Michael Keats

Michael Keats is the KwaZulu-Natal regional director of the Goscor Truck Company. Michael was born and bred in KwaZulu-Natal and is a Northwood High School old boy who matriculated in 1992. Following matric, he studied business at the Institute of Marketing Management (IMM). The first job he took was a bank teller at Absa in Durban where he worked for a couple of years.

As Michael saw an opportunity in sales, he decided that he wanted to change direction and go into this field. He started out by supplying goods through newspaper adverts and by selling houseware goods out of a catalogue on the street.

He commented, “Believe it or not, I quite enjoyed sales. It was tough, but I cut my teeth there.”
An advert in the newspaper for a forklift salesperson caught his attention, and he successfully applied for the position.

Michael joined Goscor Truck Company as a junior salesperson when he was 22 years old. He added that he has enjoyed the years he has spent at the company, which have allowed him much opportunity for growth in his career and seen him progress through the ranks to become regional director for the business. Michael has now been with the company for over 25 years.

PEOPLE-CENTRIC
Michael is strongly people-centric and exerts his influence within the company by serving the people that he works with as well as Goscor’s customers. He says that he believes that he is in a position where he can influence other people’s lives in a positive manner.

“When you have a certain amount of influence, whether it be in business or in whatever sphere of your life, if you can exert some of that influence and make other people’s lives better, then, I am all for it.”

The greatest accomplishment for himself as a business leader in KwaZulu-Natal was to get through the Covid-19 pandemic, which he says was extremely challenging for the company, for their staff and for their customers.

He added that to navigate through the Covid pandemic without any casualties and in a way in which they were able to support their clients and that they ‘didn’t drop the ball was a big feather in mine and in the team’s cap’.

“Covid taught us how to stick together and how to navigate difficult times,” said Michael.

ALL-INCLUSIVE CULTURE
This was not the only challenge faced by Michael and his team as other examples from KwaZulu- Natal include the looting that followed Covid and the floods, which caused much upheaval to the business. “In fact,” added Michael, “I found that the floods were the most damaging to the local economy of all the challenges.”

Having to continue to face difficulties was extremely challenging, demoralising, as well as demotivating for a lot of the staff. However, the business was able to get through these times successfully.

“To be able to keep everybody’s heads up high and to navigate through as a team and produce decent results, was testament to a good business and a strong team,” explained Michael.

To motivate his team, Michael operates on the basis of an all-inclusive culture in the business. All employees are part of one team, and everybody has a role to play.

“There’s no hierarchy and as a result when the chips are down, if things are difficult, we’re in the trenches together. We motivate one another and we give one another a sense of security especially when you have to dig deeper in tough times.”

PEOPLE WITH INTEGRITY
Commenting on the best advice he has ever received Michael said that was just ‘to be honest and to be humble’.

He explained, “In life and in the service industry I’m not negotiable on those qualities. If you’re honest, you’re humble and you work hard, the rest really falls into place and I think everybody that one interacts with, whether it be a staff member or customer, deserves at least that from others. So that’s what drives me incredibly hard.”

“I’m inspired by honest people with integrity. People that work hard from a personal perspective. That’s very important to me. People with family values are of vital importance and I respect them. I also am inspired quite a bit by innovation; forward thinking and preparing yourself for the distant future from a business perspective.”

GO-TO PARTNER
Michael’s vision for the Goscor Truck Company is to grow a bigger footprint in KwaZulu-Natal. Over the next five years the company needs to expand its product range in order to cater for most of their customers’ growing needs. Artificial intelligence and automation play key roles in the company’s space and in order to grow their support base for their customers and to keep them ahead of the times, they need to expand in these areas.

However, said Michael, “The goal is not market leadership. The goal is to be the preferred and chosen supplier and go-to partner in the market.”

Michael’s motto to live by can be found hanging on a wall in his office. It’s a quote by Nelson Mandela which states: ‘It always seems impossible until it’s done’.

“I am firm believer in never quitting. You’ve just got to keep going until you get the result that needs to be got,” he concluded.