BRW, 03 November 1997

Pointers to Prosperity

Susan Barrett took a big plunge in 1994, leaving a very comfortable work environment to start her own business. She had only $3000, no branded products, and her contract with her previous employer, Morgan & Banks, prohibited her approaching any of their clients for six months.

But Barrett, like so many entrepreneurs, had a vision - albeit not a very clear one. She wanted to set up a company to focus on developing and building the whole person in a work environment rather than focusing on only the processes and results. Within three days she had her first assignment, worth $10,000, and Barrett Consulting now has a turnover of $500,000 and a staff of six.

Barrett, who has a science degree, worked for seven years as a drug sales representative before moving to Morgan & Banks. She was impressed by the performance of a test called SPQ, which can indi- cate the presence, the intensity and the type of fear experienced by sales people. It can also indicate a person's degree of goal clarity and time-management skills, and a person's ability to establish priorities for tasks.

The information is made available to management in a half-hour briefing session, and a training program called Fear-Free Prospecting can then be introduced. Barrett Consulting is using the SPQ system and has also developed tests and interpretations relating to leadership skills, counselling skills and promotional methods.

From left: Cathy Mulcahy, Rebecca Vandersluys, Jobst Schmalenbach, Alexandra Tiffen

Cathy Mulcahy, office manager for Barrett Consulting, says the market is growing as professionals, including accountants and bankers, are called on to do more sales work.

Mulcahy says the key to the company's success has been customer focus. "We are passionate about our service and we work continuously with clients through the job," she says. She says some of Barrett's competitors customise their programs to individual clients. The Barrett system is to customise the program before starting and then again while working with the client. She says the firm always focuses on the bottom line of its clients because this is something managers understand, and it is the standard by which the managers themselves are measured.

AMANDA GOME