Subscribers receive as a free gift an Audio workshop entitled Who Are We? And What Does It Mean?
About Zee2A
The concept conveyed by our business name is quite simple: We are all taught from a young age to do things in a certain way and in a certain order. We crawl before we walk; we read lines of text on a page from left to right; we travel from A to B, and the alphabet runs from A to Z(ee). Most of those conventions will serve us well for a lifetime—but what if some of them don’t work for us anymore? What if we start learning a language where reading from left to right just wouldn’t work? Or if, in our business, we start to find that doing things a certain way ‘because that’s the way we’ve always done it’ is no longer producing the results we desire? Are we able to explore alternatives which at first glance seem counter-intuitive, ‘outside the box’?
Zee2A (get it?) turns conventional wisdom on its head to ensure peak performance for your organization and maximum return on your marketing and customer satisfaction investment. Give us a try: We may challenge your preconceptions but the results will speak for themselves!
About David
David started his career as an Accountant, for the best reason in the world: His father had been one, and he was following in his footsteps. Two degrees and ten years later, David was one of the youngest Financial Managers in the largest Cold Chain Consumable Goods organisation in the Southern Hemisphere. He was responsible for their largest production facility. Then David met a colleague who had changed careers, and his comment struck David like a thunderbolt – he said that he woke up one day and wondered: ‘If this is the top of the tree, why is the sky so green?’ David had been feeling a similar dissatisfaction without being able to so eloquently put it into words. Thus began a journey of self-discovery which continues to this day.
Driven by a passionate desire to master business strategy and business process (Yes, he was once young and idealistic!), David began his journey by turning to the wonders of Information Technology. Some of the challenges he probably only took on because he had no idea how hard they could be: From launching an Applications Training Division for Oracle Corporation, through forming an Oracle Applications Practise for Deloitte Consulting, to developing a Sales Methodology used for Solutions sales at iGate Global Solutions. Most were very successful, while all of them taught David valuable lessons about life, business and relationships!
A key lesson learned was that in order to gain the most benefit from any technology, an organisation must be ready to ruthlessly prune and reconstruct organisational processes and strategies with a singular focus on the specific strengths of the medium. It’s hugely exciting (can you hear the propeller on David’s head spinning?) but can be enormously frustrating when the organisation takes a ‘hands-off’ approach and simply reacts to the huge pressures that change exerts on it. And yet if there were to be a theme to David’s experience it would be that the vast majority of organisations simply react. Tragic! David yearned to be able to work with entrepreneurs person-to-person, taking an active part in shaping the value-delivery processes which most directly affect the profitability of the enterprise. Along with system innovation, marketing is the key value-delivery process.
For the past five years David has worked with organizations that are struggling to instil coherence within the Marketing, Sales Support and Fulfilment functions of their business. He has brought to bear his prodigious knowledge of business and marketing, at the same time taking on the role of mentor and coach to key personnel within client organisations to ensure that he leaves a legacy of long-term efficiency and profitability.
About Vanessa
Vanessa has a strong background in Marketing within the Financial Services industry, having filled a number of roles within such world-class organisations as:
- The Royal Bank of Scotland - The second largest banking group in the UK and Europe;
- Barclays Asset & Sales Finance - The leading asset finance provider in the UK and winner of Business Moneyfacts awards six years running;
- The Institute of Bankers in South Africa - a Centre of Excellence within the Financial Services sector; and
- Wesbank - The '#1 Employer' and biggest instalment credit organisation in South Africa.
In the early days Vanessa was holding down a fulltime job while furthering her education after hours. Once she graduated and was elected an Associate of the Institute Of Bankers in South Africa, Vanessa was invited to train and lecture new students the following semester. Her students were fellow experienced industry colleagues, wanting to improve their education and working towards Associate status themselves. Many of them were superior in age and experience, but this nonetheless recognised Vanessa’s exceptional interpersonal skills, depth of understanding, and ability to mentor and train others. Vanessa has also had her research articles and Special Reports published by the Institute.
Perhaps the biggest kudos in Vanessa’s career came when she was appointed Branch Manager at a Flagship Branch of the leading high street bank mentioned above – oh, and did we mention that this also happens to be the fifth largest banking group in the world? With 42 staff to manage, and the reputation of being the top-performing branch in England to protect, this was a weighty responsibility for a 26-year-old - but it was a challenge that Vanessa relished. Such was Vanessa's success in the role that she was next assigned as a trouble-shooter, turning around the results of underperforming branches in the region. In one such branch she achieved over 60% improvement in Sales and Marketing results in less than eighteen months.
Vanessa has extensive experience in sales and marketing and having worked on three continents she has been privy to customer interactions in all three. Vanessa has a strong bias toward customer satisfaction and retention. This is because during her career she has observed, witnessed and personally experienced both the right and the wrong way of handling client interactions. Sales and Marketing are of only temporary value if the after-sales service is not there to meet or exceed customer expectations. Therefore, service related issues form an integral part of her mentoring and coaching offering. And chances are that if you are experiencing issues or challenges, Vanessa has probably experienced similar!