Erica Crawford

The prospect of a new baby changes many things. For Erica Crawford it meant giving up a career in pharmaceutical marketing and starting another in marketing New Zealand wine.

Erica first met winemaker and husband, Kim, at a wine festival in her native South Africa. Seven years later she was on the brink of a dream job when she realised she was pregnant with her second child, Pia.
“We were planning on Kim becoming a house-husband and doing some consulting winemaking for a few years. But that scenario went suddenly out of the window. Instead, with the benefit of a bit of friendly expert advice, we opted to create our own label, a project we could work on together whilst also bringing up Pia and her big brother Rory, who was only 13 months old at the time.”

And so Kim Crawford Wines was born. Whilst Kim ensured that all the wine in the label’s bottles was of the highest quality, Erica administered the company, explored new markets and developed its unique brand identity.

With an extensive marketing background, Erica was well-equipped to analyse gaps in the New Zealand wine scene. She was used to sampling Kim’s wines and her own palate told her that Kim’s clean, uncluttered approach would appeal to the taste buds of youthful urban wine aficionados across the globe. She also sensed that existing New Zealand labels weren’t always at ease with the increasingly affluent and sophisticated younger market.

“Our decision to become the first New Zealand wine label to use screw cap bottles was primarily dictated by quality considerations. But we knew that our market of young sophisticates was ready for this step and was free of the misconceptions spawned by previous less-successful attempts to introduce screw caps back in the 1970s”.

“It sometimes actually helps to come from outside the New Zealand wine industry and to have an immigrant’s birds-eye view of the country. One is not bound to local emotions and beliefs, and it seems easier to identify opportunities here in New Zealand. We started this business with very little, and have had wonderful support from all corners of the world. Like in the early years, we still believe that having fun while working is very important”.

The brand’s achievements flow directly from that special Crawford family mix of winemaking excellence and inspired marketing. And maybe they also flow from Erica’s joyful, in-your-face approach to building the label. For her and for Kim, running a business is a serious matter but it’s never sombre, even when the going gets tough.

“It doesn’t often happen that two people in a relationship discover their skills are so complementary. We’re very fortunate to have made that discovery,” says Erica.

Q. What was your first significant business venture and what key business lessons did you learn from it?
Kim Crawford Wines was my first, and to date remains my only significant venture. The key lessons have been that people are everything. The people I work with inside and outside the company are the business. People-based decision-making is the key to success and drives all my thinking. I've also learnt to push myself to achieve what I see is possible, and to persevere. There are always people, some in positions of influence and with reputation or status, who will say it can't be done or shouldn't be done, even it mustn't be done! This business has taught me to believe and to persevere regardless. The right people around you will believe too and push on with you.

Q. If you could start your business life again what key business skills would you make sure you had in-hand to ensure your road to success was perhaps shorter and smoother?
I would start out with grounding in financials. Start with a very good tax accountant from day one, in fact before day one!

The numbers do decide many issues and define opportunity. Were I given the chance to start again, I'd make sure I was fluent in financials; there is a cost to learning numbers as you go, muddling along.
Aside from that I think I would start out with a firmer commitment to maintaining self- belief.

Q. Did the completion of a qualification or previous relevant business experiences aid in your ability to make a success of your chosen career?
I have a background as a research scientist and this has given me a valuable skill set and approach. I call it the culture of questioning. Scientists have the wonderful gift of believing nothing is sacred or to be assumed. So they question everything and our business runs on that cycle. Question, research, conclude. Test your conclusion, amend from your testing and apply your learning and knowledge. Then repeat and keep repeating the cycle. It's a valuable culture to hold in business.

Q. Do you believe there was a ‘tipping point’ that secured your success in business? What was this?
For the business there have been a number of ‘tipping points’, in our New Zealand sales, in different export markets and then as we found ourselves emerging globally.

Personally though, there was one moment. It was November 8, 2000 and I was driving between home and the office when a DKNY billboard caught my eye. I remember in myself, taking stock of my life. What I was doing with my life, how I was living my life, who was I influencing and being influenced by?

It was the first moment that I became aware of my power in my own life. That I was actually directing my life and I could see my influence on my life and those around me. It was the moment I stepped forward fully, I think, into self-belief.

An important aspect of that was that at the time, I was feeling physically well, strong and healthy. That moment tipped for me!

Q. We all learn from our mistakes – was there a key learning moment in your growth in business?
In business I have made many mistakes in the transfer from being an owner of a very small and personal business to a larger one. When you're small every decision and aspect of that business is directly affected by every person in the business. In the beginning of course that was just Kim and I. It is a fraught process to grow beyond that and to manage successfully the transfer into a business that is on a scale too great to control and remain fully aware of in its entirety.

Realise that what feels like the loss of control of your business isn't a bad thing. That in fact, it's a developmental stage and the nature of your control merely changes. It grows like the business - your control matures and develops. I think learning that change isn't controllable, personally, and it is emotionally neutral is very powerful. Unfortunately, I learnt that retrospectively and really I've learnt it again as we've moved into enterprise- scale business.

Personally, that growth was matched by the shift in my own experience as a mum. I remember going from being and wanting to be, a ‘cool mum’ to stepping back and feeling decidedly middle-aged, but feeling good about that. In fact, maybe that's a step forward.

Q. What were some of the challenges you had to overcome on the journey to achieving your personal and business goals?
I know my business from A to Z. I can 'do' every aspect of my business. There are specialist and generalists. I'm a generalist and needed to have that competence, or understanding. It helped me to realise that sometimes the institutions, those I refer to as the 'Blazers', can be wrong and that you can beat them.

It is hard to be opposed and undermined, to find yourself out on the fringe sometimes. But I discovered that in adversity you find humour, and creativity is born of adversity. That helps feed and sustain the self reliance I've required.

Personally, I had a very rough year recently. Work was hard, lots of change, my mum died far away in South Africa, it was an awful year. But I discovered just how much you can do. It is amazing to find in terribly tough, tiring and heartbreaking times that you keep going. That you can cope and you do. There's a confidence in that, in knowing the resources that we have to endure and come out the other side.

Q. Who are the mentors/role models that have inspired you and what important lessons have you learnt from them?
I don't really have a mentor or a single role model. Maybe I should have one, to help me sort real troubles from ‘chuckable’ troubles.

Looking back, there was one man in South Africa who sparked me on a path, Dr Selva Sman, my MSc supervisor at the University of Cape Town, his expectations and attitudes sparked off a belief in myself early on.

But what really inspires me is a sense of my time, that this is our time. I think often of the many powerful, talented women who have come before us. Women who, with all their energy and enterprise, were thwarted. That society and the age conspired against them. This is our time, it's a woman's time and that inspires me to honour them and do everything I can, because I can. They couldn't but I can. So I must!

Q. What got you through the ‘tough’ times?
In the tough times, that belief in honouring and owing a debt to women who have gone before us gets me through.

I think when people told me I couldn't or we mustn't or it can't be done, there was a pretty strong streak in me to prove them wrong. There's was a big drive inside that said, "I'll show you." It's a powerful motivator.

Africa has always been a sanctuary for me. When mum passed, that was a little shaken but it does sustain and restore me. Africa sets a framework for my life. I think the children have brought out in me an instinct and drive. Maybe it's like the lioness, knowing that they have really got me and it's up to me, so I will protect them and I will do what is required. To find that actually I can and somehow the strength is within me.

Laughter is so important, laughing at myself, at my husband, at each other. I need laughter. I'm probably chuckling away in a fool’s paradise but it does get me through.

Q. What were some of the core values that you built your company upon and have these values changed over time?
Values haven't really changed over time. I think they've just become more entrenched, those values we had at the beginning are more strongly held than ever before.

We value people. They are the one thing that sustains and remains, valuing people is really important. Respect for each other, for colleagues, for customers. That is a core belief and behaviour.

My belief in a culture of questioning is a core value. Always question, keep learning and keep applying the learning. A favourite question too that reflects to a personal value of mine, now very much a company value, is keep asking 'if it isn’t fun, why do it?'

Fun is a value, you know. You need to value fun, to have any!

Q. How do you maintain enthusiasm and passion for your business and how do you transfer this to your team(s)? Your website talks of a team spirit that transfers to the wine itself?
Wine is a team game. It's all about contribution at every stage, from vine to invoice there are different skills demanded and people required so it's inherent in our industry.

I think for me transferring enthusiasm is very personal; it's about giving energy and leading by doing. But that's very demanding, draining and in a big business, or a rapidly growing small business, it's relentless too. I'm very lucky that I have involvement outside my company, with some very generous people who are also in business. I'm involved with The Icehouse, a team of people trying to foster new and growing businesses and similarly with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise on the Beachheads programme. The people who contribute to these things give me a lot. I take energy, encouragement and inspiration from them, which I can then take back to work and pass on. Maybe it's a simple equation, inspiration in and energy out.

Q. What are some of the important lessons you have learnt about effective leadership?
I have to admit I do not like managing people. I never have, I never will. It's my worst point. I'm not really a leadership and management type person. I hold vision and I look out and see a future and possibility, but aside from saying 'look ahead, look where we can be. Come on, let's go there. Come with me!' I don't really have leadership insight.

I have learnt that for me, achieving that vision is all about who's on the bus. Get the right people on the bus and they'll get the bus there. My role really is just to point to the destination. Surprisingly enough, somehow they arrive!

Q. Through your career what is the most important thing you have learnt about business partnerships?
Pick your partners and pick them well. I trust my instincts now and they have guided me well, despite some self-doubt. Second guessing yourself isn't useful.

Trust, loyalty and generosity are really important. I have learnt a lot from Kim about generosity. We have had lots of contracted growers all the way along and yet even without written contracts, we haven't been shafted once.

You can never share your vision enough. Share your vision and live your values.

Q. Your children have been exposed to the business from their very early years. Do you believe that you should keep business and family life separate or are they ‘one and the same’?
Every small business in New Zealand knows that they are pretty well inseparable. We started Kim Crawford Wines at our kitchen table and we often have clients at that table with us now. On the work side we also have dogs in the office and both benefit.

Our kids are very much part of the business, they know the business. They know the rhythm of the vineyard, they know the dangers and fun in the winery, they entertain with us at the kitchen table.

It's their business as much ours and our business is very intertwined with our family. It's a matter of respecting and valuing both.

Q. You have obviously already achieved many of your business goals - how often do you set goals and under what format do you outline them?
I never write them down, I hold my goals in my head. My goals are somewhat dynamic, in that they change and I'm constantly evolving and updating them. I live the business, in my mind, about 18 months ahead of where we are at any moment. I think it could be a weakness, in that I can forget to acknowledge and celebrate what we have achieved - I need to be reminded to do that sometimes. But it's also probably my greatest strength. That I see, or hold my goals and the big vision for the business, very clearly and tangibly, in my mind.

Q. What are some of your current personal and business goals?
To get on top of corporate finance, it is a crucial and very exciting, challenging area. I want to really master that aspect of my business. As a marketer, I hope to fully develop and build the brand-led culture within Constellation New Zealand. We have a mission here and can be very powerful in our contribution to New Zealand as a brand led-business.

I also want to do a bungee jump. Just the one will do!

Q. Is there a significant quote or saying by which you live your life?
I'm not really one for maxims, but I do like one of my dad's favourite sayings. "Enthusiasm is the vice of the incompetent." I guess that demonstrates a personal belief that life is best lived with a healthy dose of cynicism.

Q. Do you get time to read, if so what are you reading at the moment?
I love Nick Hornby and have just finished Fever Pitch and I’ve re-read High Fidelity. The History of Love by Norma Kauffman, and continue to struggle to get through E= MC2. I have been stuck on that for years!

Q. You had no ‘story’ to tell initially - given you were a virtual winery. What was your key marketing strategy and how did this change once you anchored the brand against a plot of land/a space?
No story? We had the most original, unique and authentic tale. We were the little brand that could, and now we are the little brand that did. It is a very compelling story indeed thank you very much!

Q. Breaking into a crowded market place is never easy. Just how did you do this and then how have you been able to stand out from the crowd?
The crowd, by definition, is homogenous. People make conscious decisions and take deliberate actions to be part of the crowd.

We just didn't do that. Why go to all the effort of being like them? It is far simpler to be yourself. The natural thing is to stand out. Being part of the crowd looks like very hard work to me!

Q. Exporting your products has contributed substantively to your business growth. Just how hard was it to establish market share in international markets?
Exporting was and still is arduous. Arduous and relentless! Establishing is hard, maintaining is harder. There is no substitute for face-time. You just have to get into your market and put in the hours. The exporter’s job is to know the market, listen to the market, respond to the market and predict the market. You can only do that with time and personal attention. To establish, you have to give yourself freely and completely to the market you want to be in. To remain there, you have to go and do it again and again and again.

Q. What key strategies can you recommend in developing an export market(s) and what single piece of advice would you give to someone building an export business?
It's a simple cycle - turn up, listen and learn. Apply the learning, test the application, measure the results and go get learning again. In the early days, now I am a generalist, so take that into consideration, but I believe it's important to know every aspect of your business. As the business grows, get your head around the changes in control and intimate knowledge of your own business you will have to adjust to. Accept the changes, adapt and move on. Change is part of the process of growing a business, but it's not always easy.

Q. What do you love most about your business?
I love the amount of laughter in my office and at the winery. I often sit there and just enjoy the absurdity, the humour, the sound of laughter and what people laugh at, I love that. This business too! I love hospitality and its people. I really only fell on my feet in New Zealand, mentally, physically and spiritually when I became part of that business, of those people. They are the most outlandish, entertaining professionals on the planet and I get to work with them. I love the growers, we're farmers in winemaking and we know the vagaries of farming. These are people who stick together, in good times and in bad.

Q. Just how good are our New Zealand wines and what variety of wine do you most enjoy drinking?
Riesling, particularly drier styles, and the aromatics - Arneis, Viognier and so on. I like the old-world styles and Italian whites.

Q. Is there a dream/vision/ambition you are yet to fulfil?
I want to be fit and healthy and thin again. My health has taken a pounding and I haven't been physically healthy and strong for five years.

Brand New Zealand. I want to be part of building brand New Zealand in the world, to a position of dynamic, insurmountable health. We are not a wealthy country and we have a lot of work to do. I want to contribute to that, to the prosperity and value of New Zealand.