Joint owner and Director of the Waikato Armstrong Smarter Security franchise

My key responsibility is to contribute to the continuing growth and success of The Provet Group by effectively managing my client’s accounts and sales within a selected group of key accounts in the Waikato / King Country / BOP / Poverty Bay territory.To acheive this objective I establish customer-focused business relationships and enable superior service to be delivered to our clients through strong communication and collaboration between the customer service team, sales team members, other departments and the General Manager.This is a multi-faceted role where I am required to be a genuine "business partner" by offering world-leading warehousing services to clinics, supporting their business objectives, providing solutions to increase clinic profitability, facilitating IT support for VisionVPM and Provet Connect, offering business support through Crampton Consulting Group, training staff in inventory management and being there to support the clinics operations in any way I can.

I worked with the design and development team at MHN where I helped manage a variety of ground-breaking primary health-care projects. MHN has been in the process of implementing significant changes to its primary health care delivery, with a view to creating a sustainable and affordable model of care that meets the future needs of the New Zealand population.Prior to taking on this role, I played a significant part in assisting the MHN in developing a project management structure. I worked with a team of project managers and the MHN Programme Office to ensure the successful delivery of projects on time and within budget.My key functions included:• The design and implementation of the MHN project management structure, which is based on international gold standard project management processes.• The development and implementation of a training package for the MHN staff members • The implementation of a full project management system for all projects undertaken, including:o The development of full documentation from the initial project proposal through to the project implementation plan. o The management of all communications to senior management.o The management of all issues as they arise.• The management of projects from conception through to completion• The management of all aspects of projects including: o HR functions.o The procurement of contractors when required.o Budget management.o Procurement and tendering.o Risk management.o Scope management.o Closure management.

I worked in the General Practice Support Team at MHN where I worked very closely with general-practice owners in assisting them in developing new business models that would enhance their income and create a more sustainable future for the general practice (GP) industry.I managed key relationships with funders (Ministry of Health and District Health Board Funding and Planning), and negotiated key contracts for primary-care services on behalf of the GP business owners. I also provided the following trouble-shooting services to practices that were having difficulties: HR, IT, financial, contractual, employment (recruitment and retention), building issues, etc. My key functions included:• Visiting general practice owners on a regular basis, and informing them of what was happening in the health sector.• Working with the DHB in supporting the GP industry with their rural funding contracts (over $2.8M of rural funding to distribute).• Working with practice owners to improve their business practices and to implement new business systems to create more sustainable general-practice models.• Dealing with external agencies on behalf of the general practices to negotiate better supply terms and conditions for services (e.g. International recruitment agencies and medical supplies companies).• Supporting general practices in recruiting overseas GPs by interviewing them by phone.• Assisting GPs with resolving any contracting issues.• Developing, implementing and monitoring action plans for practices in “crisis”.• Managing all rural contracts between Waikato District Health Board / Waikato Primary Health and the Rural General Practice network.

I was the sales manager for both the general practice team and the hospital team throughout New Zealand. I managed a total of eight representatives from Auckland to Christchurch.My role also involved managing the $3M budget for this team, and I was required to set the annual budget, monitor the budget, and implement solutions and actions to ensure that the budget was adhered to.I managed the ongoing training of the sales force, providing most of the training myself, but utilising external training resources when necessary. A key function of this role also involved the motivating of the sales force and organising sales conferences every quarter. This experience has provided me with insight into the complex interface between the sales force and management, and has provided me with important background and understanding in the business aspect of running a sales-based company.My key functions included:• Responsible for achieving national sales targets.• Responsible for the annual operational budget of $3million NZD.• Spending regular time in the field coaching and motivating sales staff.• Responsible for recruitment and retention of sales staff.• Responsible for all disciplinary action as required.• Responsible for developing incentive schemes.• Training new sales representatives.• Organising professional development for all sales staff• Co-ordinating and organising quarterly sales conferences.• Supporting the marketing team to develop sales strategies.• Reporting monthly to the senior management team.• Reporting quarterly to the regional management team.• Reporting annually to the international management team.

This role involved managing a territory in the Waikato, Bay Of Plenty and Taranaki regions, selling the Novartis range of products to general practitioners and specialists. A secondary element to the role was to mentor and train new Novartis sales representatives. This was a positive aspect in that the new sales representatives and I would spend time working in each other’s territories.My greatest achievement came in 2005 when I achieved the ‘Sales Rep of the Year’ award, and won an incentive trip to Bali for a week, with a $10,000(NZD) bonus. The Bali trip was organised around the Asia Pacific awards presentations, and included forty other representatives from around the region. We were permitted to take our partners with us, and we were treated to an amazing week of pampering in a five-star luxury Bali resort, the Four Seasons Resort.

I worked for a variety of pharmaceutical companies during this time selling in a range of settings:- General Practice- Hospital Specialists- Hospital Pharmacy- Retail PharmacyI sold into many different therapeutic areas:- Psychiatry- Cardiology- Infectious Diseases- Orthopaedics- Paediatrics- Geriatrics- Urology- Oncology- EndocinologyI was always a high achieving sales rep who had a reputation of being able to deliver.

I received medical information requests from the public and medical professionals and responded to the requests by performing medical literature searches, creating response letters, and using prepared information put together by Eli Lilly.