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The Better SMB Podcast: Daily Summaries Delivered
by David Altena
Join hosts David Altena and Rob Bull as they delve into the subject of small and medium- business productivity in New Zealand. With a focus on driving operational excellence and business improvement, The Better SMB Podcast is your go-to resource for strategies, insights, and success stories from the front lines of the SMB sector. Despite New Zealand’s historical challenges with productivity compared to our OECD peers, David and Rob are on a mission to turn the tide. Tune in to discover actionabletips, expert interviews, and innovative ideas that will help your business thrive in today’s competitive landscape. Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, The Better SMB Podcast will equip you with the tools you need to enhance productivity and achieve your business goals.Connect with us on LinkedIn: @DavidAltena and @RobBull
Latest Episodes
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- 1 weeks ago1h 6m
Ep 44. Better Isn't Bigger — Dr Paul Wood on Why Continuous Improvement Starts With the Leader, Not the Business
With hosts David Altena & Rob Bull and special guest: Dr Paul Wood, author of Better Never Stops.Growth and improvement aren't the same thing. Some businesses get bigger and more complicated. Some hit their targets while quietly drifting from what made them great. Dr Paul Wood — psychologist, former SAS and Hurricanes performance consultant, and author of Better Never Stops — joins David and Rob to unpack what continuous improvement actually looks like for the person running the business, not just the business itself.In this episode:The line between healthy continuous improvement and never feeling like anything is good enough"Personal prisons": the limiting mindsets that quietly hold capable owners back — including the assumption that everyone should care as much as you doWhat elite environments like the SAS and the Hurricanes do differently that an average NZ business could actually borrowGenuine self-accountability for a leader with no one above them to report toThe smallest first move to reverse slipping standards — service, culture, or your own habitsWhy "can't" is the word to ban from your leadership team's vocabulary — and what to replace it withKey quote: "Better isn't really about fixing a business. It's about continually refining the person leading it." — David AltenaBook recommendation: Paul's pick for business owners — Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown📖 Paul Wood — paulwood.com📚 Better Never Stops — HarperCollins NZ: www.harpercollins.co.nz/9781775542971/better-never-stops/📊 Benchmark your own business with PerformIQ: www.thebettersmb.com/nz-manufacturer-signup/🌐 The Better SMB: www.thebettersmb.com🎙️ The Better SMB Podcast: open.spotify.com/show/0VmzaRqeU5g94kzfPRKQlqProudly sponsored by Setseed — www.setseed.com#BetterSMB #Leadership #ContinuousImprovement #NZBusiness #BetterNeverStops
- 2 weeks ago55 min
Ep 43. Listed Isn't the Same as Discoverable — What 2,000 Businesses Get Wrong About Getting Found
With hosts David Altena & Rob Bull | Guest: Elise Balsillie, Head of Thryv Australia & New ZealandThree-quarters of NZ business owners think their online presence is strong. Only about half their own customers agree. Elise Balsillie draws on Thryv's 2025 Business Index — 2,000+ SME decision-makers and customers across Australia and NZ — to unpack that gap, and what it now takes to get found when customers are asking AI, not just Google, who to trust.In this episode:The confidence gap: why owners rate their own online presence far higher than customers actually experience itGEO vs SEO in plain English — what changes now that AI tools do the "searching" on a customer's behalfWhat ChatGPT or Google's AI Overview actually looks at when it recommends a plumber, accountant, or bookkeeperWhy reviews and response speed matter more than a flashy website redesignThe one hour a week that moves the needle further than a full rebrandA simple starting point: 15 minutes a week Googling your own business and three competitors, from your phoneKey quote: "Being listed is not the same as being discoverable." — David Altena🔗 Thryv — Small Business Marketing Software: www.thryv.com📊 Benchmark your own business with PerformIQ: www.thebettersmb.com/nz-manufacturer-signup/🌐 The Better SMB: www.thebettersmb.com🎙️ The Better SMB Podcast: open.spotify.com/show/0VmzaRqeU5g94kzfPRKQlqProudly sponsored by Setseed — www.setseed.com#BetterSMB #Thryv #GEO #SEO #SMBMarketing #NZBusiness
- 3 weeks ago36 min
Ep 42. Connecting the Dots — Why Busy, Capable Businesses Still Aren't Moving Fast Enough
Smart people, sensible ideas, real effort — and yet the business isn't moving as fast as it should. David and Rob unpack why: it's rarely a strategy problem, a people problem, or a technology problem on its own. It's a connection problem — and it's quietly cancelling out good work in businesses everywhere.In this episode:The All Blacks analogy for misalignment: brilliant forwards, brilliant backs, no shared game planWhy only half of NZ SMEs have a documented plan — and why the rest run on reactive managementThe "hamster wheel" trap: teams return from training or conferences inspired, then slide straight back to status quoHow to actually get a team to own the plan — devolved, military-style leadership over top-down mandatesWhy throwing technology at a broken process just makes chaos happen fasterA simple test for your own business: ask your three most senior people to write down their top three priorities, independentlyKey quote: "The behaviours of your people are the result of the system that you built." — Rob Bull, quoting W. Edwards Deming📊 Find out where your dots aren't connecting — benchmark your business with PerformIQ: www.thebettersmb.com/nz-manufacturer-signup/📰 Read the article this episode is based on — Connecting the Dots, NZ Manufacturer, The Last Word, June 2026🌐 The Better SMB: www.thebettersmb.com🎙️ The Better SMB Podcast: open.spotify.com/show/0VmzaRqeU5g94kzfPRKQlqProudly sponsored by Setseed — www.setseed.com#BetterSMB #NZManufacturing #Leadership #BusinessAlignment #SMBNZ
- Aug 20, 202638 min
Ep 41. Election Year Excuses — Why NZ Manufacturers Can't Afford to Wait
Every three years, New Zealand business hits pause and waits for political clarity before it moves. David and Rob call time on that habit. In 2026, hesitation isn't caution — it's a competitive disadvantage, and the data on productivity, closures, and unemployment backs them up.In this episode:Why election years trigger a "wait and see" mindset — and why it's mostly noise, not strategyThe uncomfortable truth about NZ's business closures, inflation, and where we actually stand against the OECD on unemploymentThe real problem isn't the election — it's that most SMBs don't plan, don't set 90-day sprints, and end up purely reactiveFour practical moves to build momentum now: benchmark your reality, lock in capital plans early, double down on customers, and run 90-day sprintsThe Warren Buffett lesson: be greedy when others are fearful — why the quiet ones now are positioning to jump aheadKey quote: "There's three types of people in this world — people who make things happen, people who watch things happen, and people who go, 'what just happened?'" — David Altena📊 Know where you stand before you plan where you're going — benchmark your business with PerformIQ: www.thebettersmb.com/35-by-35/🌐 The Better SMB: www.thebettersmb.com🎙️ The Better SMB Podcast: open.spotify.com/show/0VmzaRqeU5g94kzfPRKQlqProudly sponsored by Setseed — www.setseed.com
- Aug 9, 202654 min
Ep 40. Your Voice at the Table — Why Lobbying Isn't Just for Big Corporates
Has a government regulation, policy shift, or piece of legislation ever directly affected your business? Chances are it has. And chances are your response was a BBQ rant, a frustrated call to your accountant, or a LinkedIn post — but not a conversation with the people who actually made the decision.David and Rob sit down with Holly Bennett — lawyer, former political staffer, and founder of Awhi Group, one of New Zealand's most transparent government relations firms. Holly also founded Engage, the country's only organisation dedicated to teaching everyday Kiwi business owners how to lobby effectively.What most SME owners get wrong: they think lobbying requires connections, cash, and a Wellington phone book. Holly dismantles that assumption completely. The biggest myth? That only the big end of town can do it. The most underused tool available to every business owner? Their local MP — and it costs nothing.The conversation covers how to actually engage government — who to talk to, what hat they're wearing, and why sending correspondence to the wrong office means it disappears into a void. Holly also opens up on building Awhi from scratch in a sector most New Zealanders couldn't define, launching Lobbyist.nz to bring ethical standards to a largely unregulated industry, and why now — with an election on the horizon — is the most important time for SMEs to demand their seat at the table.The room where decisions get made has empty chairs. This episode shows you how to pull one out.Show NotesGuest: Holly Bennett — Founder & MD, Awhi Group | Founder, Engage🔗 awhigroup.nz🔗 engage.org.nz🔗 lobbyist.nzThe Better SMBEverything for the NZ SME on a high-performance journey.🔗 thebettersmb.comEpisode Sponsor: SetseedThe business diagnostic tool built for New Zealand SMEs — benchmark your performance, identify your gaps, and chart your roadmap for growth.🔗 setseed.co.nzKey Topics: Lobbying | Government Relations | SME Advocacy | NZ Policy | Political Engagement | Business Growth | Awhi Group | EngageFollow & Subscribe: Find The Better SMB on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts. If this episode changed how you think about your relationship with government — share it with three business owners who need to hear it.
- Jul 29, 20261h 0m
Ep 39. Small Business, Big Stakes: ACT's Blueprint for NZ's SME Sector, with Laura McClure MP
Episode OverviewNew Zealand has around 530,000 SMEs — they employ 29% of the workforce and contribute over a quarter of GDP. Yet small business owners have long carried a regulatory and employment-law burden built, as the episode puts it, by people who've never signed a payroll or lost sleep over an employment dispute. In this episode, David and Rob sit down with Laura McClure MP — a former small business owner herself, having helped grow her family's fire safety consultancy into a national operation — for a deep, practical conversation on cutting red tape, reforming employment law, and what will actually move the needle on New Zealand's productivity ahead of the 2026 election.From business owner to Parliament: Laura helped scale her family's fire safety consultancy from the South Island into Auckland, and later found herself ironically being paid to help other businesses navigate the very red tape ACT now wants to cut."Orange fatigue": Laura's term for regulatory overload — when constant compliance signals (like endless high-vis and road cones) stop registering as real warnings, making everyone less safe, not more.All that glitters is not gold: The 2015 health and safety reforms are Laura's go-to example of good intent gone wrong — a regulator was created without clear rules on how to actually comply, spawning a costly compliance "cottage industry."The regulation tip-off line: Run by the Ministry of Regulation, it's already fixed absurd rules — like hairdressers unknowingly breaking the law by offering a client a glass of wine or even a cup of tea.The "Golden Handshake" Bill: Laura's member's bill would let employers and employees have honest, protected conversations about ending employment by mutual agreement — modelled on similar law in the UK, Canada, and Australia — without it automatically triggering a personal grievance.Personal grievance risk and hiring: Laura argues the cost and risk of getting a hire wrong is a major reason small business owners hesitate to take people on at all.Leadership over technology: Laura agrees the biggest productivity lever is leadership and culture inside the business — government's job is to get out of the way, not to be the driver of productivity itself.Access to capital: Banks remain risk-averse to lending against a business case versus property, and NZ continues to struggle attracting foreign direct investment — partly, Laura argues, due to Resource Management Act uncertainty.Procurement pain for SMEs: A vivid example — a small-town painter missed out on a swimming pool repaint tender because the process was too complex, and a big contractor won it at four times the price, then subcontracted the same painter to do the job.Quickfire round: book recommendation — Habits of High Performers by James Loughlin.Key Quote"The best thing government can do for a small business owner is to get out of the way — and then actively remove the obstacles it has already placed in the path."The Better SMB is on a mission to lift New Zealand's productivity by helping SMB leaders take practical steps to improve business performance — through the podcast, our column The Last Word, and our growing community.🌐 Website: The Better SMB — Turning High Performance Into a SystemSetseed — for your online platform requirementsPerformIQ — for your in-depth business assessment and benchmarkingEnjoyed this episode? Like, share, and comment — it helps us bring more great guests and content to New Zealand's SMB community.
- Jul 16, 202656 min
Ep 38. Exit Planning, Selling Your Business, and Maximising Value with Rod Cook
Episode OverviewIf you had to sell your business tomorrow, what would it actually be worth to a buyer — without you in it? Every year over 50,000 NZ businesses close and only ~2,000 actually sell. Businesses that sell are built to run without the owner as the glue. Rod Cook spent over a year pulling himself out of the critical path of Jackson's Flooring Design Commercial to make that possible.Origin story: Rod joined his wife Leanne's family flooring business, buying the commercial division in Hawke's Bay.Investing in advice early: A business coach from day one, plus a rule to always pay himself a salary — "the cost was irrelevant to the benefit I got from it."Weathering the cycles: The GFC and COVID — the pandemic pause pushed a systems overhaul that set up later growth.Delegate, don't abdicate: Early hiring mistakes taught Rod the difference, before building a nine-person team."Milk the cow a little longer": An accepted sale offer was shelved on advice from friend John Hutch (Plan A Consulting) — unpopular with Leanne at the time, but the right call.The 2024 plan: Standalone premises, working Rod out of the day-to-day, and preparing for a future sale.On loneliness in business: Why an informal "board" of trusted advisors matters without formal governance.Sales as the engine: Ranked #1 in his franchise group for 19 of 20 years.Would it have run without him a decade ago? "Not a chance in hell.""Delegate, but don't abdicate." — advice from John Hutchinson that reshaped how Rod built his team.The Better SMB is on a mission to lift New Zealand's productivity by helping SMB leaders take practical steps to improve business performance — through the podcast, our column The Last Word, and our growing community.🌐 Website: The Better SMB — Turning High Performance Into a SystemSetseed — for your online platform requirementsPerformIQ — for your in-depth business assessment and benchmarking (send me a URL and I'll link it)Enjoyed this episode? Like, share, and comment — it helps us bring more great guests and content to New Zealand's SMB community.HighlightsKey QuoteAbout The Better SMBWith Thanks to Our Sponsors
- Jun 25, 202654 min
Ep 37 Stop Working In It. Start Working On It with John Hutchinson
Episode SummaryHutch — founder of Plan AConsulting and former NZ Police detective — joins David Altena and Rob Bull to share what 15+ years of working with Kiwi SMEs has taught him. From running petrol stations to advising businesses across New Zealand, he unpacks thepatterns holding owners back and the practical steps to break free.Episode Highlights1. From the Police Force to Petrol StationsBurned out after years in the CIB and Serious Crime, John bought a service station with no business training and learned by making “donations to the market.”2. The Trap of BusynessBusy isn’t the same as productive.John’s turning point was counting pies during a stock-take. Is your daily activity actually moving the business forward?3. Delegate vs. AbdicateHis first two operations managersfailed — not their fault. He abdicated instead of delegated. The fix: clear expectations, accountability, and his mantra “Trust, but validate.”4. Strategy Fits on One PageStrategy is a set of integrated choices, not a 50-page document. Start with one question: What’s your winning aspiration?5. Governance Scales DownFor a sole trader it’s 20 minutes of honest reflection. For a $17M business, an Advisory Board. Either way: direction, oversight, accountability.6. Breakthrough vs. StuckBusinesses that scale are clear on direction, willing to try things, and know their numbers. Tom Peters: “Whoever tries the most, wins.”7. The Undercover Business AdvisorWhile running a covert police op in the South Island, Hutch’s cover story was that he was a business advisor. Years later — that’s exactly what he became.Quick-Fire Round• Weekly question: “Have I achieved what I set out to achieve?”• Biggest myth: You need to be the fountain of all knowledge• Books: The E-Myth Revisited, 7 Habits, Good to Great, Scaling Up, Playing to Win• Hawke’s Bay hidden gem: Sit undera tree on a beach and look out at the sea Key Takeaways• Stop counting pies — if you’re doing it, you’re stuck• Busyness is not a badge of honour• Trust, but validate• Strategy fits on one page• Governance scales to any size business• Mistakes are tuition fees — learnand move on Links & ResourcesGuestPlan A Consulting — www.planaconsulting.co.nzEpisode SponsorSetSeed — www.setseed.comThe Better SMB PodcastListen on SpotifyBooks Mentioned• The E-Myth Revisited — Michael E. Gerber• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People — Stephen Covey• Good to Great / Built to Last / How the Mighty Fall — Jim Collins• Scaling Up — Verne Harnish• Playing to Win — Roger Martin& A.G. Lafley• Blue Ocean Strategy — Kim & Mauborgne• Red Team Thinking / American Icon — Bryce Hoffman• Slow Productivity — Cal Newport• Alchemy — Rory Sutherland Episode Tags#BetterSMB • #PlanAConsulting • #SMELeadership • #NZBusiness #BusinessGrowthThe Better SMB Podcast is proudly sponsored by SetSeed — www.setseed.com
About The Better SMB Podcast
Join hosts David Altena and Rob Bull as they delve into the subject of small and medium- business productivity in New Zealand. With a focus on driving operational excellence and business improvement, The Better SMB Podcast is your go-to resource for strategies, insights, and success stories from the front lines of the SMB sector. Despite New Zealand’s historical challenges with productivity compared to our OECD peers, David and Rob are on a mission to turn the tide. Tune in to discover actionabletips, expert interviews, and innovative ideas that will help your business thrive in today’s competitive landscape. Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, The Better SMB Podcast will equip you with the tools you need to enhance productivity and achieve your business goals.Connect with us on LinkedIn: @DavidAltena and @RobBull
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