Running ‘‘with the precision of a barbed wire hurdler'' and treating doctors as ‘‘the valued resource they are'' won Queenstown-based business MedRecruit the Conway Petrie Marketer of the Year Award in Wellington on Tuesday night.
The medical recruitment agency beat nine other businesses in the inaugural competition, run by Hamish Conway and Richard Petrie of Conway Petrie Insiders Circle, winning a trip for two to Port Douglas, with $1000 spending money.
Mr Petrie said MedRecruit had implemented numerous marketing strategies, including direct marketing, joint ventures and client education devices, over the past six months resulting in massive growth of their company.
‘‘Why they won: Sam Hazledine is the young Richard Branson of the recruitment industry,'' Mr Petrie said.
‘‘Having achieved massive business growth with audacious marketing strategies, Sam is our pick for superstar business achiever status".
‘‘The amazing thing is it has only taken them six months to out-market any of their larger competition. MedRecruit is already the smartest marketing firm I have ever seen in recruitment".
Dr Hazledine, MedRecruit's managing director, said he was honoured to win the award, which represented the hard work and passion he and his team had for giving doctors the lifestyle they wanted and deserved.
‘‘Six months ago MedRecruit was a barely profitable business,'' he said. ‘‘Since then we have increased our net profit by 8600%, which is phenomenal.
‘‘With no background in business, but the absolute conviction that we would make this a success, we have had to learn everything to make it happen and the expert coaching we received from Hamish and Richard has played a key role".
‘‘From the beginning we recognised the importance of marketing but didn't have huge budgets at our disposal, so we have had to use no cost and low cost strategies to reach our market.
‘‘At the start we had to run with the precision of a barbed wire hurdler, and very quickly these strategies have proven to be extremely effective and our growth is testament to this.''
The medical profession in New Zealand was 50 years out of date and if doctors were to be kept in the country they needed to be respected and paid what they were worth.
‘‘Marketing is so much more than reaching the doctors, its also looking after them once they engage with us so this is something we have really worked on and it has significantly improved our service,'' Dr Hazledine said.
One of the most effective tools MedRecruit had implemented was a booklet for doctors educating them about locuming and dispelling myths about it.
‘‘Our definitive guide booklets have had a massive impact on our business.
‘‘Our doctors receive one of these booklets when they sign up with MedRecruit and have most of their questions answered before we even talk to them,'' he said.
