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Paul MaherManagingdirector ofMicroPro

Elaina Fitzgerald,whose familyowns the Woodland Househotel in Adare, Co Limerick,and the Vienna Woods inGlanmire, Co Cork, trains allher staff to be sales oriented.

When a customer’s car broke downin the car park, a member of staffstepped in to help. The two chattedwhile a mechanic was found. As itturned out, the same customer bookedhotel accommodation for a largeorganisation in the region. The inter-change generated a steady flow of newbusiness for the hotel.“When the recession came, I had to

do something to drive sales,” said Fitz-gerald. In 2010 she and local businessowners set up a “chapter” of BusinessNetwork International (BNI), a referralnetwork.Members honed their sales pitches

and referred business to one anotherwhenever possible. Over the next fiveyears thechaptergenerated inexcessof€1m a year for the group.“Membership adds about 5% to our

turnover each year, which was a hugehelp in the downturn,” said Fitzgerald.“And the sales training I learnt fromthe group has helped me capitalise onthe opportunities that arise as theeconomy recovers.”Fitzgerald even ran a networking

workshop for staff explaining how tolook throughpersonal andprofessionalnetworks for chances to generate sales.All sorts of opportunities opened up,such as reciprocal relationships withone old college friend who is nowworking in an airline, and someonerunning a local taxi company,according to Fitzgerald. “Not everyoneisworkinginsales,”shesaid,“butsalesis now a part of everybody’s job.”Small-business owners “are good at

goingoutthereandmakingasalespitchto a prospective customer, they are notso good at selling throughothers”, saidSandra Hart, executive director of BNIIreland South andWest (bni.ie).“Yet, if someone tells you about a

good film, or a great hairdresser, or agood place to eat, personal referralmakes all the difference.”The key is knowing your target

advocates. “I know lots of businessowners whose own mother wouldn’tknowexactlywhatit istheydoandwhotheywant to sell to,” she said.Staff can be the business owner’s

greatestally.“It’snotaboutlearningoff

to 10 years and that, once theyhave come to the end of theiruseful life in computing, wewill take them back andrepurpose them into cashregisters and use the glass foremergency lighting systems,”he said. “Our carbon footprintis very small.”Amazingly, given the scale

of the competition, he alsomanaged to compete on price.“You have to remember, thebigmakers operate on very

a spiel and doing a hard sell, butinvesting in that education so that, ifthey happen to be out in the pub andsomeone is organising a christening,they should know your hotel is a greatvenue, andwhy,” said Hart.“You could have 200 staff and a sales

teamoffive.Yetifeverymemberofstaffbrings in one piece of referral businessover a year, that’s 200 new pieces ofbusiness a year.”Local enterprise offices (localenter-

prise.ie) run subsidised sales trainingprogrammes. Fingal Local EnterpriseOffice, for example, is offering awork-shop for €40. Plato (platodublin.ie andwww.platocork.ie), a developmentnetwork for small-business owners,providessubsidisedtrainingcoursesformembers, including in sales training.Derek Carter, of Thrive Consulting,

Fitzgerald saysmembership ofBusinessNetworkInternationaladds 5% toturnover of herhotel businesseach year

has run a number of these courses,including for Plato. He believes thatIrish businesses rely too heavily onestablishing connections. “We tend tobuild our relationships through whoyouknowandwhoyouplaygolfwith,”he said. “But you can’t take it forgrantedthat justbecauseyouknowoneanother, they are going to keep buyingfrom you.”The recession increased buyers’

professionalism, and a determinationto seek value, he said. It also takes timeto build up a relationship based onknowing a customer’s family andbroader network and “people don’thave time for that any more”,according to Carter.Prospective customers are expert in

their own business and are more thanlikely expert in your product — and

those of your competitors, said Carter.“You can decommoditise yourself bybringing the kind of insights that you,asasalespersonvisitingcompaniesliketheirs all the time, should be able tobring,” he said.Even the smallest business can use

online testimonials to sell. “The mostimportant thing is to build trust,”added Carter. “It doesn’t matter ifyou’ve a butcher shop or a smallaccountancy practice, I may not trustyou when you tell me your business isgreat; I am inclined to trust otherpeople, who look like me, when theytell me your business is great.”It’s not about manipulation. “The

problemwith sales training of the pastwas that too much was about tacticsand techniques,” said Carter.Most small companies are hatched

by people with no sales training, saidAlan Clayton, a business coach withSOSVentures (SOSV), a venture capitalcompany. They have an idea for aproductor serviceandspendtheir timethinking about developing it — andonly then realise theyhave to sell it too.SOSV previously ran a sales acceler-

ator in Cork called Selr8r, and hasrelaunched the programme in SanFrancisco as HAX Boost (hax.co).The lack of a professional sales staff

member does not necessarily impede astart-up. “Most buyers actually like tobuy from makers rather than fromsellers,whichiswhyfoundersshouldinfact be the best person to sell theirproduct,” said Clayton.To succeed, he adds, founders need

to learn not just how to sell, but ratherhow buyers buy. “Everyone, including

Network your way to sales successIt’s hard to beatpersonal referralswhen it comesto conjuring upnewbusiness,writes SandraO’Connell

BRIAN GAVIN/PRESS 22

THE PROBLEM WITHSALES TRAININGOF THE PAST WASTHAT TOO MUCHWAS ABOUT TACTICSAND TECHNIQUES

HOW IMADE IT

I put a clean-up program into harddrive to make our computers greenerPAULMAHER features in anewUS documentary, Deathby Design, which investigatesthe environmental cost ofthe international electronicsindustry. It is an issue closeto the Dubliner’s heart, as hisinnovative, eco-friendlywooden-cased computers havewon awards around theworld.Before pioneering

sustainable technology, andhelping Hollywood expose thedirty secrets behind our digitaldependency,Maher learnedabout computers via a seriesof jobs in Dublin. He left SyngeStreet school in 1979, landingan apprenticeship in radio andTV repairs at rental firmRTV.After 10 years he completeda FAS training course incomputer networking beforelanding a jobwith ReflexComputers, part of the DCCgroup, carrying outcomponent level repairs onmainframes, printers andpersonal computers.Whenthat firmwent into liquidation,he set up on his own.“The business was

originally calledMultimediaComputer Systems, but all of asudden everyonewas talkingaboutmultimedia—DVDs,CDs, PCs all in the one box—sowe changed it toMicroProin 1993,” he said.Maher’s sister-in-lawAnne

Galigan left a jobwith AlliedIrish Banks to help him set upthe company. It was a risk,but she knew he had formerReflex clients, including bignames such as IndependentNewspapers and CRH.Maher’s work involvedmaintaining the PCs, printers,networks and software ofexisting clients, and, where

possible, finding new clientsand fitting out their systemsfrom scratch.A nature lover since

childhood, hewas soon irkedby the amount of waste theindustry generated. “Theamount of carcinogens incomputers is phenomenal andmuch of it ends up as waste,withmaterials thrown out,” hesaid. “Softwarewas updatingquicker than the hardware,every three years companieswere replacing their computersystems, and nearly all of itwas going to landfill.”He decided to design a

longer-lasting PC. “I thought,what if I could build anupgradable, repairable,reusable computer?”With a traditional PC

everything is on onemainintegrated board inside thebox. “So, if one piece goes, itall goes, whichmeans themachine is only as good as itsweakest link,” saidMaher.“It’s cheaper for bigmakers todo it this way. And, becauseevery three years is like a newgeneration for computers,people just get rid of them.I decided to use amodulardesign instead.”He designed amachine

where all the parts could beseparately replaced andupgraded. Pitching himselfagainst themight of giantssuch as Dell and HP, helaunched theMicroPro PC in1999 and immediately soughtISO 9001 and ISO 14001quality standards as aneffectiveway of establishingcredibility. He also competedon service. “Our customersliked the fact that we canrepair all our products for up

bigmargins. Andwe do theset-up for our customers.”He set his heart onwinning

an EU Ecolabel, the badge ofhonour for environmentalstandards, but was told thatgiven themercury, lead,PVCs, plastics and brominatedflame retardants used in thecomputer industry, it wouldbe impossible for a PC towinit. Undeterred, Maher strippedout the carcinogenicmaterialsto build the IamEco computer.“Nature ensures oil-based

carbons are buried deep in theearthwhere they can’t causetrouble, yet we humans go outof ourway to dig down andstrip them out.With IamEcowe don’t use any oil-basedcarbon at all.We usewood.”His design also did away

with peripherals such asmiceand keyboards in favour of atouchscreen. Unfortunately,as a small firm, getting themachine certified acrossEuropewas a difficult process.In themeantime, Apple’srevolutionary iPad launchedand stole his thunder.“Thoughwe had the

technological skills, we didn’thave themanagement skills tocapitalise on it. The companywas built on service andhaving great engineers.”Still, in 2010 he secured the

Ecolabel certification he hadbeen aiming for. This wasfollowed up by industry designawards and invitations tospeak across Europe.The company is currently

designing a new “sustainablysmart” tablet device usingfunds fromHorizon 2020, anEU research programme. Theproject excites Maher, but hisgoal is not financial. “If I was

in this for themoney I couldhave sold the business 10 timesover.We’re not designingenvironmentally sustainablecomputers to get rich,” he said.Maher is also an advocate

for apprenticeship in theworkplace and a committedemployer of people withspecial needs. This heattributes to the enrichingexperience of growing upwith his younger sister Noirin,who died last Christmas.“Coming from a special

needs family gives you a verydifferent perspective onthings,” he said. “You realiseit’s a very small worldwe liveon and that we’re here for avery short time.”Maher believes all

manufacturing businessesshould operate on a design-for-reuse basis. His productswill age gracefully as thewooden housingmatures.The future belongs to green

businesses like his, he argues.“It’s about not doing youremploying— and yourpolluting— on the other sideof theworld. The futurewillbe all about small-scalemanufacturing and it will bedone locally. Technologicalsolutionswill be created in amuchmore environmentally-friendly and sustainable way.”

SANDRA O’CONNELL

BRYAN MEADE

Maher, with Anne Galligan, builds ‘upgradable, repairable, resusable‘ machines to minimise waste

sales people, hates to think they areprofessionally trained to sell stuff,because there’s an element of beinghoodwinked,” saidClayton.“Wetry toexplainhowpeoplebuy,howtheworldlooks from the other side of the table.”Acumen,aprogrammerunbycross-

border business development bodyInterTradeIreland (intertradeire-land.com/acumen), subsidises up tohalf the cost of the salary of a full-timesalesperson for the first year.Robert McCarroll focused his

energies on establishing Belfast-basedfabricationandweldingcompanyCim-pina as a specialist in themaritime andaerospace industries. “Wewereheavilyreliantonourmajorcustomersandhadbecomecomplacentintermsofseekingnew business and developing ourproduct portfolio,” he said. “We justdidn’t have the space and time tobreathe or to seek out new opportuni-ties and newmethodologies.”He wanted a salesperson who could

prospect for new sales by directly con-tacting potential leads, update thecompany’smarketing tools and sourcetendering opportunities. He signed upfor Acumen in 2014 and the result hasbeen a 20% increase in business.Crucially Cimpina also introduced a

new customer relationship manage-ment (CRM) system. “Sales isn’t aboutsending someone good looking out totell people how great their product is,”said Michael FitzGerald of One-PageCRM,an IrishCRMcompany.“It’sabout building confidence over time.”Confidencecomes less frombig sales

pitches and more from the cumulativeeffect of micro-engagements built upover time, “the little nudges a goodCRM system prompts”, he said.ForJoeToomey,salesdirectorof Irish

TV, a producer of original TV contentwith offices in Ireland, the UK and US,OnePageCRM, which costs from €11 amonth, has been awelcome addition.It tracks sales on a daily, weekly,

monthly or yearly basis. “I can see allthe conversations across the wholeteam,thevalueofeverycustomertous,how much each has spent, what theydidordidn’t like about us andour con-version rates,” he said.Any CRM system is only as good as

the people using it, however. “CRM isvery much a GIGO situation — you putgarbage in, you get garbage out,” saidToomey.Do it right, however, and it’s a huge

boon.

THE AMOUNTOF CARCINOGENSIS PHENOMENAL,MUCH OF IT ENDSUP AS WASTE