Kevin says hello to corporate world

Andrew Mathieson
KEVIN Panozza isn’t your normal boss.
His ascension to the top of the corporate world has been, well, unconventional.
Nobody would have imagined it, not even the man himself.
“It was assumed after I left school I would go to university and go study law,” Kevin tells.
“I had a few opportunities after I won a national public speaking competition.
“I remember Frank Galbally, who was the famous criminal barrister, offer me a position.
“He said if you go and do a law degree, you can come and work for us.”
A career path was seemingly mapped out for the bright Chanel College student.
But the teen thumbed his nose at the establishment.
He always has.
Kevin had previously worked several summers near Mt Duneed, throwing out hay bales to make extra pocket money.
The work was back-breaking and the pay wasn’t great.
“I was earning – I don’t know how much exactly a week – maybe a few dollars a week, but it was killing me,” Kevin remembers.
“It was out in the paddock every day and it was dusty.”
A classmate of his was having the time of his life – selling door-to-door encyclopaedias.
Kevin jumped at the opportunity to join him during the summer holidays.
He would eventually stay in direct sales for the next 10 years and turn his back on university.
“I kind of never got out of it – I found I was pretty good at it, actually,” he laughs.
“I was making more money than any of the guys I was at school with.
“I even bought myself a nice car.”
His sales pitch impressed others so much, that Kevin would move away from hitting the pavements into the cushy confines at Ansett.
However, the new national sales manager of the former Australian airline didn’t feel comfortable in the corporate environment.
Kevin walked away – in part.
After the airline industry was deregulated, he was contracted to teach Ansett’s reservations, retail and sales staff how to sell better.
“I learnt the art of communication and art of persuasion from that encyclopaedia work,” Kevin says.
“It has served me pretty well over the years because what I do now is not that different to what I did then.
“Instead of talking to a person in a house, I am now talking to major companies.”
Kevin would start out his own telephone sales company that would after three phases evolve into Salesforce.
They now employ 5500 workers, including more than 300 at its new Geelong call centre. Kevin has since broken all conventions in the business world.
It is not uncommon for the boss to cruise into the office mid-morning.
“I definitely don’t believe in these executives who start breakfast meetings at six o’clock and wind up their days at nine o’clock at night,” Kevin laughs.
“I say good luck to them.”
Having fun at work is also a pre-requisite.
“We have always encouraged people to decorate their desk as much as they want,” Kevin reckons.
“You commit a lot of your life to work, therefore I think it is important that you feel comfortable, like it is your own environment.”
It has made Salesforce the benchmark in the corporate world.
The company has won the prestigious Hewitt award as Australia’s best employer on three occasions.
The 58-year-old can now sit back and laugh at the irony of it all.
“We were seen 10 years ago as being very eccentric, off the wall and un-corporate,” he grins.
“Call centres cop heaps of flak from the media, unions and they’re described as terrible places to work.
“So it is a paradox that a call centre can be hailed as the best employment model in the country.”