Mar 14, 2026
I wanted to create a 100-year company that would deliver exceptional property, project and strategic services in a unique way – with the client genuinely at the centre of our purpose.
Most of my career had been spent delivering for the private sector in commercial projects, so I partnered with someone with strong relationships with local government (relationships are everything) and residential development experience.
Veros grew, we added asset management and property advisory disciplines with greater emphasis with iwi and local government. This was a small shift in skill set rather than a 180-degree turn.
In 10 years, the point I retired, Veros had almost 40 staff across eight disciplines.
Before Veros I independently managed many property developments and through that time built strong relationships with a lot of people, based on professional respect and a focus on delivering for my clients. Each project had its challenges but by working alongside good people projects succeeded, and over a coffee we would agree to do it all over again.
Veros’ client base needed to be twenty times bigger and as such business development was to become a major requirement for growth.
I knew I needed a prospect list of 40 and that it had to be active each week. I set about making a minimum number of calls each week, both warm and cold. I drank lots of coffee and leveraged existing relationships to secure referrals to other opportunities.
When we secured a client, they needed to feel like we were part of their business rather than a “consultant” so building trust and always acting on their best interest was critical. This passion for our client’s business to be successful became a core part of Veros’ reputation.
At work I built a unique culture that most staff could say was special, but I made it clear that the only thing that was non-negotiable was our reputation. An outstanding result and the mutual desire to grab a coffee on completion to agree to do it all over again. This means we did not just prioritise what we did but how we did it.
My vision for Veros was ‘growth’ so every decision we made was about making the ‘boat go faster’ but thinking 100-years meant we focussed on building relationships, reputation and you do this by delivering outstanding results.
Growth to me was about building revenue through more clients and great projects. I was always happy to invest in people by looking at our last year’s profit, divide into salaries, and that would be the target employees for the next year. This approach paid off – the boat picked up speed and we grew year on year.
To create a culture of BD to strived to make BD part of everyone’s job description rather than an add on but recognised our staff were also making the boat go faster in their day jobs – so it’s about taking a balanced view, make it easy, do it the right way in less time.
Make sure your organisation expectations of staff are reasonable. Success should be about relationships and opportunities. Then break down expectations a little bit further to say.
Prospects need to total 30 to 40
Target 2 BD actions per week
Secure 1 BD meeting every 2 weeks
If collectively the team can meet these simple guidelines, have the support they need, then they will make the boat go faster, you will have growth and your reputation will be enhanced.