Good service, service accompanied by efficiency, a great attitude as well as a smile, is rare. In South Africa, at least.
In fact, we’re so used to crummy or no service at all that our jaws drop when someone delivers on time.
“We’re living in a world where service is appalling . . . and that’s where we come in,” says Howard Blake, of Mount Edgecombe-based Blake Holdings.
We’re sitting in his open plan loft-style office, its floor-to-ceiling windows exposing us to the most magnificent view over the golf course next door, where a silvery dam interrupts the lush green vista. Howard’s office, with no walls or doors separating him from his staff, takes you aback if you’re used to a culture of closed-door bosses. And in the corner is a classic vintage pinball machine . . .
But he’s no typical boss. Casually dressed, completely unassuming, he looks nothing like a man behind a multi-million rand conglomerate spanning half a dozen countries.
In a nutshell, Blake & Associates was created in 1990 to build a new generation value chain provider of contact centre services. He started with a scooter and a portable typewriter – which goes to show how far you can move with determination and a damn fine idea!
Howard grins.
“I grew up in Glenashley and studied law at the University of Natal . . . I worked in the attorney general’s office for a while, but my then wife and I decided to start a business on our own.” They’d eyed niche financial services, and Howard says debt recovery was what he first focused on. “I had two clients – a local service station and a doctor’s rooms!”
And no, he adds, “It wasn’t running around like a real heavy swinging a baseball bat to get money out of people!”
It was more polite than that – and he made it even cleverer by designing a computer programme to analyse debtors. The analysis allows them to look at an individual’s behaviour and predict payment propensity. This system has been adapted to all the different aspects of the company, enhancing the customer lifecycle.
Today, he operates on three continents and employs 3000 people.
Clients on the company books include large financial institutions and retail corporates, as well as smaller companies with more specific marketing and project needs. Essentially, adds Howard, “Blake Holdings is a value chain provider of contact centre services, using technological innovation and intelligent knowledge bases to provide an innovative service to our clients.”
In other words, “whatever you don’t want to do in your business, we can do”.
“It’s all about brand building as opposed to brand burning. Take any big corporation and think of the frustration you experience trying to track down someone to deal with your problem. We do that for you . . . very professionally and very satisfactorily.”
As a finalist in the Ernst & Young Emerging Entrepreneur Awards in 2008, Howard has had a habit of re-inventing his business’s strategies and services every 12 or 18 months.
“It’s a matter of reading the market’s future, distilling it into a vision, building a strategy out of that and passing it on to my team for implementation,” he tells me. “It then automatically becomes a common goal for the team. We have to constantly produce new products to service the changing market dynamics, and this highlights the difference between ourselves and our competitors.”
It’s this edge over the others that has helped establish the company’s reputation abroad, where they’ve racked up numerous awards and accolades.
“We’ve also moved into the US market,” he says, “and have a number of terrific projects there. They include call centre support in the pharmaceutical industry and even customer service for power utilities. The call centre business generally is very mature in America, unlike here, where we still have a long way to go.”
You’ll also spot the Blake logo in Namibia, Botswana, Mauritius . . . and he tells me they now have business partners in Spain and Latin America.
As a leader in the delivery of value added services, through the medium of contact services, Blake & Associates can be justifiably proud of its achievements. The past year has seen continued growth in all areas of the business, notably in debt management and international operations. “We grew, domestically, by 67% last year,” he says.
And I’m delighted to find that Howard, who’s a complete petrolhead out of the office – he races a trick Nissan 350Z in the GT challenge and is passionate about all forms of motor racing, including superbikes and offroad – still owns and rides a scooter!
How cool is that! R
Useful info: Contact Blake Holdings at 031 538 4855 or visit www.blake.co.za