Garret Norris

Garret Norris

Author | MBA | Behavioural, Motivator and EQ Analyst

Garret is a highly effective business engineer who has a proven track record in working on businesses to improve

  • gross margin and revenue,
  • horizontal and vertical marketplace penetration,
  • pipeline development and management,
  • disciplined and strategic staff appointment, deployment, performance management and training.

Garret brings with him extensive highly developed skills in sales, marketing, negotiation and people and contract management and past projects include:

  • Business Development
  • sales training
  • sales pipeline training
  • high level negotiation and closing
  • client/partner relationship building
  • Leadership Skills, developing and leading business teams, strategic planning with thinking outside “the box”, people management, motivation and mentoring
  • Management Skills, revenue analysis for maximization of gross margin, setting and consistently reaching goals, operational and financial management, broad commercial and technical problem solving
  • Governance Skills, high level understanding of statutory responsibilities and reporting structures, experience at Senior Board level
  • Interpersonal skills, effective communication across all company levels, a good sense of humour.

Beginning in 1988 with a Diploma in Hotel Management earned in Dublin, Ireland, Garret worked in the hospitality industry in the UK for the three years and then moved to sales and sales management with Financial Modeling International (FMI), a niche software development company, in the early nineties. After taking this company’s revenue from $AUD 0 to $AUD 5.2M p.a. in three years, he was approached by Computerland UK where, as sales director of the training division, he secured and successfully managed for Computerland the largest services contract they had landed to that point; this was with Price Waterhouse Coopers and required the seamless integration of IT systems and staff arising from the merger of Price Waterhouse and Coopers, and grew the gross margin of the services division of Computerland UK from £ 0 to £ 2.8M p.a. at the point of its listing on the UK stock exchange.

Are you ready to get the right assistance for your business?

Aware of these successes, the Mouse Training Company (MTC), another niche software development and training company approached Garret with a generous equity and remuneration package and asked that he do for them what he had done for FMI and Computerland. In the four years he worked with MTC, Garret rebranded, relaunched and secured clients including Financial Times, Pearson Group, Eurostar and Barclays Bank and saw the revenue rise to £ 7M p.a. making it one of the largest training companies in London. During this period Garret completed the short courses on effective presentations and negotiation skills as well as the training necessary to become a Microsoft Certified Sales Professional and a member of the Institute of Directors (UK).

Following a holiday to Australia, Garret decided to emigrate. After resigning from MTC in preparation to moving, he used the time prior to departure to assist a number of small to medium size companies improve the morale of their teams and structure the internal and external communication of their sales and marketing departments as well as their go-to-market strategies.

Upon arrival in Australia, Garret was engaged by Pinpoint to set up the sales and marketing of their employee benefits, salary sacrifice and recognition and incentive products. During this time he transferred his membership of the UK Institute of Directors to the Australian Institute of Company Directors and was instrumental in securing contracts with Westpac, Telstra and IBM.

He was then engaged by “The Marketing Department” where he developed the client services department for their below the line marketing division. During the five years of this engagement, the business experienced 24% compounded year on year growth (120% in total) arising from efficient management and the acquisition of many large contracts including Telstra, Sony, EA Games and Paramount Pictures. During this time, Garret completed the public speaking program of the Australian Institute of Management and the effective leadership and mentoring program with Leading Initiatives Worldwide. Based on the successes achieved with “The Marketing Department” it was acquired by Crossmark (USA). Garret then successfully managed the merger of the companies below-the-line field delivery involving over 2,000 staff.

Since the completion of the Crossmark merger in 2009, Garret has completed advanced negotiation training with the Gap partnership, launched “Healthy Business Builder” and his own consulting brand and has served a number of businesses, significant among which have been Let’s Launch, Lookprint and SPOS Group.

Lets Launch was a struggling experiential marketing company that needed leadership through the GFC: this involved the restructuring of the business and vertical market identification;

  • Lookprint is a large printing company specializing in large format digital print: within four months of restructuring they achieved their largest ever sales; and
  • SPOS Group is major merchandising solutions company: this involved working at GM level to integrate the operations of three departments that that had become siloed;
  • rationalizing contracts and patents; and
  • successfully launcing four new products into the marketplace.

Garret remains dedicated as ever to use his training and real life business experience to meet his passion to see businesses succeed through disciplined management, creative marketing and committed client service.

Garret is also accredited as a DISC Profiling Specialist

DISC Profile Testing in Australia & New Zealand

DISC is the worlds’ most popular and validated personal assessment tool and, for over 40 years, organisations worldwide have embraced the language of DISC to deliver spectacular results.

Garret works with many Organisations to help them implement the right strategies, skills and processes to reach their organisational goals and brings a powerful set of tools for selecting, developing and managing people to maximise their performance.

Without doubt, the quality of any workplace is directly impacted by how well (or not) people communicate with each other! How people build relationships has a massive influence on how happy, effective and productive they are!

Garret works with companies of all sizes across the world and the DISC model can be used with everyone in an organisation, regardless of title or role, to improve the quality of the workplace.

Applying the knowledge of DISC in the workplace is straight-forward and its benefits can include developing more effective managers and leaders, building cohesive teams, improved sales and customer service, enhancing communication and reducing conflict… to name just a few.

Garret’s Approach

Our expertise and approach to training is unique and, unlike many in this market who look to complicate the subject, teaches people how to communicate more effectively without the need for a PhD in psychology.

Garret’s Customised Training Programs are designed to help your people gain a much better understanding of themselves (and importantly the impact that their behaviour and communication style has on others), explore what makes other people tick, and then based on this knowledge, show them how to achieve significantly better results by becoming more flexible and adaptable in their approach to others. Our “DISC-based” training courses are unlike anything you may have experienced before!

Why Use DISC Profiling?

Because DISC “personality” profiling gives you not only an understanding of how you are perceived by others, but it also gives you a language (or set of terms) to discuss your behaviour, communication, style of working and reactions. It is the ultimate ‘mirror on the wall’ that explains what everyone else can see: the surface level of who you are – your behaviour.

DISC (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Compliance) is a complex model made simple by years of research and practice. It identifies behavioural styles that can open your eyes to improving your interactions with others. DISC profiling is used by an estimated 75% of the Fortune 500 because of what it delivers. It continues to be the most popular choice for professional development as well as recruitment and selection.

“DISC is the ultimate ‘mirror on the wall’ that explains what everyone else can see: the surface level of who you are – your behaviour.”

Considering DISC “Personality” Profiling for your Organisation?

If you are considering DISC profiling for your organisation, this type of objective assessment will help you to determine job fit for candidates, provide tips and techniques for managers on their teams as well as provide a great model for personal development in sales, service, communication, team building among others.

Choosing to test candidates and employees is something that most of the top companies throughout Australia, New Zealand and the world participate in and we can help you implement an assessment based talent management strategy, regardless of size.

What is the Theory behind DISC?

The theory behind the DISC profile was developed by William Moulton Marston to categorise behaviour and emotions. Years later, the theory was shaped into the assessment that is used today.

Simply stated, DISC profiling measures how we behave and communicate. One of the most powerful things about DISC profiling is the fact that people identify with the report almost immediately! People instantly recognise themselves in the profile. The real value comes from using this information to understand how to adapt to be more effective.

“Simply stated, DISC measures how we behave and communicate!”

This model has four factors based on two intersecting axes. The vertical axis ranges from “task/goal” focused behaviours to “people/relationship” focused behaviours. The horizontal axis ranges from “reserved” (or “ask/listen”) behaviours to “outgoing” (or “tell/talk”) behaviours. With these two-intersecting axis, four quadrants emerge:

Dominance (D) – How we deal with problems and challenges
Influence (I) – How we deal with people and contacts
Steadiness (S) – How we deal with the pace and consistency of the environment
Compliance (C) – How we deal with procedures and constraints

Why DISC is NOT a Personality Test

A DISC profile is one of the world’s most popular and well-known assessment tools, taken by millions of people every year. Strictly speaking the DISC profile is not a personality test or a ‘complete personality profile’ as some practitioners have claimed. In order to be considered a personality test it would need to include our values, beliefs, attitudes, emotions, thinking preferences, temperament and all the other things that create our unique personality.

The DISC profile only looks at a small component of personality. It only measures behaviour, that is, the four common ways that people tend to act and communicate, which has been validated by more than 50 years of research. Calling the DISC profile a ‘personality test’ can be misleading as there is a great deal to an individual’s personality beyond the scope of this system, and the term ‘test’ implies you will pass or fail, which is not the case with the DISC profile.

Sample DISC Report Download

Please fill in your details to receive your sample report via email

Your sample report is on its way!

Your Free A.D.D.E.D. Business Growth Book

Please fill in your details below to receive the brochure via email

Your free book is on its way!