David Trim
WHEN annual holidays for employees went from three to four weeks most people didn't understand its impact on small to medium-sized business (SMEs), says newly elected Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce president David Trim.
"The owner of a business with five employees is not making any extra money to pay that extra holiday," he said.
"Things like that can have a huge effect on businesses. I'm not saying we shouldn't have done it but we need to have advocacy back to the Government to say, 'Hey is this really suitable for SMEs?'."
"There is not really a strong united voice for small business in New Zealand. The nearest we have is the Chamber of Commerce.
"SMEs are the backbone of the country. They put food on the table and employ 90 per cent of people. We should look after them, treasure them and grow them."
The business development specialist knows plenty about growing, he was raised on a Northland dairy farm and completed two horticulture cadetships before moving to Hawke's Bay as a 20-year-old "because I love pip and stonefruit".
He first worked at Pernel Orchard in Hastings before managing a nearby orchard, leasing three orchards in Pakowai before he "fell into" consulting.
"My neighbours were being bought out by people that had no idea on how to be an orchardist - they thought it was an easy lifestyle.
"My first consultant client came from Wellington. He was 60 years old, didn't know how to grow anything and was told to bring his golf clubs and fishing rod because that was the lifestyle he would have.
"He had no idea - he was sold a dream."
Orchards then were 4.8ha to 6ha and provided a reasonable living "but it would be pretty tough these days".
A price crash in Red Delicious and Granny Smith prices in the mid-1990s saw him taking a job as regional sales manager for Mainland Products. He was made lower North Island manager and then the Lower North island food service manager.
It was a time of consolidation in the dairy industry - "a big race" - with his final employer Fonterra.
Kiwi Dairies "would throw businesses at me and we would have to merge them into our network".
"There were layoffs - we would pluck out the synergies and turf the rest, to put it bluntly."
His last managerial role with Fonterra involved 150 staff and smallgoods contractors and franchisees. "By default I coached franchisees and contractors to help make more profit in their businesses - that helped the greater cause.
"I really liked taking the learning from the corporate machine with its red tape and converting that into something universally usable for the franchisees on the street every day.
"Likewise I like talking to the franchisees and the things that hindered them, converting that into corporate speak and taking it up the corporate ladder to say, 'Look, this is what the guys need'."
He said it was a natural step to become a business coach and, after returning to Hawke's Bay for family reasons, chose a United States franchise where he trained, despite already "fully armed" from his own experiences, not least orcharding.
"If I find an ex-orchardist in another business I know I don't have to worry about budgeting, because an orchardist by default has to spin things out and fork out all that money before any income comes in."
After five years with ActionCoach he went independent as David Trim and Associates.
He said people in New Zealand don't understand business coaching as a necessary ingredient "yet we don't have an issue that a lot of our Olympians have four coaches".
"In America you walk into a place and you say you are a business coach and you can help them and they say great, jump on board. But in New Zealand they roll their eyes and say, 'What?'."
He said it was rare to find a business manager with rounded skills.
"It is easy for me to be an all-rounder because I'm not emotionally involved in the business. So when I can find a company that has really good sales I don't have to talk to them about selling, I need to talk to them about operations - they are probably bursting at the seams on the back end. When I find someone who has manuals and strategies galore they probably have no one walking in the front doorstep."
His business development service "is an investment" that offers a money-back guarantee from the coaching.
He prefers the term coach to consultant.
"The consultant tends to tell you what is wrong with your business and then leave, whereas a coach turns up next week to see how are we doing and breaks those problems down onto fixable strategies. Therefore it's an investment - you have to be going forward."
The service required a healthy relationship.
"It has to go two ways. I have a rule that says I can fire you and you can fire me. In my time I have actually fired three clients which is very liberating. There are standards I won't budge on - ethics."
He said he loves event management and drives two of the region's biggest - Relay for Life and Christmas at the Park.
The Christmas event, the largest free event in the East coast, will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year.
"It is about community - celebrating Christmas with others and bringing the community together. It was my vision from the beginning to have professional, free events because that's kind of like an oxymoron.
"I believe something changes - it is no longer a community event if you have to pay.
"I wanted to create free community events were community spirit can be developed and Christmas is a great backdrop for that. You just put the two together.
"I love the idea of bringing people together as a community so we can see who our people are. We are living in an age where we don't talk to each other anymore. If you leave your house for a week your neighbours would never know.
"There is something incredible that happens when you look out at Anderson Park and see 25,000 people from all walks of life all laughing, all enjoying themselves and having a good time. Where else do we get a whole community in one place and celebrate something? We have little factions of, say, all the business people here and all the quilt makers over there.
"The health of the city is about the health of the community. It is not about the wealth of the community."
Planning for the event starts in March.
"Raising $100,000 for the operational budget is a major job. Logistically, as it is close to Christmas it takes up more and more of my time."
He said he crosses his fingers for funding and sponsorships.
"If it doesn't come in then it's me. And if I get it wrong on the day then I have stuffed up my leadership - I haven't communicated, I haven't organised, I haven't done all that stuff and delegated everything it takes for a great event."
He said if the business community worried more about community then business would be better.
"It is amazing what was learnt and taught over a coffee, and networking opportunities at the Chamber are absolutely valuable for businesses, particularly SMEs. They don't get to talk about the business to other business people.
"I'm amazed how many retailers open their doors and don't even say hello to the neighbour. It's incredible, absolutely incredible. We need to be more united to help each other with our businesses."
He is running for Napier City Council in the upcoming elections, having been unsuccessful for council in the Taradale Ward and mayor. He also missed out in a council by-election last year.
He said his lone stance in favour of Napier and Hastings councils' amalgamation was the main reason for defeat.
"In my opinion there are not a lot of business people who would say we definitely don't need amalgamation.
"However, the people have voted and we need to move on and do the best we can.
"Certainly the shared services are growing by the week as is evidenced by over 50-odd shared services we have now."
He said Hawke's Bay needed a lift and should become a world authority on its natural strength.
"Having spent time at Hort Research [now Plant and Food] I think horticulture research is something that we should specialise in.
" I don't think we do go there for anything high calibre."
He evaluated apple varieties for Hort Research, particularly the Gala Splendour series, working on the last 2000 seedlings from the late Dr Don Mackenzie and developed by Allan White.
"Hawke's Bay should be the pre-eminent place for horticultural research, developing world-leading products as Tatua Dairy has in Waikato.
"That could put Hawke's Bay in a better position to attract a different type of the employee to the Bay - researchers and associates.
"We could be the Silicon Valley of fruit and vegetables."