Q&A with Greg Cross of the Beachheads advisory board

He is Managing Director of Cross Ventures, an investment/advisory services group that has built up a portfolio of interests in export focused high growth companies.

Greg was introduced to international marketing early in his career, as an executive at Trigon Packaging and then at Fact International, one of the country’s first software exporters.

In New Zealand he built a track record of success as CEO of Microsoft and Advantage Group, overseeing significant revenue growth and increased market share for both firms.

What are some of the issues New Zealand companies face in operating internationally?

Exporting products to markets on the other side of the world presents our companies with a raft of challenges that need to be understood and dealt with - I like to summarise them under three key areas:

1. Focus. Agreeing what market niches and geographies to target and succeed in is critical. Keep it simple, pick one, go after strong market share and then use that as a platform for further growth.
2. Leverage. Build a strategy to make the most of opportunities that can drive exponential rather than incremental growth - in markets like the United States your local competitors will understand this really well.
3. Marketing. New Zealand is a relatively small and simple market in structure which means our companies often don’t develop or value the disciplines of marketing required to succeed in larger and more complex market. Having the best product is no guarantee of success. Building the best marketing team is the best way to underwrite your success.

How important is it to have a local presence in the market?

For companies that have high growth aspirations the presence of an experienced executive in market is one of the absolute must-haves. Even in today’s highly connected world it is still very difficult in most sectors to build meaningful customer relationships from the other side of the world or even across the Tasman for that matter.

If we look closely at the critical success factors of some of our successful exporters (like Bendon for example) one of the things they did really well was to recruit the best fashion Industry executive they could find to lead the development of their North American operations.

How can the Beachheads programme help?

One of the oldest sayings in business is ‘its not what you know but who you know’. Building a network of executive level contacts in a new market can take a very long time and having a network that can provide introductions, market insight, and a pool of skill and experience to draw on can be the difference between success or failure.

Very simply the Beachheads programme is focused on providing our high growth exporters with faster access to executive level networks that are ready, willing and able to assist with their market entry and growth plans.

What is the role of the New Zealand Beachheads Advisory Board?

The New Zealand Beachheads Advisory Board serves as a gateway to the programme. All of our advisors are from the private sector and are busy executives in their own businesses so we want to make sure that we give priority to New Zealand's highest growth potential export companies.

Companies wanting to join the Beachheads programme work with their NZTE account manager to complete the application form which covers off the key points you would expect to find in a strategic plan.

The New Zealand Beachheads Advisory Board meets once each month, rotating round the main regional cities, to highlight the benefits of the programme and have prospective clients pitch their business expansion plans. Once accepted into the programme the New Zealand Beachheads Advisory Board appoints a Champion who will provide feedback and help introduce the company to the appropriate in- market Beachhead Board.

What is the value of the New Zealand Beachheads Advisory Board?

The New Zealand Beachheads Advisory Board is made up of experienced CEOs and Directors whose careers have been focused on exporting. They have a wide range of backgrounds across a range of sectors including food and beverage, specialised manufacturing, ICT, biotechnology and creative.

They have been there and done it themselves! Beachheads companies and prospective companies begin to benefit from their experience and international networks from the very first engagement with the programme.

How do you work with the offshore advisory boards?

The interaction with the offshore boards is critical. Making sure we send them New Zealand exporters with great potential is the key. This ensures we keep our board members engaged and highly motivated to help where ever they can.

We also provide networking events in New Zealand and in-market to bring the Beachheads advisors together with Beachheads and prospective Beachheads companies and to get the most value for New Zealand companies from their expertise.