19 February 2009 - One of the world's top business gurus is giving advice to Kiwi business owners as part of his visit this month - and he says New Zealand's unique situation and strengths indicates the light at the end of the tunnel will be visible sooner rather than later in this country.

Mr Peters has been brought to New Zealand as a guest of leading business coaching company Results.com, and is addressing a group of 300 top businesspeople at a full-day seminar on 19 February.

He says that New Zealand's journey out of recession and the creation of renewed wealth will be driven by medium-sized businesses in particular - those employing between around six and 19 people. Approximately 96% of New Zealand businesses employ fewer than 20 people.

"These businesses are focused on innovation and exporting their intellectual capital as well as goods, and they are using technology as an enabler. IP is one of New Zealand business' great strengths, and companies that add value, rather than creating a cheap widget or running a call centre, are likely to do better, because other markets like India and Japan already have the inexpensive goods-and-service part of the market cornered.

"Companies that export intellectual capital into other markets can make an impact, and New Zealand is well-placed to capitalise on this trend."

Mr Peters views New Zealand's smallness and history of innovation as assets during a period in which capitalism will be reinvented.

"Unlike in my home country, which has many extremely large corporations - several of which have faltered and failed recently - New Zealand's business strength is based on small and medium companies," he says. "These are what drive this country's economy, and the SMEs haven't had the problems that many US corporations have experienced - things like inflated bonuses, absence of internal focus, lack of innovation and white-collar crime."

He advises New Zealand business owners to use the recession as an opportunity to get back to basics. "Even if your client base has reduced by 20%, look at how you can get more share of their spending. Go back to what good business is founded on - knowing your customer and their needs, listening to them, having their trust and delivering on it. Management needs to be in touch with customers."

Mr Peters says he is in agreement with economic experts who say that capitalism is not dead, but it is changing, and post-recession big business will not operate as it did before. In his view this creates more opportunities for small and medium business owners if they are smart about tools.

"To draw a parallel with the Obama campaign, which was unlike any other in history, he used technology to attract and engage his audience and convert their attention into votes. Businesses can learn a lot from that in thinking about how to reach would-be customers.

He says companies should consider coaching as a way to enhance what they are already doing successfully or help them out of tricky situations. "To find a great coach, you should look at their skills and experience, and at the amount of time they are able to dedicate to you. There is no substitute for in-depth, quality advice."

Ben Ridler, the CEO of Results.com, says the initial help needed by many businesses new to working with his company is often relatively basic, such as ensuring there were no outstanding receivables. "Then we'll get into the details, looking at marketing, strategy, staffing - whatever is needed to get the business to where it needs to be. These are the kinds of issues Tom will discuss. We have brought him over because the quality of his reputation and knowledge is unmatched, and because this seemed to us the best possible time to put him in front of Kiwi businesspeople."