The crucial role of a coach is undeniable in the field of sports. Most people would say that one of the most critical people behind a team’s win is their coach. Without a great coach, an athlete or a team will simply find it tough to win a competition.
But coaches are not only found inside the court or along the racetrack. Some of them are playing and hustling, not in the field of sports, but in the field of business.
Did you know that most business owners of globally recognized brands have business coaches? Coaching is indeed not just for sports, but for business as well. These coaches help business owners by providing objective assessment, injecting new knowledge, and enhancing proactiveness and accountability.
How business coaches get businesses and owners into shape
● Objectivity - Business coaches can provide an objective, unbiased, and educated perspective when looking at your business’ strengths, weaknesses, and strategies from outside in. They can give praise or criticism to help you improve. Not only will they bring in a fresh perspective, they will also bring in years of experience into your business.
● Injecting knowledge - They introduce new knowledge, tried-and-tested methods and strategies, and holistic advice on the business. Great coaches not only have a deep playbook of different tips and strategies, but also know where to find expertise when it’s needed. By both bringing knowledge and also connecting you with the right people or suppliers, coaches help accelerate your learning process.
● Action and accountability - Most importantly, business coaches hold the business owner accountable and ensure that all action plans are implemented. Many owners have great ideas and know how to grow their business, but are often too busy running the business that they do not have time to grow it. Coaches ensure you are on track, and give you the motivation and the push to take a step back to work ON the business and not just IN the business.
Six steps to a better business
Paul Henshall, one of the top global business coaches from ActionCOACH and the CEO of ActionCOACH Australia & New Zealand, shared the six steps to a better business.
“It’s the success of the businesses in the community that actually makes the community successful,” Paul Henshall said as he expressed his excitement for ActionCOACH Philippines in helping out local businesses grow and become even more successful.
According to him, there are six steps to a better business, and these could help in increasing profits and sales, freeing up business owner’s time, and creating amazing teams.
1) Mastery - From Chaos to Control
Most business failures are due to the lack of management expertise. Under this first step, there are four areas that business owners need to master in order to eliminate chaos and create stability in their business. These are Destination Mastery, Money Mastery, Time Mastery, and Delivery Mastery. Destination Mastery is having a vision and direction for your business. Money Mastery is having the financial intelligence needed in order to manage your business better. Time Mastery is about the productivity and efficiency of your teams, your systems, and yourself as the business owner. Delivery Mastery is basically about the consistency of your business, from production to customer service. “Consistency is the foundation for healthy growth.”
2) Niche - Predictable Cash Flow
Paul Henshall says that Niche means business owners are not competing on price. This step urges business owners to find several uniquenesses in what they offer and to find the one the market will buy because of. Niche is also about creating greater profits. While most business owners focus on either marketing to get more leads or cutting cost to generate profits, ActionCoach focuses on 5 key drivers to create exponential profit growth - No. of Leads, Conversion Rate, No. of Transactions, Average Sales, Profit Margins.
3) Leverage - Efficiency
This step is about getting the business to work efficiently. An acronym to remember this by is SYSTEM which stands for Saving Your Self Time, Energy & Money by reinvesting in the business through setting up new systems, utilizing up-to-date equipment, and incorporating innovations. In order to systematize a business, a business should clearly define and fulfill its vision, mission, culture, SMART goals, organization chart, positional contracts, key performance indicators, how-to systems, and management systems.
4) Team - Structure for Growth
ActionCOACH will help business owners in building excellent teams by using this four point cycle. The 1) Owner should be able to create an amazing 2) Team so that they can best deal with 3) Customers, who will then contribute to the growth of the 4) Business. This cycle goes back when the business gives more to the owner. The keys to a winning team are strong leadership, common goal, rules of the game, action plan, support for risk taking, and 100% involvement and inclusion.
5) Synergy - Duplication
In a survey conducted during the webinar, over half of business owners said they they cannot take a long holiday as they feel their business won’t run well without them. Installing a General Manager will put the business on “auto-pilot mode”. It is a state wherein all the people, systems, and aspects of the business are working harmoniously like a well-oiled machine, even when the business owner is not around.
6) Results - Growth and Freedom
Once the fifth step is fulfilled, the last step which is Results will finally be achieved. In this step, business owners will find fulfillment in an effective, efficient, and profitable business that can run and be successful even without them. This will allow business owners to have time to focus on their own personal growth, to further grow their business, and/or to build a new business.
ActionCOACH is the world’s largest business coaching firm with over 1,000 coaches in 80 countries coaching 18,000 clients weekly. To know more about it, please contact certified ActionCOACH Philippines Coach Jose “Joo” Caparas (JoseCaparas@actioncoach.com / 0917-725-0518) and Coach Farwa Hombre (FarwaHombre@actioncoach.com / 0966-840-5520).
Join another ActionCOACH learning session titled “5 Ways to Grow Your Profits” on July 21 and know about various tools that can be used to measure performance, how beliefs in marketing can affect the business, and which strategies for increasing profit will work for your business. You can register here for free.
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Sam Christopher Lim is the CEO of Francorp Philippines; Co-author of 12 Strategies for Franchising; President of U-Franchise Sales & Management; Chairman for ASEAN Integration of the Philippine Franchise Association; and Chairman for ActionCOACH Philippines.
As seen in Esquire.com