In rugby-mad SA, signing up a retired Springbok player to represent your business is an easy way to make the headlines and impress the customers. You can be cynical and think it's simply capitalising on the name and fame. Or you can be generous and believe sportsmen can easily have the flair and competitive streak to become winners in the business world too.
Former Springbok captain Bob Skinstad instantly impresses with his intellect and with his quick admission that he had a lot to learn about business and was more than willing to put the work in.
He's learned well, and as a director and shareholder of office automation company Itec Innovate, he has helped the company win awards as Itec's Dealer of the Year.
Skinstad is based in Cape Town and twice cancelled our face-to-face interview timed to tie in with his visits to Supersport in Johannesburg. So we chat via a video-conferencing system that Itec supplies. Yet, if he's too busy for an interview, I wonder just how much time he can devote to Itec, in between commentating for Supersport, organising the Cape Town Tens rugby tournament, chairing the recently formed Rugby Business Network SA, and appearing as a guest speaker at various functions.
Itec Innovate is his full-time job, he says. "I'm in the office every day; it's 95% of my focus."
He first met the Itec group almost four years ago and agreed to play at golf days and be MC at some functions. He liked the people and their focus on using technology to boost businesses, and was keen on a longer-term relationship.
Talent pool
So he made himself available for opening doors and initiating customer negotiations. "I did a lot of it pro bono at the beginning while I learned about the sales environment and the technologies, the infrastructure and how the business is put together," he says.
Being a famous name will get him in the door, but it won't get him much further. He has to prove he understands the industry and the business needs of potential clients, and in a way, he has more to prove than people with a purely business background.
Good sports people triumph because of their desire to do more and their quest to do better, Skinstad says. That attitude can easily adapt to the business world, so ex-sport stars are a great talent pool for businesses to draw on. But those who rely on their public profile and don't further their skills will fail.
"I'm a cricket fan so I'd let any international cricketer into the room to talk about cricket. So people come up with a way to get a foot in by taking a sportsman along," he says.
They're happy to give us five minutes of their time to validate their opinion that we're stupid and they don't like us anyway. So you actually have to work harder.
Bob Skinstad, Itec Innovate
Getting the first meeting is only 20% of the battle. "It's not about trying to open doors because I used to play a sport. It's about moving into a position where I'm comfortable looking at a business and its business environment and cost savings. Then it's what we sell and how we sell it and the relationship we have with the customer."
His fame is probably more of a yoke than a benefit now because everybody has an opinion about him. "They're happy to give us five minutes of their time to validate their opinion that we're stupid and they don't like us anyway. So you actually have to work harder. We need to be prepared more than any other company, so we always understand who we are going to see and the opportunities and the background of their business, so we can talk about more than what size boots I used to wear."
Skinstad once took a break from professional rugby and worked for Saatchi & Saatchi in London. That assured him that he could survive outside the sport, but the publicity he got also turned his head, he admits.
Sense of entitlement
"International exposure gave me a sense of entitlement that wasn't quite warranted. You reach for the magazines and think you're an entrepreneur, but for me you have to make a fire and burn yourself a little bit. I'm now actually at the coalface. It's not like if this fails I can say I'll do something else. For me, it's about making it work and growing it."
One new venture that is helping him promote Itec was to bring the Rugby Business Network to SA, modelled on a British networking organisation. "It's the nexus of rugby and business, which is the area where I operate. It's a networking opportunity that's not sleazy and cheesy."
It's open to players who are in business or want to get into business, and since people do business with people, making contacts is crucial. Their common love of rugby creates an ice-breaker before they start talking business. "Rugby is quite selective. You can almost guarantee that if someone says, 'meet my friend who used to play', you're going to like the person," Skinstad says. "You pretty much need to put yourself on the line for someone else, so if someone is happy to vouch for you in a rugby environment, you can vouch for them in a life environment."
I ask whether he sees himself as a sportsman who has grown into business, or as a businessman who was temporarily waylaid by sport.
"I don't see myself as either," he says. "When I was at university, professional rugby wasn't a career, so it's been a continual evolution. I have always had an innate curiosity, so all the way through playing rugby I have bought and sold small businesses and lost some money and made some money, and used the lessons to understand where I want to be afterwards."
First published in the Dec/Jan 2014 issue of ITWeb Brainstorm magazine.
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