Do you need an action coach or do you need an experienced (and proven) business coach who will ensure that you step up and take action that produces profitable results in your business today? Every once in a while we all need a helping hand to move forward, strive for and achieve stretch goals. No matter how well you plan or how hard you work, there will always be unforeseen hurdles or challenges that will trip you up on your path to business success. While it is not possible to anticipate all obstacles and hurdles, it is possible to overcome each one with the right business coach – someone who will inspire and empower you to take purposeful action today. When looking for the right fit for you and your business situation, branding means very little. You don’t need a business coach with a fancy logo or someone who has bought a big name franchise such as action coach. |
What you need is a business coach who has a proven track record of success at growing businesses profitably – someone who will:
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explain concepts to you clearly,
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show you how to measure your key performance indicators so that you can see for yourself that your business is improving,
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focus your effort on issues that are critical so that you work smarter not harder and
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inspire you to take the action (or actions) that will have the biggest impact on your bottom line now.
You see, I had a potential client call up a few weeks ago to talk about her homewares business and enquire about business coaching. She had seen me speak on several occasions over the past few years – once as a keynote speaker for action coach and the other as the national speaker for MYOB. She had even bought one of my books, Financial Foreplay®, but she had not gotten around to reading it yet.
After asking her 4 simple questions about her business, I concluded that she had been losing about $10,000 a month and she had not drawn a wage in more than 12 months. She knew that she needed to do something to turn the business around but she found herself paralyzed with fear about moving forward and guilt over the fact that she had waited so long to ask for help. She had gone to plenty of seminars, bought lots of books, did her research online looking for an action coach but she had not bothered to do the most important thing – take action.
And her story is not that different from the ones that I hear every week from tradesmen, retailers, professional services, manufacturers, importers, realtors, healthcare providers, hospitality businesses and business owners just like you. The primary problem is not the fact that the economy is tight, consumer spending is down, your advertising isn’t working anymore or you have too many competitors. The fundamental problem is that, at the moment, you are failing to take action to turn it around.
The truth of the matter is that you don’t know what specific action(s) to take – because if you knew what to do to grow your business profitably, you’d already be doing it. Finding the right business coach isn’t a luxury or something that is nice to have these days in business – it’s a necessity. Having a good business coach can mean the difference between generating a decent profit and going under. It can save you from making common mistakes and bad business decisions, such as agreeing to buy an ad in the local newspaper or the yellow pages (because it was a cheap last minute deal and the salesman was persuasive) and finding out that it doesn’t bring in a single qualified lead or sale. It could also mean that for the first time in ages, you can pay yourself a decent wage and cover your bills and taxes when they comes due.
Not convinced yet? Let’s take a look at 5 Great Reasons why you need the right business coach who will ensure that you take purposeful action (not necessarily an action coach):
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Reason #1 – Strategic thinking – One of the first benefits of working with an experienced and credentialed business coach is to benefit from his/her vast industry knowledge and business acumen. Even the most talented entrepreneur will not have the broad, diverse and multi-faceted skills base that a successful business coach will possess. Look for a business coach who has strong academic credentials, experience commenting in media or writing for well known business publications, a trackrecord of success in building businesses, good client testimonials and broad knowledge across finance, sales, marketing and operations. Don’t hire a one-trick pony who is only an expert in social media, PR or marketing.
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Reason #2 – Sounding board – It can be lonely at the top and even the most reliable employee (or spouse) cannot understand the complexities of the problems faced by you every day. With an experienced business coach by your side, it will be easier to open up, ask the right questions, make better decisions, take effective action and step up as the leader of your business. Business coaching can help you discover practical and cost-effective solutions that you never knew existed.
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Reason #3 – Objective viewpoint – A business coach or mentor is external to (and not constrained by) your business issues or the industry you are in. Your business coach comes on board solely to help the business navigate through the rough waters smoothly but without the day to day involvement of getting caught up in working “in” the business itself. Your business coach can always step back and view a problem objectively and offer advice and solutions which can be worked upon by you and your team.
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Reason #4 – Accountability – Sometimes day-to-day issues and business complexities can cloud decision making and cause procrastination. When you stop making decisions, accountability is lost and business failure in inevitable. Business coaching can help re-establish your accountability and challenge you to perform beyond expectations.
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Reason #5 – Increase bottom line and cash flow – Research conducted by leading accounting software companies clearly showed that 97% of business owners attempt to operate and steer their business with only a Profit & Loss (Income Statement) and Aged Receivables report. Unfortunately, neither of these reports contain enough information to help you grow profitably this year and ensure you have enough cash flow to pay your debts as they come due. By engaging the right business coach (someone who understands financials and can explain yours to you in a way that allows you to get the maximum insight and put strategies in place to grow safely and profitably) you can ensure that you will avoid costly mistakes and know at all times exactly where you are at and what you need to do today to achieve your targets. The right business coach will help you gain peace of mind and confidence in your own ability to build and operate your business optimally.
And remember, your failure to take the right/appropriate action today is the single biggest reason why you are not achieving the results that you deserve in your business. Together we will discover exactly where you are at and what you need to do to achieve the results that you want. We will examine your business holistically in order to develop a clear, step-by-step plan to grow your business profitably and safely. To do that, we will be examining your financial statements, discovering what’s important to you (not just to your accountant or the tax office), setting some targets and communicating those to your team, creating efficient systems, determining which investments (of time and money) are not generating a good return for your business, re-engineering your sales/marketing campaigns to help you more sales for every $1 spent, developing a strategic plan and tackling and leadership or mindset issues that have been holding you back.
Having the right business coach this year can mean the difference between generating a decent profit and going under. If you are ready to step up and stop wasting time and money on strategies that clearly aren’t working, contact us today to discuss how we can help you to achieve your goals quickly and cost effectively. If you’re ready to take action, your success is inevitable.