Bye bye outsource

21 July 2010

A week has passed since the last update and a lot has happened since then.

Firstly, a quick update on the Outbound project. I received an email from the outsourcing company who were not very happy with the responses that they were getting from their team and now that the change of remuneration had gone through (refer to previous post) they felt that maybe this wasn’t worth their while as they weren’t making enough sales.

I had a chat to Chris who agreed that it is probably best to cancel the agreement straight away if that company didn’t have their heart in it anymore. So I made the call and called off their involvement.

And all this, after I had gone down there last week and took their sales team and their team manager through a sales coaching workshop spending half a day. Oh well..

This was a learning experience as I had never been involved in negotiating rates and setting service level agreements at this level, and had definitely never cancelled contracts before.

NSM are still going ahead and we will continue to work with them on the remaining leads on this project.

Now if you thought that my workload would come down, oh boy, were you mistaken!

Earlier, Sarah pulled me aside and said that she had discussed my term at NZ Mags and was happy to inform me that I would be there until (possibly) the end of September. This meant that I was able to take back the project lead for Project Rook, which is going full steam ahead.

I found myself in two to three meetings every day, all of last week ranging from topics of HR to Properties; Technology to Sales, and this trend will probably be continuing for the next month, it seems.

There is a lot on the plate which means that my musings online will be reduced.

I got an email today from Bosco with the link to his blog (http://mbaoflife.blogspot.com/), his style of writing and the purpose of his blog is very different and should make for an interesting read. So if you haven’t already checked it out, do so. I am sure he would value your feedback as would I.

Peace out!

Subscription sales insight

7/05/2010

Sonali and I had a really good catch up yesterday around NSM and the way it operates it subscription sales. MaaX has delivered a lot for them both in not only ease of reporting but also helping generate warm leads which only upto a year ago was non existing.

I still need data from Sonali to confirm the positive impact MaaX has had on them and she has agreed to send that through to me soon.

Sonali also introduced me to Tim Mooney (Subscriber Manager) who deals with promotions and campaigns in the paper. I have set a meeting with Tim for today to discuss his role in further detail and get some insights on what MaaX has done for his team.

The timeline is getting very tight for handing in the report and I am yet to get information on quite a few things. Will keep Chris updated on that as I go along.

Had a brief catch up with Bosco yesterday after he was done with the meetings in Digital and had enough time to catch up for a coffee before his taxi was due to pick him up to take him to the airport. It was good seeing him and I look forward to catching up with the rest of the boys at some point.

Today is the monthly drinks here at NZ Magazines and it should be a good opportunity to meet some more people in a more social environment.

Checking in

5/05/2010



Today started with Chris and me catching up and updating the Outbound Project. I also checked to see if I was on the right track and got his input on how things could be tweaked a little better.

I am happy to find out that I am on the right path and can continue ahead with some minor adjustments.

As part of the next step, I have arranged a meeting with Sonali Banerjee (NSM Contact Centre Manager) tomorrow with a view to see NSM subscriptions in action and pick her brains on certain areas.

I have also been putting together a report with all my findings and recommendations on MaaX and will continue to work on it in the coming weeks. There are a lot of blank areas in it at the moment but if all goes to plan then it should all come together by the end of the project.

Earlier, Bosco had sent through a link to APN’s company records including the webcast of the 2010 AGM which took place not so long ago in Sydney. I took the time to listen to it and I must say it was very interesting to not only hear about the results being explained by Brendan Hopkins (Group CEO) but also the manner in which the directors and chairman answered the questions asked by the shareholders on the floor. It was definitely a learning experience
(Tip: keep a spare set of head/earphones in your laptop bag/desk as you never know when you might need it.)