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SmartTrade Blog

News and views from the SmartTrade crew.

News and Announcements

SmartTrade news and announcements

Posted by on in News and Announcements
SmartTrade Discovery – self auditing your use of SmartTrade’s features and functionalities
‘Arguably the most productive 20-30 minutes you can spend to increase the productivity!’
We introduced SmartTrade Discovery in our last newsletter. It’s proven to be very popular with customers wanting to find out about SmartTrade capabilities they aren’t aware of. We’re currently working through the first batch of responses we received.
Due to the strong response we got we thought it would be worthwhile promoting SmartTrade Discovery again in this newsletter!
When software is mission critical to your businesses’ success you need to maximise the use you make of the software. We know most SmartTrade users use a subset of the software’s available functionality. This is typical of most software, a general rule of thumb is usually only 20-40% of the available features and functionality are actively used.

Here’s how the audit process works:
  • The audit is broken up into 6 separate forms, the longest should take about five minutes to complete.
  • You can complete the audit forms at your leisure and in any order, once you complete a form simply hit the submit button at the end of the form to return it to us.
  • When we give you your next customer care call (generally every 6 months) we will discuss your audit with you.
  • To help you achieve greater productivity from SmartTrade we may propose an action plan based on the audit results. This action plan will typically include additional training, remember we offer SmartTrade customers 2 hours of FREE online training a year!
IT’S SIMPLE – NO REASON NOT TO DO IT! THIS MAY BE ONE OF THE MOST PRODUCTIVE THINGS YOU DO THIS YEAR!
Here’s how to find the self-audit forms from the SmartBiz tab. If you have any trouble getting into SmartBiz please give us a call and our techs will sort it out for you.

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Posted by on in News and Announcements
Welcome to SmartTrade Support, these are the people who help you get to know your way around SmartTrade and also offer continuous support along the way. 

Introducing 


kevin Kevin Greenfield - Support Manager
Kevin Greenfield is Mr SmartTrade when it comes to knowing how SmartTrade works. Having been with SmartTrade for more than 10 years he’s provided support to thousands of SmartTrade making him the person SmartTrade users know the best.

Kevin has had a vast range of management experience in various service industries including printing and advertising.

Kevin is married with two grown up daughters and 3 wonderful grandchildren. He enjoys spending time with his wife and family and also getting creative in the kitchen. He’s also just finished building a new house.



Sivadas Sivadas Govindan - SmartTrade Support
Since joining SmartTrade in 2012 Sivadas has developed a deep understanding of how SmartTrade works making him an invaluable member of the support team. Next to Kevin he’s the person SmartTrade users ask for the most when seeking an answer to a functionality question

Prior to joining SmartTrade Sivadas worked in telecommunications, sales and support.

Sivadas is married with an 18 months old son. He enjoys spending time with his family and also playing and watching cricket and badminton.


 

A couple of Kiwi vs Aussie jokes to finish off with.
First the Aussie gets one over the Kiwi!

An Australian ventriloquist visiting New Zealand sees a farmer sitting on his front veranda patting his dog. He figures he'll have a little fun, so he stops and says to the farmer'G'day, mind if I talk to your dog?'  
Farmer: 'The dog doesn't talk, you stupid Aussie.' 
Ventriloquist: 'Hello dog, how's it going mate?' 
Dog: 'Yeah, doin' all right.' 

Farmer: (look of extreme shock)  
Ventriloquist: 'Is this your owner?' (pointing at the farmer) 
Dog: 'Yep'
  

Ventriloquist: 'How does he treat you?'  
Dog: 'Yeah, real good. He walks me twice a day, feeds me 
great food 
and takes me to the lake once a week to play.'  
Farmer: (look of utter disbelief) 
Ventriloquist: 'Mind if I talk to your horse?' 
Farmer: 'Uh, the horse doesn't talk either...I think.'  
Ventriloquist: 'Hey horse, how's it going?' 
Horse: 'Cool'

Farmer: (absolutely dumbfounded)  
Ventriloquist: 'Is this your owner?' (Pointing at the farmer)  
Horse: 'Yep'

Ventriloquist: 
How does he treat you?’  
Horse: 'Pretty good, thanks for asking. He rides me regularly
, 
brushes me down often and keeps me in the shed to protect me from the elements.'

Farmer: (total look of amazement)  
Ventriloquist: 'Mind if I talk to your sheep?' 
Farmer: (in a panic) 'The sheep's a f---in' liar......
!!!!!'


But the Kiwi gets one back!                                                     

A Kiwi wanted to become an Englishman, so he visited a doctor to find out how to go about this.
"Well" said the doctor, this will require a very delicate operation and there is a lot that can go wrong. I will have to remove half your brain.
That's OK said the Kiwi. I've always wanted to be an Englishman so I'm prepared to take the risk.
The operation went ahead but the patient woke to find a look of horror on the face of the doctor.
I'm so terribly sorry!!!’the doctor said. Instead of removing half the brain, I've taken the whole brain out!!!’.
The patient replied, No worries cobber, she’ll be apples!!!’.
Because our customer service team is often the first point of contact between your business and SmartTrade so we thought it was about time you saw who you were talking to. 

Introducing
shane Shane Jefferys - Customer Support Facilitator

Shane’s a recent recruit brought into the SmartTrade team to fill the role of Customer Support Facilitator.

Shane’s usually your first point of contact when you call SmartTrade, if he can’t answer your question he will put you in touch with the person who can.
Outside of work Shane’s heavily involved in theatre, in the New Year he will playing a leading part in the Auckland Theatre Group’s production of Pride and Prejudice.
shree Sheree Mckillop - Accounts Manager 
Sheree’s the Accounts Manager here at SmartTrade dealing with anything from invoicing and payment plans to sales and general help inquiries. Sheree’s been with SmartTrade since 2003 so it's safe to say she knows her way around the system. So if you have any invoicing queries, payments that need sorting or just need general help with SmartTrade Sheree’s more than capable to deal with whatever comes her way.
When she’s not at work she can often be found enjoying Auckland’s spectacular and rugged west coast beaches. Sheree loves her dogs, she even did a degree in canine management, so walks on the beach are mandatory. Grumpy, one of her dogs famously can collect beers from the bar, then return to pay the tab – seeing is believing!





michelle Michelle Davis - Key Customer Manager
Michelle’s our Key Account Manager primarily spending her time working with SmartTrade users to show just how effective SmartTrade can be. Michelle worked for SmartTrade from 2002 to 2005 before returning to the SmartTrade fold earlier this year. Coming from a family civil engineering business Michelle has extensive experience in construction and trade services including the marine industry so has an excellent insight into how SmartTrade can fit into a range of businesses.
Outside of work Michelle’s family is involved in offshore power boat racing with a boat in the NZ Offshore Power Boat Racing’s Classic Class Series
A bit of “Santa Claus” humour to finish the year with!

Policeman vs the Kid!

On Christmas morning, a policeman on horseback came across a kid riding a brand new bike.

The policeman asked "Did Santa give you that bike".

When the kid answered “yes” the policeman said "well, next time tell Santa to put a tail light on it!" and handed the him a fine. 

As the policeman was leaving, the kid asked "did Santa give you the horse?"

The policeman jokingly said “yes” to which the kid retorted, "well, next time tell Santa to put the dick underneath the horse, not on top!"

Santa’s problems!

One Christmas, a long time ago, Santa Claus was getting ready for his annual trip; but there were problems ...... everywhere!!

Four of his experienced elves were away sick and production was lagging badly, the trainee elves couldn’t produce toys as fast as the regular ones!!

Then, Mrs. Claus popped in to tell Santa that her mother has just arrived to stay for Christmas!!

Santa went to harness the reindeer only to find three of them were lame and two had jumped the fence and run away, heaven knows where to!!

Then, just when he began to load the sleigh the doorbell rang giving him a huge surprise, several large toy-bags fell to the ground, scattering their contents all over the place!!

Needless to say, Santa Claus was in the worst of all possible moods, in terms of playing the “Bad Santa” role Billy Bob Thornton never got close to how bad tempered the real Santa was feeling this day!!

Santa went to the door expecting another problem. But when he opened it, there was a little angel with a great big Christmas tree that she had brought especially to cheer him up.

The angel greeted him very cheerfully!!

 "Merry Christmas Santa Claus. Isn't it just a wonderful day? I have a beautiful tree for you. See, isn't

it just the loveliest Christmas tree you've ever seen?”

“Oh, I see your elves are taking it really easy ahead of their Christmas break - and who is this lovely old lady, is she your mother?”

“I do believe it’s my lucky day, friendly hunters gave me some fresh meat from two reindeer they shot just down the road. I would love to share my good luck with you by giving you some of the meat for your dinner – no, looking at that huge tummy of yours I will give you it all!!!”

“By the way, where would you like me to put the Christmas tree?"

Thus began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree!!!!!!!!!