award to Raj and Asha Singh of Singh Corporation Ltd.

The RSM Prince Excellence in Strategy and Planning Award was won by Partners Life Limited, the first of their two awards on the night. Lloyd Kirby of RSM Prince presented the award to Naomi Ballantyne, Managing Director of Partners Life.

Supreme winners Recreational Services Limited also picked up the Babcock Excellence in Leadership Award. The award was presented to Brett Turner by Bob Aylward of Babcock.

The Mitre 10 Excellence in Customer Engagement Award went to DogHQ Limited. Mitre 10’s John Hartmann presented the award to Anne Brennan and Louise O’Sullivan of DogHQ.

Turners Panelbeating and Carpainting 2004 Ltd won the Flintfox Excellence in Information Management Award. Tyler Schwalger of Turners accepted the award from Mike Ridgway of Flintfox.

Massey University Excellence in Innovation and Improvement Award was won by Spark Dental Technology Limited.

Ted Zorn from Massey presented the award to Spark Dental Managing Director Paul Weatherly.

Federation Clothing Ltd won the Simpson Western Small Business of the Year Award. Greg Woodd of Simpson Western presented the award to Federation’s Jenny Clegg.

Naturally Organic Ltd won the Eclipse Recruitment Excellence in Workforce Development Award. Neil Thomas of Naturally Organic accepted the award from Lisa Hill of Eclipse Recruitment.

Issue 9 - November 2012

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Westpac Auckland North Business Awards 2012:

Supreme Winner Profi le – Recreational Services Ltd

AUCKLAND NORTH

BUSINESS AWARDS AW WARDS ARDS AW

SU P R

2012 2011

Recreational Services Limited Directors Paul Broom, Keitha Turner, Natalie Turner and Brett Turner. The gifts are their 20th anniversary presents from the staff.

es ic v er S l a n io at Recre E M E WINNER

Building success from the ground up After celebrating their 20th birthday in January of this year, one North Shore business is in the perfect position to reflect on what makes them a success. Founded by Brett and Natalie Turner, Recreational Services are the parks and green spaces specialists.

They provide turf care, assets and facilities management, horticulture and landscaping for parks, sports fields and golf courses, and renovations and development services. A division of Recreational Services is the Sports Surface Design and Management (SSDM) team who provide specialist turf consultancy services to local body and private organisations. It’s a business built on solid foundations, where ‘our people are our difference’ and the word ‘family’ includes every single employee.

Catherine Murray paid a visit to the Directors at their Takapuna office to find out more a week before Recreational Services won supreme honours at the Westpac Auckland North Business Awards making it the first organisation in the awards’ history to claim the prestigious title twice. The company also won the supreme award 12 years ago. On the night they also claimed the Babcock Excellence in Leadership Award.

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Issue 9 - November 2012

Recreational Services is a business established in the grass roots of the North Shore – literally. It was a case of opportunity knocking rather loudly for Managing Director Brett Turner, back in the days when he was a greenkeeper at the Takapuna Golf Club. “The opportunity came a bit out of left field,” recalls Brett. “I was a greenkeeper and I wasn’t really thinking about starting up a business. Two things happened back then – the golf course turf management was being leased out and councils were starting to contract out their work – so there was a huge opportunity. I bounced the idea off a lot of people, and just came to the conclusion ‘why wouldn’t you give it a go?’ First we secured the contract at the Takapuna Golf Course. We still have that contract after 20 years, and with the same guys running it. Next we picked up the then North Shore City Council sports field contract, and we’ve continuously grown, signing new contracts every single year since.”

When the expanding business needed more hands on deck, Brett says it just seemed the natural thing to

(Supreme Winner and Babcock Excellence in Leadership Award)

first turn to family. Paul Broom joined the leadership team in 1994 as the Finance Director, and Keitha Turner shortly after as a Director. The original staff roll of five has expanded to 290, and that number will increase again with the boost in workload over spring and summer. Recreational Services now covers the Far North, Whangarei, Tauranga, Auckland and Masterton, with the North Shore operation of 170 staff responsible for Auckland North – Urban and Rural.

Brett says growing the business, both by geographical locations and services offered, has been a gradual process. “The biggest part of our business is our contracts with councils, and those come up every 3, 5, or 10 years. This would be over 90% of our business. We also continually look at other areas that will help our clients out such as our turf farm, SSDM and our sports field construction team. In addition, schools and golf courses take advantage of our depth of technical skill and systems initially developed for councils.”

With the continuous growth of the business, robust structures and systems are essential, says Finance Director Paul Broom. “Rather than just having the growth happen and then wonder how we’re going to manage it, we’ve always tried to stay ahead of the game. We develop our systems and procedures to ensure that as new areas and services develop we are comfortable with that growth. That’s been very critical in the business.”

It was just three years ago when the Directors decided to alter the structure of the company and appoint Cameron Parr as the General Manager. “With working Directors it can sometimes be a bit hard for the staff who have really grown in their roles. We could almost feel them saying ‘get out of the way!’. So we as Directors still work full time, but we have tried to step aside to let the leadership team come through, and bringing in Cameron has allowed that to happen. We have a great team of senior managers in place now with backgrounds in grassroots, from stadiums to horticulture. It’s not a hard business, from the perspective that when you’re in parks and reserves you’ve really got to want to look after gardens – it is a business you are passionate about. The trick is to hire people that are also passionate and then things seem to tick along quite well!”

‘Keeping it real’ for their valued staff is high on the list of priorities for the leadership team, says Brett. “We don’t like to think of ourselves as a huge company that is unresponsive to what’s happening with our staff. We want to understand what they are going through, from how much work they’ve got on, to how best to work with them. The systems are in place and we are forever trying to get feedback about what’s working, what’s not working, and how we can get everything running better to make their life easier, so they can concentrate on the core part of the business.”

Recreational Services has a commitment to being the company that their competitors want to follow. “We don’t want to be the biggest and we don’t want to take on the world, but we do want people to know that if they hire us they’ll get a quality job,” says Brett. “That’s what it’s all about – keeping on your game and making sure you’re not trumped.”

The past few years have seen business get just that bit harder according to Brett and Paul, with everyone watching closely where and how their money is spent. “Since business has become tougher, the dollar value even for councils is really squeezed. The need to constantly look for efficiencies and improvement in the business is even greater.”

“Business is hard whatever area you are in,” adds Paul. “I think everyone has the same hurdles, whether it’s competitors, technology or legislation. We are all dealing with the same beasts, we are all trying to manage them, and that’s just the reality of business. As they say, if it was easy everyone would be doing it.”

In line with the company’s ethos is their commitment to the community in which they work. There is the BBQ truck that is available for any community group to borrow, and the thousands of drink bottles that are handed out to sports teams throughout the country. Participating in events such as Santa Parades and tree plantings also means the staff have the opportunity to really connect with their community. “The company is

successful, so it’s a bit of a corporate responsibility to give back to the community,” suggests Paul. “If everyone played their part, the community would be a better place. We support everyone in our contract areas whether they’re in the Wairarapa or the Far North. There are lots of parts of the country that struggle for any type of sponsorship.”

Brett believes that as custodians of the community’s environment, they just have to do things right. “We do take our community work very seriously,” says Brett. “Our client’s client is the community and if we connect directly with them, then we get feedback about what we can maybe do just a little bit better.”

In 2004 Recreational Services began working towards the EnviroMark® certification, Landcare Research’s internationally recognised environmental management programme. They have held the Diamond Certification continuously since 2009, demonstrating commitment to the environment in which they work and their constant push for innovation and improvement.

In order to achieve objectives and goals, Brett says the company has a philosophy of little and continuous. “We call it the ‘one percent’. One percent plus one percent plus one percent… it all adds up. You can’t do the big things often, but you can always do a little bit and that’s the philosophy we work on.”

Finalists in three categories of the Westpac Auckland North Business Awards 2012, Brett says the awards provide a valuable opportunity for a company health check. “We went for the awards in 2000 and really enjoyed the process from the point of view that it showed us where our gaps were and what we needed to improve on. We have now been through two of the hardest years with our business and we want to know how we’ve come out at the end of it. Putting together the documents wasn’t an easy task – and it shouldn’t be. You really do need to think about what you are doing with your business.”

Brett considers the awards to be an important recognition of the company’s success to date, made all the more special because the awards are a local accolade. “The North Shore is where we grew up and where we live. You never want to get it wrong in your own backyard – you want to get it right!” www.recreationalservices.co.nz

Issue 9 - November 2012

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Westpac Auckland North Business Awards 2012: Winner Profi le – Partners Life (RSM Prince Excellence

Naomi Ballantyne, Managing Director of Partners Life.

Partners Life

AUCKLAND NORTH

BUSINESS AWARDS AWARDS AW WARDS

2012 2011

WIN NER

More than an overnight success In these soft economic times it is refreshing to hear stories of business success. And success doesn’t come much better than what has been achieved by local Takapuna-based insurance company Partners Life, since they launched in April 2011.

Partners Life were the winners in two categories at the Westpac Auckland North Business Excellence Awards – the RSM Prince Excellence in Strategy and Planning Award, as well as the EcoPro Cleaning Best Emerging Business Award. In just 18 months Partners Life has grown to be a business of 120 people – making them one of the largest employers on the Shore. Growth has also seen the company exceed original expectations, reaching an estimated new business market share of 16.58%, and achieve the number two spot for new business written since opening for business. Aidan Bennett ventured along to the Partners Life Takapuna base in late October to uncover the secrets to their success.

While this business sounds like an overnight success, it has really been 30 years in the making. Partners Life was established by three insurance industry heavyweights: Naomi Ballantyne (Managing Director), Chris Coon (Chief Actuary) and Richard Coon (Director Special Projects).

For the purpose of this article I met with Managing Director Naomi Ballantyne at their offices directly above Jam, one of my favourite cafes in Takapuna. It is somewhat ironic that these are the very same offices from which the trio launched their first insurance company, Sovereign, many years ago. They built that business around the same principles they apply to Partners Life today, before selling it to ASB. They then went on to launch another business they called Club Life that was sold to ANZ. No doubt the industry are saying “they’re at it again”.

Naomi Ballantyne is best described as a lively person to interview. She can talk. It is very obvious that she is passionate about what she is doing, which is probably the not-so-secret ingredient to her personal success. The full impression I formed of Naomi during our 60 minute chat would be that she is lively, passionate, driven, and she looks very fit. She started off pursuing a marine biology degree, but got into insurance as a management trainee with Guardian Royal Exchange when she needed a job, and has stayed in the industry

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ever since. Along the way she was lucky enough to meet Chris Coon, whom she describes as her hero, and the rest is history.

“The reason we are all still in life insurance is that it is a rare business,” explained Naomi Ballantyne, when quizzed about the reasons for starting their third insurance entity. “We love what we do, which is running a business that does good things for people at difficult times of their lives. It is a buzz to get thanked when we make a difference when times are tough. That drives everything for us.”

So what does Partners Life do?

Essentially they offer a range of personal insurance products, including life insurance, income protection, medical insurance, disability insurance, trauma cover and business risk protection. The interesting aspect of the model is that they don’t employ their own sales force. This is the same model that applied to their previous businesses – Sovereign and Club Life.

So why has Partners Life enjoyed such rapid success? Naomi Ballantyne reveals some of the answers.

“We believe that independent advisers are best for the clients. These advisers put demands on us, which is good for everyone. We are comfortable with that. Chris, Richard and I have 25-30 years of experience with the adviser

in Strategy and Planning Award and the EcoPro Cleaning Best Emerging Business Award)

market and they trust us. This is a key aspect of the Partners Life business model. The focus is on rewarding adviser expertise as well as customer loyalty. Essentially advisers are rewarded for identifying when Partners Life products deliver the best solution for their clients. We deliver on our partnership philosophy by giving customers an increasing discount on their premiums. This means that their premiums will always be lower than a new customer who shares the same demographics and has the same mix of benefits and sums insured. This loyalty discount starts 24 months after the policy is taken at 1% and increases every year by 1% until reaching a discount of 10%, which then remains for the life of the policy. And if at any stage they increase their sums insured or benefits, the discount will apply to the new total, not just the initial protection.”

“Providing certainty is another important ingredient. We believe it is essential that the terms and conditions that apply at claim time are at least as good as, if not better for our customers, as the ones that applied when the policy was issued. Our first guarantee is that all of our policy wordings will remain for the life of the contract – including the medical benefit. That means no matter what features and benefits we might restrict or remove for new policies in the future, our customers will retain their specific original policy wordings for as long as they keep their policy in force. We have not retained the right to detrimentally change coverage to suit our future profit aspirations as we simply don’t believe it is fair to do so.”

“Our second guarantee is to retrospectively apply any free improvements or enhancements we may make to future new policies to all existing clients who also have the same benefits on their policies. This means customers can be sure their coverage will remain relevant and competitive over time and that they won’t need to change policies – and potentially be re-underwritten – simply to be treated as well as new clients are.”

“Another very important aspect is our claims philosophy. We’ve included our commitment to our claims philosophy in our policy wordings – this means we are contractually obliged to behave this way. The first key philosophy is - if it’s grey – we will pay. When a claim is received and it’s not clear if it should be accepted or declined, and where no further clarifying evidence is available, we have legally obligated ourselves to accept the claim. In practical terms, this means it is not left to a customer to take legal action to try to prove the claim should be paid. We believe that is a complete imbalance of power and that it is the last thing anyone who is struggling with a distressing life changing event should be doing. We believe it is us, the life company, who should carry that risk – not our customers. The second key philosophy is – being fair and reasonable. Sometimes customers leave out crucial information about their circumstances or health at the time of application. If a claim is made, and this new information is discovered, the insurer legally does not need to pay out any insurance cover. But we think this can be unfair and unreasonable. We have decided that should this happen with one of our clients, we will re-assess the original application as if we had known the correct information at the time.”

A key strategy of the founders was putting together a board of directors for Partners Life of high profile industry people that the market can have absolute trust in. In addition to the three founders, other board members are: Chairman Boyd Klap, QSO/CNZM, a former CEO for Prudential New Zealand and the Life Offices Association; Joanna Perry, MNZM (non-executive Director), Chairman of the Financial Reporting Standards Board for seven years and member of the Securities Commission for 11 years; Sam Knowles, non-executive Director, former founder and CEO of Kiwibank.

Strength is also provided for Partners Life through the relationship they have with their reinsurer, the SCOR Group. SCOR is the fifth largest reinsurer in the world. The Group, which is listed in France, has 44 offices across five continents, with over 3,500 corporate clients across the globe.

For an advertising man like myself, it is pretty obvious that a great deal of thinking and work has gone into the Partners Life ‘brand’: the striking green logo and accompanying strapline, ‘Rewarding Partnership – for life’. This has been led by Marketing Manager Sally Cousins who also sat in on my chat with Naomi Ballantyne.

“We looked at the values of the three founders and wanted to develop a brand around our philosophy of sharing the value we create with all our stakeholders, essentially building a partnership together,” explained Sally Cousins. “We wanted a logo that represented all of these things. We are thrilled with what we came up with in association with the brand developers, Lemonade Design. The logo device represents the idea that the sum of all parts is greater than each on their own – ‘we’ is better than ‘me’, and it also has a distinct New Zealand theme to it.”

90% of the marketing activity of Partners Life is directed towards

Partners Life Directors Chris Coon, Naomi Ballantyne and Richard Coon with one of their two awards they received at the 2012 Westpac Auckland North Business Awards. The awards were the RSM Prince Excellence in Strategy and Planning Award and the EcoPro Cleaning Best Emerging Business Award.

supporting the efforts of the advisers who are the distributors of their products. This is mainly educational marketing and is obviously finding favour as Partners Life are adding around 40 new advisers each month, and still believe there are around 1000 potential advisers yet to come on board. Any other marketing for the brand will be associated with spreading the healthy lifestyle message – such as an association with fitness events etc., with one such event being the DUAL Motutapu - Rangitoto Traverse in March next year, which includes trail running and walking, off-road triathlon, and mountain biking. A charitable foundation, the Partners Life New Zealand Health Foundation, has also been established by the company with the sole aim of helping to improve the health of New Zealanders. Assisting in areas such as healthy eating, children’s health, medical research, and education.

The refreshing message I enjoyed from my chat with Naomi and Sally at Partners Life is that their business still revolves around the need for people to get together and chat face to face. While the internet is a tool they use in business, it is not replacing the personal touch that they believe is still required to do the job properly and provide the right personal insurance solutions for customers.

“Ours is not a one-size-fits-all product,” says Naomi Ballantyne. “We leave that to other institutions. We believe that there is no substitute for our advisers meeting face to face with customers, providing expertise and advice, and assisting with completing the paper work required. Advisers are hugely important to ensure that customers have the right cover. While online products have their place, it is still a very small part of the market, and those who do it all online are largely under insured. This is reflected in the approximate average monthly premium online being $30, as opposed to the average premium overall being around $200. Advisers are hugely important to make sure the fit is right. Regulations that were introduced in 2010 relating to insurance advisers have also been good for the market and for customers.

While there are now fewer advisers, these regulations have improved things for everybody.”

So the future certainly looks bright for Partners Life. While it is presently a private business, the aim is to float on the sharemarket to help capitalise the fast growing company. Originally 2016 was pencilled in as the timeframe for this but, due to the rapid growth, this may be brought forward. Given the success of previous entities the founders have been involved in, this float is sure to be popular with investors.

As a footnote, Partners Life were encouraged to enter the 2012 Business Awards by Westpac, their bankers. They found it a very worthwhile process.

“It was an excellent process to go through,” explained Naomi Ballantyne.

“It was very good for us to take time out to stop and look at our business as part of the exercise. We are obviously thrilled to be winners in two of the categories. We are proud of what we have achieved in the short time we have been in business.”

Visit: www.partnerslife.co.nz

Issue 9 - November 2012

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The Alternative Board: Successful business owners know who to talk to

The Alternative Board Successful Business owners know who to talk to Since its launch early this year, The Alternative Board has established its own network of company owners all working for each other to make their businesses more successful.

Each month, they meet to discuss in complete confidence, their individual issues and find solutions together.

Our members are continually reminded how so many challenges of differing businesses are actually the same. This means there is usually somebody on your Board who will have experience in the challenges you are facing today.

If you own a business on Auckland’s North Shore, call The Alternative Board today and find out how this growing network can help you.

How it works Monthly meetings: facilitated to a formal agenda and held on the same day of each month to enable each business owner to plan matters to discuss with the Board. Every member of the Board has opportunity to discuss a challenge or opportunity he or she is facing.

Each meeting is confidential within the Board members.

Business coaching: one-to-one with a trained facilitator-who is not there to tell you how to run your business but act as a sounding board and to challenge and stimulate your thinking.

Business Improvement tools: developed over the past 20 years.

Meet some of our members

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Mike enjoys *outside perspective”

Occasionally “amazed” by his Board

Mike Benson, a New Zealander who speaks a language only a few in every country know-that of the electronic engineer.

Mike can go to China or Saudi Arabia and if he met an electronic engineer, they could communicate through the language of their professions.

Mike graduated in science and marketing in Auckland. After some years working for larger companies he started Glyn High Tech Distribution, nine years ago. The company is a Joint Venture between Mike and a European based technology company.

Glyn High Tech serves a range of major brands and is often facilitating development of new products some years before they reach the marketplace.

Mike sees the people in the company as a dedicated Mike Benson. team, consisting of 3 in Albany, NZ, 5 in Australia and 1 in Germany. A combination of effective communication and a successful team in Australia, has allowed Mike, his wife and four children to not be part of the brain drain, running the company from Albany and living in beautiful Matakana.

He joined The Alternative Board to access a forum which could “challenge my thinking”, he said.

“TAB meetings give me an outside perspective from people with different skill sets.

“They also hold me accountable to deadlines between our monthly meetings”, says Mike.

“I have found the meetings very helpful to develop critical thinking and to keep enhancing effective business strategies for Glyn’s future.”

Bruce Rankine spent his early career in finance among in the big name companies in New Zealand and overseas.

His early family life, however, gave him an understanding of family businesses in hardware and importing and he realised his own practise would be a more fulfilling place to offer his skills.

The Bullot and Rankine team in Albany serves a wide and interesting range of clients producing annual sales from a few hundred thousand to over $20 million and Bruce enjoys the varied challenges they offer.

He often serves as a part -time director or CFO for client companies and when he became aware of The Alternative Board, he thought this could be the answer for his own needs in running Bullot and Rankine.

“I was actually thinking of doing something similar myself,” said Bruce. “But when I saw the complete toolkit that had been built up by TAB, I thought I could do much better by becoming a member.”

Bruce said he has been occasionally amazed by the Bruce Rankine.

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Issue 9 - November 2012

An evening with experts Over 30 members and friends of The Alternative Board enjoyed presentations by three experts in their fields on September 27.

Mark Godenho (right) and TAB member, Lee Callow of The London Lolly Shop.

Anne de Bruin

Ludy Colenbrander

Mark Godenho, Creative Director of Radio Network gave his views on the fast-moving technologies of multi-media and social media. He gave insights on their potential as business promotion devices and their general impact on how they are changing our World.

Anne de Bruin, Professor of Economics at Massey University, discussed the different forms of capital created in business, beyond financial. Anne, who has written a number of books on entrepreneurial themes, is the founding Director of the New Zealand Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Research Centre, Massey University.

Ludy Colenbrander, of “Extended Disc,” showed how the use of proven methods to understand how individual employees process their Worlds, can enable organisations to place them in work where they flourish and produce best results for employers. Ludy showed how to avoid placing “square pegs to fit round holes” in staff management.

ideas his new Board has raised.

“I also like the disciplines around our monthly meetings. When you promise to do something by the next Board meeting you look a bit of a mug if you don’t follow up. So that’s good for me to keep my plans on track.

“Our facilitator is very skilled. He subtly but effectively throws down a lot of challenges which get me thinking.”

Talk about a career change!

Buying a business that specialises in cleaning diesel engine fuel, is a giant step away from a long career as a TV producer.

Gordon Legge made that decision three years ago, to build a business that specialises in dealing with new challenges with diesel fuel.

These have been created by Government legislation which required for environmental reasons, the removal of most of the sulphur from our diesel.

The side-effect is that diesel fuel which might be left standing unused in fuels tanks for long periods, can now become an abundant food source for over 100 different living microbes.Sulphur was once the ingredient that prevented the microbes from establishing their home in the fuel.

Left long enough, moisture contamination will provide an environment for microbes to grow and then the the fuel turns to jelly and is unusable, causes big expense in cleaning up tanks, fuel lines and damaged engines.

Gordon sees huge potential in growing Dieselclean but years in a TV editing room hasn’t given him the skills for the work.

“The Alternative Board is where I address issues like this,” said Gordon.

“What have other business owners done when they need to hire in people

TheAlternativeBoard.co.nz P. O. Box 33-904 Takapuna, Auckland, 0740. Tel: 09 215 8433.

Mobile: 021 606 934. Email: sjames@TheAlternativeBoard.co.nz

Can your business benefit from The Alternative Board? Call Stephen James to see how your business can benefit.

Become a Franchisee of The Alternative Board There would be few people who can match Stephen James’ experience in growing the value of business owner equity.

Stephen is currently expanding The Alternative Board through New Zealand by establishing a franchisee network. He has found that elsewhere in the world, business consultants, former senior business executives and people who have previously run their own companies, have the necessary experience for this type of franchise.

As a franchise owner, you will nurture the growth of local businesses.

The Alternative Board has a resource of information, training and proven tools which builds on the experience of each franchisee.

to do the work.?

“You could say I have a classic opportunity to work on my business and not so much in it, because I’m not specifically skilled in it.

“As some of my board colleagues have told me, this is not necessarily a weakness.”

Gordon said the business is well established in the boating industry but New Zealand’s primary industries are New Zealand’s economic backbone and that’s where Gordon Legge. diesel fuel is mostly used.

He said diesel back-up generators in large buildings such as hospitals, are also critical points in society where lives can potentially rely on diesel fuel being kept in top order.

The Alternative Board will also assist Gordon in his decision making around future capital raising to realise the company’s potential.

“The Alternative board is a fantastic concept,” said Gordon. It is so easy for us all to tear around on our own not seeing wood for the trees.”

Issue 9 - November 2012

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NZRPG & Milford Centre: in the Community

Life-defining experience Milford Centre and NZRPG are rewarding talented Youth with a 10-day youth development voyage on Spirit of New Zealand If you know of talented local youth who would love to experience a 10-day Youth Development Voyage on the Spirit of New Zealand, then you should nominate them now. This could win them a life-defining experience.

NZRPG – owners of the fabulous Milford Centre – are inviting nominations for deserving young people, aged 15-18 years old, for an experience of a lifetime. A 10-day Youth Development Voyage on the Spirit of New Zealand.

This is valued at $1800.

About the Spirit of New Zealand 10-day Youth Development Voyages The Spirit of Adventure Trust was established in 1972 to provide the youth of New Zealand access to a character development programme through sail training.

Although described as a sail training organisation, the focus of learning for these young people is on personal skills such as leadership, teamwork and communication. Learning to sail a tall ship is just a small part of the award winning programme.

On the 10-day programme, participants are given equal opportunity to learn and develop from each other skills in communication, leadership, selfdiscipline, resilience, co-operation, confidence and tolerance. 40 trainees aged between 15-18 come from all over New Zealand to share the challenge of 10 days at sea. They leave with a new set of skills, a huge sense of achievement, loads of new friends and the confidence to take on any new challenge put in front of them.

This is what a recent youngster said about their experience… “You know how they say that there are a few life experiences that define you - well this is

one of them. The voyage redefined who I am into a better person”.

Nominate a deserving youngster today… We have loads of talented young people in our community. If you know a deserving youngster then the team at Milford Centre and NZRPG want to hear about them.

All you have to do is send nominations by email with a detailed description of why you feel this person is a positive candidate to receive this sponsorship.

Nominations close on Friday December 7th, 2012 at 5pm. The judges will select five finalists and post these on the website (www.milfordshoppingcentre.co.nz).

It’s then up to the public to vote on who they think is most deserving. Terms and conditions apply. Nominations: By Email to: soa@nzrpg.co.nz (close Friday December 7th, 2012).

WIN A VOYAGE ON THE SPIRIT OF new zealand To celebrate and reward the promising talented of youth in our community, NZRPG (owners of The Milford Centre) are inviting nominations for deserving young people, aged 15-18 years old, for an experience of a lifetime - a 10-day Youth Development Voyage on the Spirit of New Zealand, valued at $1800.

MILFORD Please send nominations to soa@nzrpg.co.nz with a detailed description of why you feel this person is a positive candidate to receive this sponsorship. Nominiations close on December 7th 2012 at 5pm. The judges will select five finalists and post these on the website (www.milfordshoppingcentre.co.nz). It’s then up to the public to vote on who they think is most deserving. Terms and conditions apply.

Terms and conditions: The prize is for a 10 day Youth Development Vouyage on the Spirit of New Zealand. The person you have nominated must be between the ages of 15-18 at the time of taking the voyage. All facts presented in the nomination must be proven to be true should this be requested by the judges. Any falsification of facts presented in the nomination will result in disqualification. Judges decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Nominations must be received by 5pm on December 7th 2012. Judges will select five finalists. They will be posted on the Milford website (www.milfordshoppingcentre.co.nz) where the public can vote for their chosen finalist. Voting will close at 5pm on Wednesday, December 19th and the winner will be contacted by phone. The voyage is subject to availability and must be taken within 12 months of winning. The winner must agree to the use of their name, photograph and nomination story for promotional purposes. The winner is subject to a police and school check. The Spirit of Adventure Trust terms and conditions apply.

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Issue 9 - November 2012

24 Milford Rd, Milford (09) 486-1559 Open 7 days, late night Thursday. Ample free parking www.milfordshoppingcentre.co.nz milford.nzrpg.co.nz

News

Talking Trusts: Tammy McLeod, Davenports This monthly column is provided by Tammy Mcleod (BA LLB), a partner at Davenports Harbour Lawyers. Tammy leads the Davenports Harbour Trust Team and enjoys providing clients with advice and assistance on a broad range of issues involving the establishment and structuring of asset plans, interpretation of trust deeds, duties of trustees and the management and administration of trust funds. A key part of Tammy’s practice is reviewing existing asset holding structures to ensure they achieve the needs and requirements they were established to meet. She is also experienced in Property (Relationships) Act issues and believes that the provisions of the Act are an important consideration in personal asset planning.

Tammy is a past president of the Auckland Women’s Lawyers’ Association and is a current co-convenor of the NZICA Trust Special Interest Group.

Local salon a finalist in national Hairdressing awards Takapuna hair salon, OSCAR&CO, has been named as a finalist in the 2012 Kitomba New Zealand Association of Registered Hairdressers (NZARH) Business Awards in the Shock Consult Salon of the Year – Classic, Images Excellence in Marketing, Wella Fastest Growing Salon, L’Oreal Entrepreneur of the Year, Schwarzkopf Business Stylist of the Year, and Best New Entrant categories.

The awards recognise excellence in business in nine categories plus the Salon of the Year and are sponsored

by Telecom New Zealand, Shock Consult, L’Oreal, Wella, Goldwell, Schwarzkopf, Images Magazine and principal sponsors Kitomba Salon and Spa Software and New Zealand Association of Registered Hairdressers. This year 86 entries were received across nine categories.

Kitomba CEO, Tom Murphy said, “The judges are going to have a hard time separating these finalists. All the entries were of a very high calibre and some of the performance recorded was astounding, given the broader economic conditions. It shows that even in difficult times if you deliver a quality product it is possible to work for love and money.”

NZARH Executive Director, Emma Johnson, said, “Too often excellence in business goes unrecognised in our industry, that’s why these awards are so important. And I’m very pleased that this year we’ve seen salons from around the country reach this stage of the competition.”

OSCAR&CO.’s owner Gene Cooksley said: “I started the salon around a vision of developing a main street, almost ‘fast fashion’, type of hairdressing service, that would make quality hairdressing accessible in the suburbs and it’s gratifying to see those efforts rewarded by being named a finalist in five awards categories.”

OSCAR&CO. opened in December 2010 and Cooksley says the team has focused on remaining current and on-trend in all aspects of the salon’s services and promotions, as well as creating opportunities for young creative hairdressers.

The winners were to be announced at the Industry Awards ceremony on 11th November in the Wellington Town Hall.

Jack, Mary, Anna&Jason

Tammy McLeod.

Jack and Mary had been married for 40 years and had two adult children, Anna and Jason. Jack and Mary had been good savers all their lives and now as well as an expensive house in Castor Bay, they owned a bach at Omaha and a small investment portfolio. Their daughter, Anna was fairly settled, having married and had three lovely children.

Jason on the other hand was what Mary described as a “bit of a ratbag”. Even as a child he had been easily led by his peers, and now, as an adult, was always onto the next thing. Jason had a habit of falling in with the wrong kind and things never turned out for him the way he expected. He had a string of girlfriends, never settling down with any of them, and Jack and Mary had just found out they had a seven year old granddaughter living in Australia, the result of a holiday romance Jason had had.

Jason unfortunately had entered into a series of business transactions with a friend. He hadn’t taken any advice and when things went horribly wrong, the creditors of the company called on the personal guarantees Jason and his friend had unwittingly signed when they signed terms of trade to give their new business lines of credit. As Jason had no assets of his own (other than a rather expensive car on which he still owed the lion’s share of the purchase price), the creditors decided to make Jason bankrupt. Jack and Mary went to their lawyer, concerned for the fate of the assets they wanted to leave Jason if they died. They had no concerns at all regarding Jason being able to provide for his daughter in Australia from any inheritance, but were concerned that if they both died, and if Jason was bankrupt, would that inheritance be protected in their estates?

Their lawyer advised them that the short answer was no. If they both died, anything left to Jason under their wills would be taken by the Official Assignee to pay off Jason’s creditors. While Jack and Mary felt that Jason should pay his debts, they also wanted to make sure that not all of Jason’s potential inheritance would be taken in this way.

Their lawyer recommended that the best way of keeping any inheritance protected for Jason would be to set up a trust, transfer their assets to that trust and leave instructions to the trustees that if they both died, Jason’s share in the trust would be held by the trustees on his behalf until he was discharged from his bankruptcy. And that is what they did – a nice, flexible solution to an otherwise difficult problem.

To ensure you make good decisions like Jack and Mary, contact: Tammy McLeod, Email: tammy.mcleod@davenportsharbour.co.nz or visit: www.davenportsharbour.co.nz

DAVENPORTS H A R B O U R

L A W Y E R S

331 Rosedale Road, Albany. Phone: 915 4380 Email: tammy.mcleod@davenportsharbour.co.nz www.davenportsharbour.co.nz

Issue 9 - November 2012

The Business Channel

19

North Harbour Club: News

2012 AIMES Award Winners Announced

AWARDS

The North Harbour Club and Charitable Trust have been rewarding the young people of the region with Awards for Excellence since 1995.

The awards are called AIMES Awards, with the letters standing for Arts; IT, Innovation and Science; Music; Education; Sport; Service to the Community. They are awarded to young people of the region, aged between 13 and 25 years old. Since the Awards inception close to $1.5 million worth of grants, that accompany each award, have been made.

As well as the main AIMES Awards there are also Emerging Talent Awards made across the AIMES letter sectors.

The 2012 North Harbour Club AIMES Awards were presented at the club’s annual Gala Dinner which was held at the Bruce Mason Centre on Saturday November 3rd.

The overall AIMES Award went to world champion amateur golfer Lydia Ko (15). She also took out the AUT MIllennium Sport Award so received a total grant of $25,000.

2012 AIMES awards winners were:

Lydia Ko.

2012 AIMES Supreme Award and Sport Award ($25,000): World champion golfer Lydia Ko. Lydia, who attends Pinehurst School, began playing golf as a five-year-old and in May 2011, at the age of 14 years and 1 day, became the youngest person to be ranked number one female amateur in the world. The Sport Award is sponsored by AUT Millennium.

2012 AIMES Arts Award ($10,000): Artist Rob Tucker (25). It was whilst he was a pupil at Takapuna Grammar School that Rob discovered a love and talent for Art. Rob is a young Devonport based artist with a passion for creating fresh, contemporary art with vibrancy and colour and has received widespread acclamation. The Arts Award is sponsored by Bruce Mason Centre.

2012 AIMES IT, Innovation and Science Award ($10,000): Neuro-scientist Amy Smith (25). Amy’s love of science grew throughout her school years at Rangitoto College, after having the opportunity to attend the Genesis Research National Science and Technology Forum. She went on to gain a BSc and BSc Honours degree in Biomedical Science at the University of Auckland.

Amy graduated top of her year in both of her BSc and BSc Honours. degrees.

She is currently completing a PhD in the field of Neuroscience for which she has received a Top Achiever Bright Future Doctoral Scholarship, the most prestigious scholarship for PhD study in New Zealand. During her time at University, Amy has been awarded 8 scholarships. This award is sponsored by Massey University.

2012 AIMES Music Award ($10,000): Musician Jason Bae (21). Jason is a past-pupil of Westlake Boy’s High School and, at only 20 years old, is recognised as one of the New Zealand’s top concert pianists. In May this year, Jason was one of 60 contestants, chosen from 170 applicants around the world aged between 16-32, to be invited to compete in the 2012 Dublin International Piano Competition in Ireland. The Dublin International Piano Competition is in the top 5 international piano competitions in the world.

The Music Award is sponsored by Albany Toyota.

2012 AIMES Education Award ($10,000): Doctor Andrew MacDonald.

The recipient of an Emerging Talent award in 2008 and an AIMES Award in 2012, Andrew (who went to Rangitoto College) has an incredible academic record. Throughout his six years at the University of Auckland, Andrew has been one of the top students in his classes. In 2010, he was recognised with the Eric Hector Goodfellow Memorial Prize for the most distinguished academic performance throughout the first two years of medical school and has maintained perfect A+ grades (GPA of 9.0) in all written exams at university. The Education Award is sponsored by Kristin School.

2012 AIMES Service to the Community Award ($10,000): Community/ Youth Ambassador Joe Bergin (20). A past-pupil of Rosmini College, and a recipient of an Emerging Talent Award 2010, Joseph has since given an enormous amount of time and energy to the community. In 2010, he decided to put his name forward for the brand new Auckland Council just as he was in the final year of high school      NOW THE LARGEST AND MOST DYNAMIC SPEAKERS &     and was elected to the Local Board for     Devonport-Takapuna.

ENTERTAINERS BUREAU IN THE SOUTHERN     HEMISPHERE!  





 tocontact Talking Heads ICMI Speakers and Entertainers.

7 reasons     We have 25 years of experience     We staff 18 offices throughout Australasia     We were appointed the official Olympic Bureau by the IOC       Best service/product in the industry (Mice.net magazine 2010) We treat you  as no. 1 and understand your requirements       We have the most dynamic list of exclusive speakers and entertainers

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M: +64 21 555 991

The following received North Harbour Club AIMES Emerging Talent Awards for 2012 (each receiving $5,000): Mattea Mrkusic (17, Community Ambassador); Jeremy Reid (23, Philosopher); Ben Sanders (23, Author); Sarah Mitchell (23, Mechanical Engineer); Teneale Hatton (22, Kayaker and Surf Lifesaver); Petra Bullock (18, Musician); Nick Hall (23, Musician).

Visit: www.northharbourclub.co.nz

20

The Business Channel

Issue 9 - November 2012

Accountancy Beyond The Numbers With Hayes Knight

Matthew Bellingham is a Director at Hayes Knight, an innovative chartered accountancy practice, where he specialises in strategic planning and business improvement. matthew.bellingham@hayesknight.co.nz – www.hayesknight.co.nz Matthew Bellingham.

It’s all part of the job… isn’t it?

Recently Revenue Minister Peter Dunne hit the headlines with his announcement that the IRD will soon be targeting employer-provided perks in an effort to close the tax loophole on perks used as salary tradeoffs for salary. Essentially every person’s salary is taxed, so the rational is that salary trade-offs shouldn’t be treated any differently and when the government first floated the idea six months ago it had estimated $700 million in lost revenue from untaxed benefits (fringe benefit tax / FBT) across the country.

My immediate thoughts were “for goodness sake, give us a break and focus on the big rocks!” Once I got off my high horse, I started to think about what else Mr Dunne might have in his sights. My thoughts immediately went to my work mobile phone and laptop, but luckily these ”Perks” along with other benefits like child care have since been excluded on the basis that the compliance cost would outweigh any tax revenue gains. Therefore the rules now only target Auckland and Wellington CBD car parks and vouchers issued by charities, rather than all explicit and implicit salary trade-off benefits as originally proposed.

Parking is already at a premium in the city centres of Auckland and Wellington, with a number of surrounding areas probably not too far behind.

Therefore it isn’t surprising that many employers provide their staff with a parking space as an untaxed perk that makes up part of their employment package, plus the salary trade-off also means that the employer saves on cash costs. A friend of mine works for a firm in Auckland’s CBD and a car park in the building is worth $5,000.00 of her annual salary. After a quick online search I soon found that a car park on Wakefield Street or Eden Crescent comes in at $60,000 pa. Clearly there is money to be made in parking!

Under the proposed new salary trade-off rules, there will only be exclusions for car parks used by work vehicles, for late night shifts and disabled car parks.

To get around the complex compliance costs a standard value will be put on a car park when it is not provided through commercial car park operators, such as Wilsons and Tournament. That said the government has yet to define what constitutes a “commercial car park operator”. As far as what the standard value

will be; our best guess is that it is likely to be based on typical daily CBD parking rates i.e.. $10 to $16 per day.

Most building leases in Auckland and Wellington come with car parks, so employers simply cannot walk away from these obligations. So what options do employers have? They could: 1) Pay the imposed fringe benefit tax on each car park 2) Compensate the employee for the loss in car park with a propitiate salary increase 3) Initiate a direct car park lease arrangement with the landlord when the lease rolls over which would, at the very least, give employees access to preferential parking rates going forward.

Looking at the numbers: Value of a standard car park: $13.90 + GST per day For a year this works out to: $5,073.50 + GST (365 days) FBT (exposure to a max rate of 49.25%) comes to: $2,498.70 If we compensate the employee’s salary for the loss of the car-park the cash cost to the employer would be $5,834.53 (plus the unused car parks) vs. $3,259.72 if they just paid the FBT. Therefore, option 1 looks like the way to go - at least until the lease rolls over.

Businesses have already had a difficult few years and they could probably do without the additional red-tape that further dilutes their cash flow. I also don’t think this can be justified under the guise of “fairness and equality” as there are a number of more enviable perks out there. The changes will come into effect next year, and from 1 April 2014 the IRD will be collecting. What I’d like to know is how does this somewhat limited and basically miniscule tax grab fit in with the governments promise of simplifying the tax system in New Zealand and saving us all in compliance costs?

Every business needs an edge.

Find yours 21 March 2013.

Consisting of four workshops and follow up coaching, Business Edge promises innovative tools, new skills, fresh ideas and the know-how to put progressive plans in place for your business’ future. Course subsidy available to eligible business. To find out more visit hayesknight.co.nz/business-edge.

Issue 9 - November 2012

The Business Channel

33

The Legal Column With Schnauer & Co

Conditional agreements

Nick Kearney is an Associate with Schnauer & Co. Limited in Milford.

NKearney@schnauer.com www.schnauer.com

We see a lot of clients who enter into agreements to buy businesses or properties without doing basic background checks, or making the agreement conditional on certain events.

Except for a few instances, the general rule when it comes to buying anything is caveat emptor – let the buyer beware.

Both forms of standard agreements (business or property) contain implicit finance conditions. This should almost always be used, even if buyers have pre-approval from their bank. It is not unusual that such preapproval contains conditions such as approving the purchase agreement. If there is something about the agreement that the bank doesn’t like, then it can refuse finance.

Business agreements also have a built-in condition about the buyer approving the lease of the premises (if there is one). It will usually not be possible to cancel the agreement using this condition if finance is not approved. That is because of a term in the agreement that says where a condition is inserted, the person for whom it is inserted in favour of must do all things reasonably necessary to satisfy the condition.

This applies to land contracts also. A high profile case involved a buyer purchasing an expensive property in East Auckland and made it conditional on their own house selling by a certain date. To save money, the buyers listed their own home on TradeMe and did not utilise the services of an agent. After a few months, when their own home did not sell, they cancelled the purchase agreement for failure of the condition to sell their home. The matter went to the Court of Appeal which ruled that because the buyers had not listed their property with an agent, they had not done

all things reasonably necessary to allow the sale condition to be satisfied.

They were financially liable to the sellers.

A condition that is often inserted by agents into agreements to buy land relates to the buyer’s solicitor’s approval of the agreement. Another word of caution applies here. Courts have ruled that if the agreement is of standard form (i.e. issued by the Law Society in conjunction with the Real Estate Institute) then there is nothing usually for the solicitor to approve. The condition then becomes illusory, and is not really a condition at all. A better condition is due diligence, which will allow the buyer to investigate all aspects of the property (or business), within, say, 15 working days.

Provided the buyer does all things reasonably necessary to satisfy the due diligence condition, they cannot be criticised if the agreement comes to an end for its non-satisfaction.

Whether it’s the sale of a business or land, most agents will insist on conditions, as a matter of good practice. The best practice for either party (buyer or seller) is not to sign any agreement until the terms of the agreement have been discussed with your lawyer first.

Tip: Be careful with signing wills that are self-prepared. The new Wills Act has strict signing requirements which must be followed for the will to be declared valid by the High Court.

Visit: www.schnauer.com

Think North Shore Lawyers Think Schnauer and Co is a boutique law firm dedicated to providing personal and specialist assistance. We aim to develop and promote quality professional legal advice on the Shore commensurate with this area’s growing status as a centre of business excellence.

We live and work within the North Shore community. We understand the issues facing people and we can help to resolve them.

222 Kitchener Road, Milford Ph +64 9 486-0177 www.schnauer.com Relationship Property | Trusts, Asset Protection and Estate Planning | Property | Commercial

34

The Business Channel

Issue 9 - November 2012

Training & Development With David Forman

Olivia Blaylock is the Managing Director of David Forman and FranklinCovey, the leading independent, New Zealand-owned provider of sales, leadership and personal effectiveness training.

It’s our birthday

and we’ll celebrate if we want to!

Kiwis aren’t known for celebrating success too much. Perhaps it’s the tall poppy thing, perhaps it’s the ‘she’ll be right’ attitude, but we often have so many great things happening that go under the radar. Right now though in Takapuna, we’re going against the grain and having our own celebration as we’ve just clocked over 3 years owning David Forman! Although David Forman has been New Zealand’s leading provider of sales, leadership and personal effectiveness programmes for 42 years, it was 3 years ago that Stuart and I purchased the company and the NZ licence for the globally renowned FranklinCovey programmes.

These 3 years have been incredibly rewarding as we’ve helped many individuals and organisations achieve their goals. We’ve helped sales teams increase revenues and margins, leaders challenge themselves to re-focus their organisations to succeed in today’s marketplace and entire work teams become more effective and productive.

It hasn’t all been beer and skittles though; like many businesses operating in the current environment, we’ve had to find efficiencies wherever possible. We’ve also learnt that you can’t sit still – we need to constantly challenge ourselves to do better. Our rebranding earlier this year, which includes our new positioning of Never Stop, communicates just that to our market.

Someone asked me at our birthday lunch the other day what are the three biggest things I’ve learned over the past three years. It was a tough question - I’ve certainly learned a lot, but probably the three that stand out most clearly for me are: 1. Challenge your paradigms.

Yes, it’s a strange market out there – there seem to be glimpses of recovery and then things slow down again. Nothing seems to be what you expect. So what that means is that we can’t apply the age-old methods and expect different results. And it’s not just about doing differently – we need to take a step back and think differently. Challenge yourself to look at the issues you’re facing differently and it gives you the opportunity to

find different solutions, to try different approaches that lead to different (and hopefully better!) results.

2. Unleash talent.

Develop a winning team - when people’s unique passions and talents are matched with the needs of the business, you unlock the door to success. In today’s Knowledge Worker Age, it’s not about just employing the body and mind – it’s about tapping into the heart and spirit of people that encourages them to volunteer their best efforts and make unparalleled contributions. Your people can be your greatest liability (just look at any balance sheet) or they can, and should be, your most precious asset.

3. The power of referrals.

Much of our business has been through strong word of mouth or through referrals. John Jantsch, in his book ‘The Referral Engine’, talks about how referrals are the results of a job well done, exceeding a customer’s expectations, and delivering an experience worth talking about. That gets you more bang for your buck than spending lots of money on advertising campaigns or cold calling on people that don’t know you from Adam. Finally, I’m not that interested in US politics, but my ears pricked up when I heard Mitt Romney, in his acceptance speech in winning the Republican candidacy for the US presidential elections a few months back say this: “Business and growing jobs is about taking risk, sometimes failing, sometimes succeeding, but always striving. It is about dreams. Usually, it doesn’t work out exactly as you might have imagined. Steve Jobs was fired at Apple. He came back and changed the world.”

Imagine a world without Steve Jobs, if he’d just given up? Here’s to another 3 years of David Forman. Never stop striving. Never stop challenging! And never stop celebrating.

Visit: www.davidforman.co.nz

never stop investing in your most valuable asset If you’re serious about success, never stop training, inspiring and improving your team.

Call 09 912 9770 or visit davidforman.co.nz

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International Freight & Shipping With Oceanbridge Adam Hiron, Europe Import Trade Manager, Oceanbridge Shipping, Email: AdamH@oceanbridge.co.nz, Phone 488 5834 or 021 445 011.

Visit: www.oceanbridge.co.nz

Importing and Shipping from Europe As recently as 2008, you could ship a container from the United Kingdom to New Zealand in 30 days. Now, the typical transit is 42 days. What has happened?

New Zealand once had long standing container services that were on direct vessels each week from the major European ports to Auckland. As you can imagine, these services were expensive to run. The limited market down here meant that all the development in new vessel size and technology which had brought freight rates down in other parts of the world were not suited to our market (and physically too large for our ports anyway) so we were left with smaller, older vessels in our trade lane. In about 2007-2008, these direct services were replaced with “transhipment” services that could take advantage of this new vessel “tonnage” between Europe and Asia (or the USA) and then connect with smaller vessels in Hub ports like Singapore, Hong Kong or more recently, Cartagena in Columbia. This added about five to seven days to the transit time. At the time of these changes importers raised concerns about shelf life and other issues with the longer lead times, but as it became the new norm and trade was booming everyone just learned to live with the new transits.

Then in 2009 Shipping Lines around the world became concerned that the economic slowdown would mean that vessels would be sailing “light” , (i.e. with less cargo). One of the interesting aspects of the Shipping Line industry is that the Lines order new and bigger vessels when times are good, but because they take so long to build, they enter the market at an entirely different part of the cycle and cause disruption. Vessels ordered during the good years (20042007) were just coming on stream in 2008-2010 when the global slowdown was in full swing. These new vessels are larger than ever now, with some able to carry the equivalent of 13,000 20ft containers. To bring that into the New Zealand context, the typical vessel in the Port of Auckland today is around 2,200-2,500 20ft containers. So what are Shipping Lines to do?

What is “Slow Steaming” – And how to avoid it In the initial year of the GFC, many vessels were simply left to float empty in Singapore. Then in 2009 they were put to work in a new scheme called “Slow Steaming”. This is the practice of running the ships at low power and burning less fuel on each transit. This is all very well for short transits between

European or Asian countries etc., it only adds a day or so. For New Zealand Importers, this adds another three to four days. On the upside, shipping lines have been adding extra vessels to their services so that they can slow down and still maintain a weekly service, which is good.

However, slow steaming has been embraced by many lines now, and add to that, some are introducing “super slow” steaming and you have a large part of our supply chain now 42+ days away. What is an importer to do?

Hamburg Sud is a good option. They run a weekly service that is a little different than the main players and is currently the fastest container line to New Zealand from Europe. The vessels leave their North Europe ports and head direct to the East Coast of the USA and then to Cartagena in Columbia. From there they connect to a weekly service which sails to Cartagena, heads through the Panama Canal and then straight to Auckland. The transits from UK, Belgium/Netherlands, and Germany are approx 35-37 days. Columbia may sound like an odd place to have a tran-shipment port, but it works. Connections are not 100%, but 90% effective. This isn’t the shipping lines marketing, we know because we use it every week.

Because of this faster transit, Oceanbridge uses this service for all our UK/Europe consolidations. We are the only company with LCL containers every week from UK, Spain, Italy, Belgium/Netherlands, Germany, France and Italy on this service. We frequently talk to importers who are not aware that anything faster than 40 days is available to them any more.

This is because many of the Global freight companies are restricted by their own policies to services that are slower, or they are using Hub ports like Singapore to re-pack their containers onto different services.

This means there is a lot of marketing out there of slower services. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We are a New Zealand company and we select the services that best suit our market, not the hand-me-downs from an HQ somewhere else. Kiwi Importers and their customers deserve the best service possible. If you are experiencing problems with lead times ex Europe we’d love to hear from you. www.oceanbridge.co.nz

Oceanbridge is your globally connected logistics partner empowering business growth.

Auckland | P: (09) 489 6070 | F: (09) 489 6071 E: calw@oceanbridge.co.nz | www.oceanbridge.co.nz

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News

Intellectual Property Law: with with Ruth Skinner, Davenports Ruth Skinner (LLB(Hons)/BA) is an intellectual property specialist at Davenports Harbour Lawyers. Ruth helps people understand the types of intellectual property (“IP”) that their business owns and the best way to protect it from attack by third parties. In addition, she assists people to grow wealth from their business through the use of various forms of IP licensing arrangements.

Paul Adams receiving theOutstanding IP Leader Award fromZhang Qingkui, Director General, Pharmaceutical and Biotech Examination Department of the China State Intellectual Property Office.

Takapuna CEO wins international intellectual property award A North Shore intellectual property expert has won a major international intellectual property award.

Paul Adams, CEO of Takapuna based EverEdge IP, won the Outstanding IP Leader Contribution category at the China Intellectual Property Focus Awards, which were recently announced in Shanghai.

EverEdge IP is an idea and technology commercialisation firm that provides specialist resources and advice for maximising returns on investment in new product development and intellectual property.

Event organisers say the awards, which attracted entries from all over the world, are designed to identify and intellectual property leaders who have demonstrated an unparalleled ability to succeed and who continually set standards of excellence.

“Judges were impressed with Paul’s advanced understanding of intellectual property and commercialisation issues and the cutting edge advice he provides to clients. This enables them to utilise intellectual property assets in new and highly profitable ways,” says Zhang Qingkui, Director General, Pharmaceutical and Biotech Examination Department of the China State Intellectual Property Office.

The conference was attended by hundreds of intellectual property leaders from all over the world. EverEdge Chief Executive Paul Adams says: “I am delighted to have won an award at this prestigious event, which proves that New Zealand can be a world leader in commercializing intellectual property.”

EverEdge IP provides independent, objective and holistic advice that helps businesses make money from their technologies and maximises their return on new product development and intellectual property investment. EverEdge IP also invests in and commercialises its own innovative technologies. www.everedgeip.com

Ruth Skinner.

Learning the hard way The cost of not registering your trade marks

Sam had a fabulous idea for a business and decided that after years of working for someone else, he would finally go out on his own. Sam didn’t have much money, but was able to secure a small loan from his bank (given that his business was service driven and would have little in the way of overheads).

Sam knew that he had only one shot to go to market. As such, Sam consulted a designer to create a brand for the business. Sam wanted to ensure that his brand was upbeat, reflected his services and would appeal to his target market.

After weeks of liaising with the designer, Sam had a brand that he thought was brilliant. Sam was excited to start his business and secured both a company name and a domain name (which incorporated his brand). Sam, mistakenly, thought that this was all he needed to do.

To make matters worse, a third party had previously registered a substantially similar trade mark for similar services.

Sam developed an initial marketing campaign, bought stationery and developed a website, all with his brand splashed all over it.

Sam then came to see Davenports Harbour…

In the initial meeting with Davenports Harbour, Sam advised that he had protected his brand. This was not the case. There was no trade mark registered with the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand in respect of Sam’s brand. To make matters worse, a third party had previously registered a substantially similar trade mark for similar services.

The effect of this prior registration meant that if Sam continued to use his brand, he could potentially be exposed to a claim under the law of passing off, the Trade Marks Act 2002 or the Fair Trading Act 1986.

Sam was bitterly disappointed and realised that to protect himself, he would now have to change his brand (which he now did not have the money to do).

To ensure that you do not make the same mistake as Sam (or if you would like a better understanding of the various types of IP that your business holds and how to protect it), contact Ruth Skinner at Davenports Harbour on ruth.skinner@davenportsharbour.co.nz or 915 4384

DAVENPORTS H A R B O U R

L A W Y E R S

331 Rosedale Road, Albany. Phone: 915 4380 Email: tammy.mcleod@davenportsharbour.co.nz www.davenportsharbour.co.nz

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Westpac Auckland North Business Awards 2012:

WINNER PROFILE – Federation Clothing Ltd

AUCKLAND NORTH

BUSINESS AWARDS AWARDS AW WARDS

Federation Clothing co-founders Nick Clegg and Jenny Clegg.

2012 2011

Brand Federation

WIN NER

A Fashion Forward When co-founders Nick and Jenny Clegg ventured into the world of fashion in the year 2000, they took with them a compatible skill set and the desire to create a unique brand. Federation Clothing blends Nick’s passion for skateboarding (he’s a former pro) and Jenny’s love of fashion to create one of New Zealand’s most recognisable labels. Federation Clothing has stockists throughout the world, selected due to their ability to meet strict criteria that honours the Federation brand.

Catherine Murray caught up with Nick and Jenny at their Takapuna premises to chat about their business and their brand just prior to them winning the Small Business of the Year Award in the 2012 Westpac Auckland North Business Awards in late October.

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(Simpson Western Small Business of the Year Award)

As with many fledging businesses, Federation Clothing started in you meet them and get to know them.” a residential garage while the founders continued to work at their Assistance offered by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) has day jobs. Not wanting to take anything from the business, Nick and been invaluable says Nick. “We couldn’t have done what we’ve done Jenny worked on Federation Clothing after hours, cutting all their own without their help. We were granted the Enterprise Market Development samples and managing production runs at home on the floor. Fast forward 18 months and Nick and Jenny were both full time, two additional staff were hired, and the business had moved to larger premises.

Three years on saw the initial eight stores stocking Federation expand to 70, with the business growing ever since.

“To start with, we chose our favourite store in each town as a stockist,” explains Jenny.

“We did everything to our standard - from the beginning we knew what we wanted to happen. We had really controlled growth, and made decisions based on the longevity of the business. Ultimately what we are doing is an expression of who we are. We weren’t trying to delve into something that was unfamiliar to us. We were also cautious of avoiding those things, such as getting bogged down with dayto-day life and not having a good perspective.

We were very aware of all those things – like working on your business, not just in it.”

Jenny Clegg on stage accepting the Simpson Western Small Business of the Year Award with members of their team.

Being able to delegate to a talented bunch of like-minded staff has strengthened the business says Jenny. “Every time we hire a staff member we select Grant for three years, and that enabled us to do trade shows in Europe, someone who has skills we don’t have, ultimately maintaining what you get to those markets and just do it. Without their help we might not have are a genius at. We love having really skilled people around us; it just lifts done it, because it’s a massive expense. You have to weigh up and say, everything.” well if we’re going to do this and the NZTE will help us out, then let’s have The ability to say ‘no’ has helped to establish the Federation brand to a crack at it.” where it needs to be. Turning down orders from stores that do not quite Nick and Jenny have also developed other brands; Minti is for kids fit the Federation vision was a common occurrence in the early days, and and Public Gallery is an experimental collaboration between art, design is still something that Nick says will be done to preserve the brand. “It’s and fabric. There are also their Laundromat Collective stores, housing always been about the brand. The focus hasn’t been money, but obviously a range of clothing brands, and the Laundromat Café in Takapuna. “Our that comes if you make good decisions and do everything right. It’s been Laundromat stores have become quite an integral part of our business,” about where the brand should sit, how it should look, its aesthetic, the says Jenny. “It’s another way we can keep in touch with the market.”

Being finalists in the Mitre 10 Excellence in Customer Engagement and the Simpson Western Small Business of the Year categories of the 2012 Westpac Auckland North Business Awards has given the Federation crew the opportunity to take stock of where they are at as a business.

“Initially we made contact with Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) to see how they could help the business in relation to more formal business plans and structures. There’s lots of creativity and excellent product development and innovation that goes on, but it’s also about getting the structure and foundations of the business further developed,” says Scott Litherland, Federation’s Finance and Business Manager. “Preparing for the Awards was a good exercise, and longevity of the brand – the whole thing. We make decisions based on the this will help us develop more formal business plans.” brand.”

The awards are a nice ‘pat on the back’ says Jenny, and are just one Federation’s entrance onto the international scene has been steady. of the highlights of their business’s success. Federation has enjoyed This year has seen Federation make some further ground in the European many high points, but Jenny believes that even just day-to-day life in the market, with the Australian market showing some great growth as well. business is a great experience. “In our roles there are lots of highlights, Back in 2002 Selfridges picked up the brand for three years, and Nick from designing the ranges, to travelling, and just working with such a believes it was a great springboard for them to bounce off. “At the time great team. We still love what we do so much.” it was a bit of a coup. It was a little bit different managing it from New Currently enjoying their spot on the North Shore, Jenny believes there Zealand, because at the time we were not doing a lot of travelling to those is plenty of room there to expand the business even further without the international markets.” Their brand also received some valuable exposure hassle of moving again. “That’s why we’ve taken on the extra space here. when it graced the cover of the New York magazine Nylon, a couple of We don’t want to move again and we really love Takapuna!” years ago. “You get to meet some really cool people, people you’ve looked up to – like the editor of Nylon,” says Nick. “Then you’re in the magazine, Visit: www.federation.co.nz.

Focus

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Westpac Auckland North Business Awards 2012: Winner Profi le – Spark Dental Technology Limited

AUCKLAND NORTH

BUSINESS AWARDS AW WARDS A WARDS

Elizabeth Schulze Paul Weatherly and Robyn Wickenden of Spark Dental Technology accept their Excellence in Innovation and Improvement Award from xxxxxxx xxxxxx of award sponsor Massey University.

2012 2011

WIN NER

y g lo o n h c e T l a t en Spark D

Innovation, the key element for success

Spark Dental Technology Limited develops and delivers information technology services to the dental industry.

The company was formed in 2005 and soon after launched their flagship product Titanium to assist medium to large enterprises in the management and delivery of oral health services. The software application is the key to facilitating a paperless environment, capturing all data created in the clinical setting and storing it as an electronic dental record for each patient.

The modular product offers solutions for every aspect of dentistry, from patient recalls to dental education, to sophisticated data analysis. Catherine Murray spoke with Managing Director Paul Weatherly and Group Financial Controller Robyn Wickenden at the company’s Auckland office in Albany shortly before the company won the Excellence in Innovation and Improvement Award at the 2012 Westpac Auckland North Business Awards.

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(Massey University Excellence in Innovation and Improvement Award)

Wanting to do something a little bit different within the dental industry was the catalyst for Paul Weatherly to create a company of his own.

Spark Dental Technology was established after the acquisition of the Asia-Pacific Enterprise software division from Software of Excellence, a company Paul had co-founded with his brother in 1988. “One of the attractions of buying the enterprise part of the business from Software of Excellence was that we were able to hit the ground running,” explains Paul. “We already had customers in New Zealand and Australia so it was significantly easier than starting from scratch.”

Starting with just three staff, the company now has a strong team of 26. “We select people who we believe will fit in with our company culture,” says Robyn Wickenden. “As a result we have a low staff turnover, and those that do leave do so for very valid reasons. We’re building a team, not just replacing people who have left.”

Spark Dental Technology enjoys steady growth and has offices in Auckland and Wellington’s Lower Hutt, and staff in Perth in Western Australia. Titanium is the leading market solution in Australia and New Zealand with over 4000 end users, and has an increasing number of users in Singapore, Kuwait and the USA. Customers are state dental services in Australia, District Health Boards in New Zealand, universities, large group practices, and health insurers that provide oral health services.

Currently 65% of the company’s revenue comes from Australia. “Our point of difference is scale,” says Paul. “Our largest customer has over 1000 users of our software every day and our biggest sites have 200 users in a single location.” Titanium provides users with electronic patient dental records, appointment bookings, student grading, stock and inventory, a complete web-based digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) solution, and inbuilt research tools. “We also have all the things that go with an enterprise solution, in terms of security and configurability and interfacing with other health systems. We customise Titanium for each customer so it is very much tailored to their particular business practices.”

Titanium not only streamlines processes, it also provides the means to assess the management and delivery of services in the dental industry.

“Our customers are very sophisticated in how they’re using the data to drive change in health service delivery,” says Paul. “For example, it’s possible to analyse whether mobile clinics are better than fixed clinics and then look at different funding models, or assess the frequency of checkups based on data and then tailor the public health focus to areas of need. Essentially Titanium is providing information about every aspect, from how the services are run, right through to which fillings are going to last the longest.”

Within the dental industry Spark Dental Technology has a high profile due to the size of the sector. “The market niche we are in is quite small, so we can list our likely customers,” says Paul. “In several cases we have been talking to the people we would like to sell the software to on and off for a couple of years – and trying to get them to see the errors of their ways!”

Paul and his team travel to meet their current and potential customers, negating the need for resellers and agents (bar some agents in the Middle East). “Our customers are great advocates for our products,” explains Robyn. “The dental industry is quite small and people move around a lot, so you get references from them as they spread the word.”

The direct relationship that Paul and his team have with their customers is invaluable when it comes to adapting technology to meet the changing needs of the marketplace. One recent change in New Zealand’s school dental service is the replacement of individual school clinics with mobile vans and specialised hubs in some areas. “There are now more hub clinics where the dental therapists work together and have more of a team approach. The mobile van goes out to the schools to visit the students who are then referred to the hub if treatment is required. We have developed software so that therapists can download the records of the students they are going to see that day to a laptop, and then upload the new data at the end of the day when they are back at the hub.”

Research and development is an integral part of Spark Dental Technology, with advances being made with both their software and

Spark Dental Technology management team - From Left to Right (rear) Shane Blackett (Development Manager), Paul Weatherly (Managing Director), Andrew Masters (Programme Manager), In front: Robyn Wickenden (Group Financial Controller), Elizabeth Schulze (General Manager).

Essentially Titanium is providing information about every aspect, from how the services are run, right through to which fillings are going to last the longest. hardware products. The company has formal partnerships with one of New Zealand’s leading science-based research institutes, Industrial Research Limited, and also works with the Bio-Engineering Institute at the University of Auckland. Working with Industrial Research Limited, Paul and his team have developed a dentistry tool that is both a mirror and a computer input device. The ‘mirror pointer’ allows the dentist access to computer dental records and charting with gestures, eliminating hygiene issues with keyboard and mouse use.

Reviewing the company’s progress over the past seven years while completing the documentation for the 2012 Westpac Auckland North Business Awards – Finalists in the Massey University Excellence in Innovation and Improvement and 3M Excellence in Sustainable Success categories - has been an invaluable experience for the team. “We tend to focus all the time on what’s currently going on and forget to retrospectively look at what we’ve done in the last few years,” admits Paul. “It gave me a chance to actually sit down and analyse our customer growth,” adds Robyn. “We knew that we were doing well from the accounts, but it was good looking at the background of how that growth came about. It also validated a lot of the processes we’ve put in place and what we’re actually doing in terms of a business growth model. It was an interesting process!” www.spark-dental.com

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Westpac Auckland North Business Awards 2012 Winner Profi le: DogHQ Limited (Mitre 10 Excellence in

From an

to in

AUCKLAND NORTH

BUSINESS AWARDS AW WARDS A WARDS

2012 2011

WIN NER

The Business Channel’s Aidan Bennett talks to Louise O’Sullivan, owner of Westpac Business Awards Finalist Dog HQ.

The Mitre 10 Excellence in Customer Engagement Award was presented to DogHQ by Mitre 10’s John Hartmann. He is phootgraphed with Anne Brennan, Louise O’Sullivan and Peter Wise of DogHQ. (Left to right) Rowena Edwards, Louise O’Sullivan, Anne Brennan and Indie the dog.

What a fantastic chat I had with Louise O’Sullivan, the dynamic lady behind Westpac Business Awards Finalist DogHQ Limited. Her story, about taking a business idea to success in 18 short months, is a neat one.

No, it’s not totally original. And no, it is not some highly intelligent or high tech business concept that is so often the winner these days. What Louise’s story is, is simply about applying very sound business principles and hard work to create a successful start-up business within 18 months.

DogHQ is essentially a doggy day care business that’s owned by Louise and her partner Peter Wise. They share a background in IT. In fact Peter is still in it, while Louise runs DogHQ. Louise O’Sullivan spent seven years in corporate marketing with TelstraClear. It was there that she learnt the strong disciplines of business

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– systems, processes, people management etc.

“I was a relatively difficult person to manage,” Louise admitted, when I asked her about her corporate business background. “I have always been full of ideas and was keen on pushing the boundaries which meant I regularly butted heads in the corporate world. It’s fair to say that I always wanted to be my own boss!”

Louise explained that the idea for DogHQ came about when she got her own puppy, was working full time, and discovered there was nowhere on the Shore that would adequately take care of her much loved four-legged companion when she was at work. There were options city-side, but none on the Shore. Being walked twice a day was not enough for her young Rhodesian Ridgeback and young Indie was also beginning to show signs of a lack of correct socialisation.

Customer Engagement Award)

Louise explains. “For me there was what I call a light bulb moment. I had wanted to start my own business for a long time and many ideas had come and gone. But this one was real. In that light bulb moment I realised I was on to something. The idea actually pushed me.”

At the start funding was an issue. There was no spare cash. Louise wrote a business plan, worked out how she could make it work, and realised she had arrived at the moment where there was absolutely nothing stopping her. So she did it. She found a building, signed a lease, and the rest is history. It took 15 months of hard work for the business to become profitable.

Starting on day one with only a handful of dogs and two staff, in 18 months Louise has grown the business to be regularly supervising over 70 dogs in a day with eight members on staff. There have also been additional services added over this time. Louise sought partnerships with other well regarded professionals to add to her services at DogHQ. She teamed up with established dog trainer Simon Goodall from Dog Guru to provide regular dog training services, now operating every Saturday all year around. Expert groomer Eve caters to the grooming needs of DogHQ’s customers.

Sleep over services as an alternative to boarding are now offered as well.

Not wanting to “cage” dogs overnight, DogHQ instead manages small numbers of dogs in an apartment style environment where they all hang out together with the human supervisor.

Louise had a strong vision for the service she wanted to deliver and is very proud to say she has customers coming from as far away as Howick solely to have their dog attend DogHQ. “It’s important to me, that in every service we provide, we believe we are delivering the very best quality. We won’t do just anything, it has to be relevant and it has to be of a high standard,” says Louise.

“I have been very lucky with the quality of staff I have been able to attract from day one,” added Louise when asked about the key reasons for her success.

“Looking back it has probably not been all about luck. I place a strong emphasis on hiring amazing people and looking after them. And they really are fantastic, with most having been with us from the start. I could not have achieved what I have so far without them, so their selection is probably my greatest achievement.”

Louise’s strong background in marketing has obviously been another key reason for the success of DogHQ. Her key tool has been the website (www. doghq.co.nz) which Louise manages herself. She admits to having an eye for design and that she knows how to communicate.

“The website was set up very early, well before the business actually opened,” explains Louise. “It has been a very valuable tool. Initially, I used it as a research tool to find out exactly what customers wanted. I used Google AdWords when we launched and developed quite a database that way. So the website has been huge, and because I have done it all myself the cost has been minimal. We have also had an advertorial page in the monthly Channel Magazine over the past 15 months which has been very effective.”

Why did you enter DogHQ in the Westpac Business Awards?

As a marketer I saw this as an obvious PR opportunity. There was no cost to enter, just my time and effort. I wasn’t really expecting to get as far as we have, but am thrilled with the result. In the process I have learnt a few things. I found the initial workshop very helpful and the whole experience has enabled me to look at world class business practice and assess how we measure up. There is always room for improvement in any business, the key understanding where your gaps are and this process has helped with that.

So what is the best thing about being in business for Louise O’Sullivan?

“I’ll never need to seek more challenge! I have found that business is very hard. Making money is a lot harder than you think. Being in business is certainly a never ending challenge and one that provides the ultimate opportunity to realise your full potential if you are up for it. I do love being my own boss and knowing that my destiny is firmly in my own hands. Decisions I make have a direct result on me which is not the case when you are working in the corporate world.

Contact: Louise O’Sullivan, DogHQ, Email: louise@doghq.co.nz or Visit: www.doghq.co.nz

(Left to right) Louise O’Sulliv an, Rowena Ed Anne Brennan wards, and Indie the dog.

Rowena at the top, and Anne with: Enzo, Boz, Hollie, Jessie, Chin Chin, Tank, Charlie, Ricky, Lucy, Tenzing, Kobi, Milo, Poppy, Rowdy, Prudy, Boh, Cheiky,Frankie, Teagan, Oscar & co.

Q...

nation of DogH Louise’s expla

Dog day care in many aspects is the same as child day care.

Owners drop off their four legged children for the day and entrust their pets’ care and well-being with the team at DogHQ. For many dog owners, meeting the needs of their much loved pet, whilst managing a busy working life is very difficult. Day care fits this need perfectly. They can drop their dog off on the way to work and pick up a happy, tired dog who has been playing all day with other dogs. It offers complete peace of mind for the owner and perfect stimulation for the dog.

For dogs to be nuisance-free in a suburban environment, they need to be well socialised from a very young age and have their physical and physiological needs met. A walk once a day simply is not enough for the average young dog.

DogHQ is a dog day care centre dedicated to fulfilling the needs of local dog owners wanting a safe and professional environment to provide for the complex social needs of their dog.

Managing dogs off-lead in groups requires the correct number of knowledgeable staff. Dogs must be assessed when they first attend to ensure their suitability for such an intense social environment.

Not all dogs are suitable. Each 12 hour day we manage up to four separate groups, which are all supervised by a human leader. The length of our day means we run a staggered roster involving a mixture of full-time, part-time and casual staff to ensure we have the right number of staff on at the right times of the day.

We don’t see ourselves as a “baby-sitting” service but as a social development service for dogs.

The majority of our customers are regulars whose dog(s) attend at least once a week.

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News: Davenports Harbour News Davenports Harbour Managing Partners Scott Goodwin and Tammy McLeod.

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Accelerating success.

Lets make it possible – The ‘attitude’ at Davenports Harbour Law Change has been in the air recently at leading specialist North Harbour law firm Davenports Harbour Law. September saw the retirement from the firm of long time managing partner Derek Dallow.

During October The Business Channel popped in for a chat with Tammy McLeod and Scott Goodwin, the two partners who now jointly run the growing business. It was pretty obvious from the chat that business is pretty good for Davenports, with the strong growth pattern continuing across their specialist areas of commercial, intellectual property, trust and franchising law.

“We had a great send-off for Derek during September which he richly deserved,” said Tammy McLeod. “As most will know he has been a big part of the North Harbour business and wider community for a long time. It was a thrill for him to experienced growth on growth consistently despite the soft economy.”

“Derek flagged his intentions some time ago so we have been able to strengthen our team as a result of his departure,” added Scott Goodwin. “We have increased our team to well over 20 people now and brought on some very good people to strengthen the specialist areas of our business. Tammy and I have also done a great deal of work with a business coach and brand specialists which we believe will ensure continued growth. This has included the adoption of our brand by-line of ‘Lets make it possible’ which we believe sums up our attitude to business. We are not your ordinary law firm. We are a contemporary business that’s prepare to look outside the square and roll up our sleeves and make it happen.”

A key team member is experienced commercial law specialist Richard Evans who is part of Davenports property and commercial team that includes experienced business lawyers and very capable legal executives.

Richard, who was previously with Brookfields has worked across the property, banking and finance sectors and has considerable experience working with one of Auckland’s leading property owners. The experienced trio of Richard, Paul Turner and Chris Hankins are specialist commercial lawyers at Davenports.

Richard and Paul are two of three Associates at Davenports Harbour. The other being Ruth Skinner.

Scott Goodwin leads the specialist franchise and intellectual property teams at Davenports, He joined the firm in 2006, became a partner two years later, and is recognised by key service providers and bankers to the franchise industry as a leader and specialist in his field. Scott’s experienced franchise team includes lawyers Ruth Skinner and Sarah Pilcher.

“Our growth in the franchise area has continued with a recent interesting project for our team involving assisting a New Zealand franchise system to establish in offshore markets,” says Scott. “We now act for in excess of 30 New Zealand franchise operators.”

Tammy McLeod is recognised as one of the leading trust law practitioners in the country and leads the Davenports Harbour Trust team that also includes Bronwen Newcombe, Deborah Matheson and Michelle Blundell.

Tammy joined Davenports Harbour almost nine years ago and became a partner six years ago. She is a trust and asset structuring specialist with 13 years legal experience in the areas that include personal asset planning, trust law and property relationships. Tammy is a past president of the Auckland Woman Lawyers’ Association, a current co-convenor of the NZICA Trust Special Interest Group and was also an author of the New Zealand Master Trust Guide.

Visit: www.davenportsharbour.co.nz

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Issue 9 - November 2012

The Brand-building Column with Creative HotPot

Ron Davidson is a Brand Strategist and Ideas Person who has created, nutured and/or reinvigorated many of New Zealand’s most successful and enduring brands. Ron is our Brand-building contributor to the Business Channel and can be found at www.creativehotpot.com or on (021) 674138.

The do’s (but mainly don’ts) about proudly building your brand You don’t have to be the highest quality. But you do have to deliver satisfaction and meet customer expectations. As long as customers walk away with something they want at a price they’re happy with, they’ll be well satisfied with that brand… job done!

You certainly don’t have to be the best tasting. Coca Cola more often than not comes second to Pepsi Cola in blind taste tests, yet more people buy Coke than any other Cola. Why? Because Coca Cola drinkers enjoy the “whole brand experience” of buying and drinking Coke – the packaging, the advertising and the promise of refreshment and fun. All that is far more important to them than a slightly better tasting cola.

You don’t have to be the biggest. Being smaller need not be a negative. If you can’t be the category leader, then look to be the brand that people ‘talk’ about. Create a different angle for your brand and promote it in a way that really differentiates you from your competition. Make others believe you can satisfy their needs just as well as, if not better than, anybody else.

You don’t even have to be unique. But you do have to ‘feel’ unique.

Sometimes a product or service simply won’t have a discernible point-ofdifference, but that shouldn’t stop you looking to create a unique business angle.

And you don’t want to sell sausages. To successfully engage people you must promote product benefits (in other words, “what’s in it for them”), rather than getting bogged down in trying to promote features (e.g. “look how clever we are”). Remember to sell the sizzle, not the sausage. For example; bed retailers should be selling ’sleep’, not beds and beer manufacturers ‘refreshment’, not beer. Apple Corporation does this brilliantly, capturing consumer minds and hearts by promoting technical products people want, not need – without all of the technical jargon.

A business is never too small (or too big) to focus on building a strong,

If you can’t be the category leader, then look to be the brand that people ‘talk’ about. healthy brand. And no matter how good we might feel things are, I’m a great believer that it’s never too late to makes something better. Now that I’ve explained why it’s important to have a strong, compelling brand and some of the dos and don’ts that go along with it, in the next issue of the Business Channel I’ll share my advice on just how to go about creating one.

NB: If you missed my initial ‘Brand-building Column’ from the previous issue, please email me (ron@creativehotpot.com) and I will forward you a FREE copy of my comprehensive Creative Brand-aid Health Check ‘10-point guide’.

“Just how healthy is your brand?”

To find out, take this simple 15-second “Creative Brand-aid” health check at www.creativehotpot.com.

Issue 9 - November 2012

The Business Channel

45

Banking with BNZ

Ros Stewart and Richard Blamey.

Ros Stewart and Richard Blamey Senior Partners at BNZ Partners North Shore There’s a new duo running the BNZ Partners operation on the North Shore. Ros Stewart and Richard Blamey are the Senior Partners who have been entrusted with managing the relationship banking team – “the Partners” – at the innovative BNZ Partners North Shore Business Centre on Constellation Drive.

North Shore was the first BNZ Partners Centre launched in New Zealand. It has been the blueprint for refining the Partners Centre proposition, and getting customer feedback, as the concept has been rolled out throughout New Zealand.

If you haven’t been in to take a look at this facility, you should do. It is impressive. The centre is located on the third floor of one of the Candida Office Park buildings on Constellation Drive. As well as being the home of a team of 30 plus people, with expertise spanning business banking, property finance, private banking, asset finance and trade finance, it is

Call us on 0800 955 455 Visit bnzpartners.co.nz

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Issue 9 - November 2012

also a facility that hosts many business networking events, and is happily shared with BNZ Partners’ customers free of charge. Described as ‘an office away from the office’, it has boardroom and office facilities available for use by all BNZ Partners’ customers.

BNZ Partners takes up the entire top floor of the building. Half of the floor is office space, while the other half comprises a big area, including three meeting rooms of varying sizes, which is totally dedicated to making BNZ Partners’ customers feel right at home.

Regular functions held at the Partners Centre include presentations

by BNZ economists, Exporters Lunches, Business Owners Forums (in conjunction with ATEED and other partners), Icehouse Alumni gettogethers and Rising Stars of Business lunches. From time to time there are also BNZ Growth Seminars (with 30 held across New Zealand annually) which are offered to BNZ clients. The most recent such seminar introduced

clients to Kaizen – a Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement.

While Senior Partner Ros Stewart is a relative newcomer to banking, her strong business background has made her a valuable addition to the BNZ team. She joined BNZ just under three years ago, after running her own film and television talent agency. She had also previously run an advertising business in Melbourne and has also worked in the not-for-profit sector.

“I had a desire to be part of a global organisation,” explained Ros, when asked about the reasons for her move into banking. “All my background had essentially been in SMEs, so I did an MBA and decided to get into banking. I was very fortunate to be offered an opportunity with BNZ and I love it.”

I get a thrill out of working alongside business people in the different phases and cycles of their businesses.

The BNZ Partners concept is all about relationships with our customers and that is a part I really enjoy.

Ros Stewart started in retail with BNZ at the Takapuna Store, one of the biggest in the country. She made an impact there and was soon asked to take on a new role introducing a workplace banking package for the bank’s larger corporate customers. Once that project came to fruition she moved to become a Senior Partner at BNZ Partners North Shore.

“Banking is something I really enjoy, and I believe that the fact I have been in business myself helps me to understand customer banking needs very well. I get a thrill out of working alongside business people in the different phases and cycles of their businesses.

The BNZ Partners concept is all about relationships with our customers and that is a part I really enjoy.”

Ros leads a busy life with family and friends being important to her.

She has a 16 year old daughter, Bianca, who goes to Parnell College and competes for New Zealand in karate. Ros’ interests include her dog, running, and yoga.

Ros’ fellow Senior Partner Richard Blamey joined the BNZ just under six years ago after meeting his Kiwi wife Janine in London and settling back in New Zealand when it came time to start a family. He says he fell in love twice. First with Janine and then with New Zealand – although he still admits to supporting his native South Africa in rugby.

Richard was originally from Cape Town where he owned a surf shop, before going on his OE to the UK, where he first got into banking.

Prior to becoming a Senior Partner with BNZ Partners, Richard was a Relationship Manager with BNZ’s Institutional Banking team working with some of New Zealand’s biggest corporate businesses.

“Ros and I have a great relationship, we share a passion for business and we have a strong belief in the BNZ Partners concept,” explained Richard when quizzed about their dual role. “With BNZ Partners we have a unique offering designed around the customer and focused on delivering on our mission of enabling a high achieving New Zealand. We have all the key decision makers, specialists as well as private bankers under one roof at BNZ, making it a one stop shop which covers all of our customers complex banking needs.”

Away from work, Richard’s focus is his family. He and Janine now have two young sons, Alex (5) and Zach (3). He is still a keen surfer, enjoys most sports, and loves nothing more than pottering around the house doing DIY on the weekends.

This dual role for Ros Stewart and Richard Blamey has been brought about by the appointment of previous Managing Partner Richard Ede to a position as Head of Corporate Banking (Northern Region) for BNZ. While Richard Ede will continue to be involved on the North Shore, where he still lives, his new role covers the whole of the North Island.

For more information contact: Richard Blamey or Ros Stewart – Senior Partners, BNZ Partners Centre North Shore.

Email: Richard_Blamey@bnz.co.nz or Ros_Stewart@bnz.co.nz or visit www.bnzpartners.co.nz

What BNZ says about their BNZ Partners Business Centres: There are 33 BNZ Partners Business Centres located around the country. BNZ Partners Business Centres are our latest innovation in business banking, providing real value to our clients and the business community. Our network of Partners Business Centres is bristling with the latest technology and everything is available to our BNZ Partners’ clients free of charge, from café style meeting spaces for personal one-on-ones, to a boardroom.

The centres also offer complimentary wireless internet, along with phone or video conferencing facilities, and have everything needed to make a professional presentation. BNZ Partners Business Centres provide something that no other bank does.

They’re a place where our clients can meet their customers, suppliers or advisers and talk business in complete privacy and comfort. And, if need be, there will always be a BNZ Partner on hand for a bit of reliable advice.

Issue 9 - November 2012

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Corner Main Road & Gills Road , Albany | Phone 09-415 7890 or 0800 657 755 | www.albany-toyota.co.nz *The advertised RSPs apply to the models shown, subject to stock availability and purchased and delivered prior to 31 December 2012. Benefit offer available 1st October – 31st December 2012. Excludes Daihatsu & Lexus. Extended new vehicle platinum warranty adds additional 2 years or 50,000kms on expiry of the standard 3 year / 100,000km warranty – whichever occurs first. Warrant of Fitness (WOF) Checks: the first at 12 months and the last at 60 months. Five year AA Roadservice. On road costs (including the initial WOF) are not included. Customers will be eligible for $500.00 off the normal price of Toyota Vehicle Insurance, subject to the vehicle being financed under Classic Finance, Choices, Driveway or Vantage/Finance Lease by Toyota Financial Services. Insurance cover will be subject to normal Toyota Insurance acceptance criteria. Offer not available in conjunction with any other offer, is not transferable or redeemable for cash or discount, is available to GST and non-GST registered New Zealand residents only. Employees of Toyota New Zealand Limited, Toyota Financial Services Limited, their advertising agents, subsidiaries and Toyota dealership staff, and their immediate families are not eligible for the offer. Vehicles may differ slightly from those pictured. For full terms and conditions visit our website.

NEW ZEALAND’S GOT TALENT © 2012 Syco and FremantleMedia Australia Pty Ltd/ Imagination Television Limited. Licensed by FremantleMedia Enterprises. www.fremantlemedia.com.au

Motoring: with Albany Toyota

The all new European inspired 2013 Corolla has arrived The all new, completely redesigned, 2013 Toyota Corolla Hatch has arrived at Albany Toyota. The European inspired design – edgier styling and a lower centre of gravity to further improve its dynamic performance – is certainly turning heads and will ensure that Corolla will remain as popular as ever.

Corolla has been the number one passenger car in New Zealand for the past four years, and the number one vehicle in its segment for 27 years. This looks set to continue.

“Corolla has obviously always been a very good seller for us but I firmly believe that this new vehicle will take this to another level,” says Albany Toyota Managing Director Andrew Mackenzie. “It is truly a thrill that Toyota’s innovative design team have improved what was already a great range in such a big way. The new Corolla is going to be very popular with our customers.”

The 2013 Toyota Corolla range includes four models – Corolla GX, Corolla GLX, Corolla Levin SX and Corolla Levin ZR.

Features of the 2013 Toyota Corolla: Pure design – The unique lines and curved symmetry of the All New 2013 Corolla’s rear combination lamps immediately set it apart. And that’s just one of the many integrated design features that make this vehicle so exciting to lay eyes on.

Heart racing exterior – The Corolla’s excellent aerodynamic performance is no accident. It comes from exciting features like Pagoda roof design, front and rear air spats, rear floor undercovers with air fins and the integrated rear spoiler. The rear spoiler is formed from sheet metal for an immaculate finish, and not only looks exceptional, but is also an engineering first for Corolla.

Improved performance – The 1.8 litre petrol engine has been revised, with more power and torque.

Fuel economy has also been improved across the range – particularly with a new continuously variable automatic transmission replacing the previous four speed unit.

Premium interior – Inside, you’re immediately struck by the premium All New 2013 Corolla interior.

This comes from a multitude of refinements, not least of which is the black interior colour scheme, with matte texture. And yes, it’s as comfortable as it is easy on the eye.

Enhanced safety – Designed to a five-star safety rating means the car knows how to protect its occupants, and if you go up a model to the GLX, a reversing camera helps make sure there’s no-one behind when you’re backing out.

Contact the Albany Toyota New Vehicle Sales team today, Corner Main Road and Gills Road, Albany.

Phone 09-415 7890 or 0800 657 755 or visit: www.albany-toyota.co.nz.

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Issue 9 - November 2012

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Wines With Liz Wheadon, Glengarry Wines Our monthly Channel Wine & Food columnist is Liz Wheadon, General Manager of Glengarry Wines. Liz is also a passionate foodie. Weekends are often spent first planning the event and then entertaining friends and family with magnificent food and wine experiences.

A Tuscan gem spreading its wings

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Sangiovese from Maremma just yet. We were treated to a tour of the estate and from the top we got an insightful view of the region and the vineyard. You can see the sea (it’s the coast where the cruise ship went aground just recently), in fact on a clear day you can see the south of France.

The vineyard area is surrounded by forest; not the kind that you'd take a leisurely walk through, unless you were a local wild boar, it’s dense and coarse. The land itself is undulating and without the steep hills you find in the Chianti area. It reminded us somewhat of the vineyards around Toulon, Cote de Provence area in Southern France; going back to view it on a map, the similarities made sense.

This different geographic aspect produces Sangiovese with an upfront fragrant and fruit driven nose, on the palate it's generous and round, there's a balance of acidity and tannin, but only just enough. These are early drinking and very approachable wines.

The Cecchi family now have two properties in Chianti, one in Maremma and San Gimignano with a new venture producing Brunello just underway. To ensure each is managed to the family's exacting standards each is run by an estate manager, meeting these guys you can see the passion and pride they take in their estate.

You’ll find a range of Cecchi’s wines featured on the Italian page in this month’s wine letter – www.glengarry.co.nz

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Issue 9 - November 2012

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GIFT IDEAS

Cecchi is a family firm, with well established roots in the Tuscan wine region of Chianti. Managed today by brothers, Andrea and Cesare Cecchi, they both have their own areas of responsibilities; Andrea looks after the vineyard management and oversees all of the winemaking, whilst Cesare takes care of the commercial side of the business and no doubt both offer each other a few thoughts on each other’s areas of expertise.

Whilst Cecchi is at home in Chianti, the ambitious and forward thinking family are investing heavily in new developments and broadening their offering of Tuscan gems. I visited with them last month and was treated to a tour of their vineyards in Maremma. From the Chianti region, Maremma is about an hour or so south, heading first towards Sienna then to Rome before taking the turn off for Grosseto.

The Cecchi family investment in this region started about 15 years ago when the brother’s father saw the potential for Sangiovese in the southern reaches of Tuscany and started the journey. They purchased the then small estate of Val delle Rose and started on a replanting and resurrecting project. This year in time for vintage they completed their state of the art winery – walking through it was like seeing a whole lot of kids with new toys, the winery team were beaming from ear to ear with their new surrounds.

Like they do in Chianti, the primary variety here is Sangiovese. It's a wonderful dynamic variety that shows such a diverse range of flavours depending on its growing conditions.

One thing is for sure, if you are not a Chianti fan, don't write off the

Corporate Apparel and Promo Items: Davis Doherty Corporate Apparel Superstore

With summer fast approaching polos come into their own as a first choice garment for casual days at the office and relaxing in the weekends. Polos are very versatile - they look smart , they feel great on, you can dress them up or down , the choices are endless, and they are affordable. And Davis Doherty has the biggest range of corporate and sports polos in New Zealand!

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for work and play!

Consider the fabric choices available - you can wear 100% breathable polyester, a polyester/cotton blend, a 100% cotton garment, a polo with a cotton inner and polyester outer, lightweight fabrics, and even an eco friendly polo (made from bamboo and organic cotton). On top of this is an extensive range of innovative fabric textures and superior weaves such as Modal, rich Waffle, Ottoman and Cotton Piques which offer more choices in function and style. Customers can also choose from a myriad of colour options to suit every occasion from casual work and weekend wear to competitive sports and yes even fashionable polos for that stylish formal occasion.

One of Davis Doherty’s top selling polo lines is Dri-Gear. This range of Dri Gear garments work so well because the fabric yarns are impregnated with special (push/pull action) treatments that offer a superior transfer rate of moisture from the inside to the outside of all garments. Dri Gear molecular engineered wicking fabric promotes moisture transfer away from the body, creating a comfortable, light weight, quick drying garment, with the added benefit of UPF and UV protection. The Ultraviolet Protection Factor (UPF) shows how well the fabric protects your skin from solar UV, letting you select sun protective clothing with confidence. Unlike many other products, this is not a cheap polyester shirt range that you are told has moisture wicking properties.

This is a technically innovative fabric manufactured to the highest quality.

If you’re looking for a collection of Polos that keeps you cool, dry and looking smart, then Dri Gear is the brand to choose. You could say it offers comfort, light weight and breathability all in one!

Another exceptional range of polos that Davis Doherty has just introduced from Australia is the Sporte Leisure brand. Sporte Leisure is a premium upmarket polo for the discerning customer who is looking for that extra dimension in style, comfort and performance. Pricing is also competitive for a polo of this quality as comparable products in retail and golf shops sell for twice the price. There is an impressive range of styles and colours in the showroom and polo enthusiasts will not disappointed.

Customers can also choose from a myriad of colour options to suit every occasion from casual work and weekend wear to competitive sports and yes even fashionable polos for that stylish formal occasion.

Finally, with new styles and ranges coming in there will always be the traditional lines that are to be replaced, and so Davis Doherty has set up a new Clearance Shop at its offices in Bush Road Albany.

This a great opportunity for customers to take advantage of end of line garments that have been heavily discounted to clear. So while they are choosing a new branded uniform for their company, customers can also find something for themselves at a great price!

Visit Davis Doherty online at www.davisdoherty.co.nz (they have a great website) or drop in and say hello to Tony Oldham at their corporate apparel superstore: Davis Doherty, 237 Bush Road, Albany.

Issue 9 - November 2012

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51

Now you can easily target North Shore people & business!

Friday 2 November Starting off Right workshop Time: 9:30am-1:00pm Venue: BNZ Partners Building, Level 3, Building 1, 61 Constellation Drive, Mairangi Bay Cost: FREE This workshop is designed to address questions most people have when starting a new business.

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The Business Channel

Upcoming Events & Important Dates

Issue 9 - November 2012

Saturday 3 November North Harbour Club AIMES Awards - Gala Dinner Time: 6pm Venue: Bruce Mason Centre Cost: $250 per person October is the month that all the fundraising efforts of North Harbour Club and its members come to fruition with the presentation of the annual AIMES Awards. These annual awards reward excellence achieved by outstanding young people from the North Harbour region in the Arts, IT Innovation and Science, Music, Education, Sport and Service to the Community.

Visit: www.northharbourclub.co.nz Friday 7 November Business Excellence Network breakfast Time: 7:30am - 9:00am Venue: Bruce Mason Centre, Corner Hurstmere Road and The Promenade, Takapuna Beach Speaker: Tim Bennett, NZX Price: $65 + GST Every second month over 100 business owners and senior managers of local businesses to gather for breakfast to network and enjoy a keynote speaker. This month’s speaker is Tim Bennett, CEO of the New Zealand Stock Exchange.

For more information Visit: www.ens.org.nz Wednesday November 21 The Effective Network Topic: What’s your Vision Venue: Orewa Arts and Events Centre, 76 Riverside, Orewa (Beside Orewa College).

Time: 5:30pm - 7:30pm Cost: FREE! For more information Visit: www.ens.org.nz

Thursday November 29 Business Owners’ Forum Topic: Protect your business during divorce Time: 5:30pm - 7:45pm Venue: Level 3, BNZ Partners, 61 Constellation Drive, Albany Cost: FREE - To register click here The Business Owners’ Forum helps your business overcome hurdles to success.

Each bi-monthly session will cover a different topic aimed at boosting your business prospects.

For more information Visit: www.ens.org.nz Tuesday December 4th Fast Track to Business Planning (North) Time: 8am - 10.30am Venue: North Harbour Stadium, Stadium Drive, Albany Cost: $20.00+GST So you want to grow your business, but what the plan? How are you going to get there, have you got the right team and skills? Who in the world can help? This workshop is ideal for businesses embarking on a journey to grow, innovate or change direction.

For more information Visit: www.ens.org.nz Sunday February 24th North Harbour Club Charity Event “Lazy Sunday in Coatesville” Venue: Mincher Gardens, Coatesville An afternoon of Fine Wines, Food and Music Visit: www.northharbourclub.co.nz Wednesday March 6 2013 Business Excellence Network breakfast Time: 7:30am - 9:00am Venue: Bruce Mason Centre, Corner Hurstmere Road and The Promenade, Takapuna Beach Speaker: Tim Bennett, NZX Price: $65 + GST Every second month over 100 business owners and senior managers of local businesses to gather for breakfast to network and enjoy a keynote speaker.

For more information Visit: www.ens.org.nz

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