Welcome to Success With Grace, this is a new business designed specifically for the Technical Business market. Many people know that I started out as an Industrial Chemist and made the transition to sales in 1983. That wasn’t smooth sailing. In fact, I was thrown out of a customer meeting before I realised how little I knew about selling! Once I fixed what was wrong, that same client tripled their business inside 18 months.
Moving from a technical role to sales isn’t any easier now than it was. The specialist skills I had developed as an Industrial Chemist left me impoverished when it came to real world business communications and especially sales.
But I learned. I threw myself into every training opportunity, the good and the bad, and along the way I picked up a few skills.
My journey has spanned 30 years. In that time I have enjoyed a variety of roles including Sales and Marketing Manager of Bayer NZ, an IT Business Owner, Market Development Manager for Downer EDI, then General Manager for a NZ Chemical Importer where our technical sales team increased turnover from $10 million to $20 million – during the recession.
My most recent role was with The Marketing Company. They do a terrific job, but they can’t specifically focus on every niche group. With a burgeoning technical sector in New Zealand and overseas, expert technical sales skills have never been more required. As a nation we’re expecting great things from our innovative technical industries only to leave them floundering without the specialist skills they need.
My “TechBiz Success Academy” uses proven methodology to transform technical sales and business growth, particularly in the High-Tech, IT, Engineering and Science sectors. My passion is helping talented technical people and technical businesses enjoy growth and success!