Cover Story From good to great
An ActionCOACH client explains why every business needs a coach
INVESTMENT LEVEL: £21,000 S
anjiv Dodhia has been an ActionCOACH franchise owner since April 2016 but has already made a positive impact on his business-owner clients. One
example is Figment Agency, an award- winning digital marketing agency based in London. They were blown away by the transformation of their business since they engaged with their Action Coach. As a result, Figment Agency’s marketing director, Emma Levy, wrote this article for other business owners:
Businesses can face an array of
problems. Some are external, such as lack of access to funding, competition, staff shortages and skills gaps, red tape, and the state of the economy. Others are internal, like getting the most out of your staff, but are no less challenging.
Are you guilty of perhaps ‘shelving the strategy’? According to Sarah Watts, head of the information and advisory services at the Institute of Directors, business leaders will often spend time developing strategies, only to fail to do anything with them. Furthermore, many organisations don’t have meaningful performance measurements in place and don’t carry out regular performance analysis. Bestselling business author Bernard Marr says: “Many CEOs I know are ideas people. That means they’re great at the big picture and disruptive thinking but not as good with things like cashflow, profit
margins, reducing costs and financing.” This is something that business growth and employee engagement specialist Sanjiv strongly agrees with. All the issues outlined by both Sarah and Bernard are widely apparent through the work he does developing businesses.
Here are three vital facets of effective business coaching
A good business coach will combine the three major areas in which business owners need help: mindset, strategy and systems. Sanjiv is part of a worldwide network of ActionCOACH franchise owners who all work very differently to consulting firms. Following their unique and proven models, the business growth coaches look at the business in relation to the most important elements that drive profitability.
1. Mindset
Lack of execution is one of the greatest barriers to development for the smaller business. Often it is the mindset of the business owner that is behind this lack of execution.
Sanjiv says: “Business owners are generally technicians. They are excellent at their craft, which is obviously crucial for the success of the business in terms of quality. Technicians, however, don’t tend to have natural business acumen. “This is precisely why the mindset aspect of the business coaching is so important. It is designed to coax out the underlying business leader – to get them to step
up to become a confident manager and leader and, eventually, to think like an entrepreneur. Encouraging the owner to work on the business instead of in it helps achieve the desired goals and a far healthier work-life balance.”
“It’s vital to have a solid operational structure in place so that a business is able to deliver on a consistent basis”
2. Strategy
The strategy part of the ActionCOACH franchise process is all about the mastery of the business. “It’s about turning the client’s goals into plans and plans into results,” says Sanjiv. “It’s vital to have a solid operational
structure in place so that a business is able to deliver on a consistent basis. Sometimes, this could even involve slowing a business right down because growth at too rapid a rate can very often be detrimental. So we might put in structures and systems, install a division of responsibility, bring services in-house, budget and plan ahead and, of course, establish good financial control. Premature growth without such systems will lead to business distress.”
“My journey with ActionCOACH has already been transformational. In my first week, using the techniques from training, I saw three prospective clients and they all signed up for one-to-one coaching. That meant I had already smashed the client income guarantee which ActionCOACH offers new franchise owners – if you invest in enough marketing to get you in front of six qualified prospects a month, and use its UK sales process, you will achieve a gross £10,000 monthly income within your first seven months of training! I’ve gained much greater flexibility and control over my time. It’s been an immense educational opportunity and there is more to come, with over 70 days of development on offer each year from the UK support team.” Sanjiv Dodhia, ActionCOACH franchise owner
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BusinessFranchise.com | May 2017
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