It was fantastic to talk to someone outside the business who opened my eyes and who helped me understand what I have to do to make my business more efficient and what I need to put in place in order to earn more money.

Since I have been working with ActionCOACH, I have been a lot stricter with myself.

I measure the time I work on each project, I increased my average fee per project by 60% and although this year started very slow, I managed to increase my turnover year to date by 80%. I also started working on a new marketing strategy, I outsourced some of the programming work and I currently have my terms & conditions updated and improved.

I can only recommend ActionCOACH business coaching to any small business which needs help and advice on how to efficiently run a business and to earn money and will definitely attend her next 90-day Planning Session at the end of the month.

Once again, than you very much for all advice and for putting my head straight.

Brad Sugars tells all about ActionCOACH results.

Brad Sugars Says …

From the start, it was clear that Mary Sue had a strong belief in her service and product, and that she was knowledgeable and professional. And the business had great potential to grow, develop and meet her needs, personally and financially.

So, why was it so difficult?

When she came to ActionCOACH, everything was “too hard” – clients were being difficult, not paying and not treating her with any respect. They were being openly disrespectful to her.

From a coach’s viewpoint, we recognized that to move beyond these issues we had to look inside, rather than focus on the results we were seeing outside.

Significant growth would come when she created a new and stronger identity that would support Mary Sue. When she had as much respect for herself as others did, then her business would grow and develop in the ways she was looking for.

ActionCOACH identified a number of areas to work in first, including:

•   Creating a new identity.

•   Sacking a client she no longer wanted to deal with.

•   Changing her billing philosophy – and actually billing for work done.

•   Increasing turnover and profits.

From the outset, Mary Sue listened, questioned, learned and did as she was told! As a client she’s a pleasure to work with. When we began working on her identity, ActionCOACH made a few suggestions, and helped determine the direction she could work on, and even suggested other people to talk to.

She simply went off and did it. Because of the insights she received then, and because of how valuable it was for her, she was willing to trust ActionCOACH fairly quickly, so that when it became necessary to do some things that really frightened her, she just trusted me and went ahead and did them.

We started by realigning Mary Sue’s belief in herself and correctly valuing her professional services. She learned that it was realistic and critical to charge a fair and profitable rate, and to charge it for all the work she does for a client. We put her rate up, and we ensured that all her work was charged. With that in place and turnover responding to the increased focus on sales, we decided to deal with a client who was causing her a great deal of concern.

The client was (unfairly) blaming her for their situation, which also involved a third party, and rather than working towards a solution, the situation was heading for a breakdown. With the help of ActionCOACH, Mary Sue took leadership and facilitated an opportunity to resolve the issue, and once that was under way she advised the client that they were sacked – she did not wish to work with them anymore.

Although it was hard for her to do, she did what was required and as a result, professionally extracted herself from a difficult and potentially costly situation. And, she learned that she could choose her clients, as well as sack them if they were not willing to play nicely.

With the personal growth and the increasing performance of the business, we started looking at creating leverage for her, so she could do more without having to work longer or harder. Soon after she identified the characteristics of the person she wanted to work with, an excellent candidate turned up.

He had years of ACT! experience, and was personable, presentable and professional. Although he was living in the US, he wanted to come to New Zealand to live, so it seemed too good to be true. Mary Sue made a decision to trust her instincts, and ActionCOACH coached her in developing an offer, a contract, and securing the new team member’s services. Over the past month, since he has been on board, every week has been a record of increasing sales. And, he has also earned great feedback from clients, so Achieve! is now being seen as the supplier of choice, with technical support and service being the best available locally.

Although we’ve surpassed all of the original goals, Mary Sue continues to work with ActionCOACH. Our coaching goals have changed and now we are looking at how to create an asset from the business. And, how we can further leverage the business so that she can focus on doing just the things she wants to do and do them well. She now has vision and clarity around where she is going, along with the knowledge that she is already getting there. That’s one of those things that have made it such a great experience for ActionCOACH working with Mary Sue.

Being part of the growth and development of the business and also personally, and now taking all that to a new level. The next year will be even more exciting than this year, and I know that Achieve! will become more and more the business Mary Sue wants.

An ActionCOACH can get you to your goals quicker than you ever thought possible.

The Outcome
Mary Sue has achieved so much in the short time she has received coaching. Much of this has been in the non-tangible aspects of business – things that are so important to very small business operations.

But let her explain:

“I don’t feel isolated and alone any more. I’m married to a guy with a PhD, he’s very smart, he’s a scientist, he’s a carbohydrate chemist, but to try and talk to him about business issues like this, he can’t really relate to it. I don’t have colleagues around me that I can sit down with to complain about the boss. I’m completely on my own, and my German Shepherd, she just doesn’t understand when I complain! So suddenly I just don’t feel alone anymore. I’ve got a shoulder to cry on, or someone I can ring up and say, you know, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing!’ ActionCOACH will always take a few minutes to talk to me.

“Yes, ActionCOACH Business Coaches provide support in a wide range of areas, all of which are vital to today’s business owners. And it’s important to realise that every case is different. Every ActionCOACH Coach has a unique set of strengths and challenges. They also have a wide ranging knowledge base from which to draw, so they can, for instance, match a solution that worked in a particular business to a challenge faced by another business in a different industry.

“But they’re not just sales experts or management gurus. They can become a human resources manager or distribution specialist to a small business.

“I now understand my worth – and my business’ worth. I’ve just doubled my human resources. I now bill, and bill a good amount, for the work I do. My new employee is absolutely brilliant, in terms of what he’s done in a week and a half and the revenue that he’s generating. My ActionCOACH has helped me through these things.

“And just to reiterate, he’s helped me to identify the kind of customers that I want to have; the kind of people I want to have in my life.”

An ActionCOACH Business Coach also provides focus to the business owner. This is an area that Mary Sue has benefited greatly. So what is she working on at the moment?

“This urgent vs. important issue. Taking the time to be able to build the business as opposed to just chasing after customers needs all the time. I now have a vision for what I want the business to be and for so many months I just forgot about that vision and thought, ‘OK, I’ll just try and get through the next few days.’ I can picture what I want the company to be. I can see it out there.”

So, what vision does she now have for the future?

“I don’t imagine I’ll ever part company with ActionCOACH. I think there’s always going to be a need for ActionCOACH, especially when you’re the boss, you know, where else do you go? I want to run a successful business with about 3 or 4, maybe 5, team members located in downtown Wellington, providing national service to customers in not only Act!, but other software programs as well. You know, not focusing on how you move your mouse from here to here to get this kind of end result, but why do you do it. And that could be how to improve internal communications, improve sales, reduce stress and workload, or how to make the business more effective.

“I think that whenever anyone starts a new business, they get their lawyer and an accountant, but they should also get an ActionCOACH Business Coach. I think that if you consider the high attrition rate of new businesses – how many go under in the first 2 or 3 years – I probably would also have gone under if I didn’t have an ActionCOACH here to help me through. I would have said, ‘Oh, it’s too much! I think I’d rather be an employee!’

“ActionCOACH actually has helped me stay in business and actually grow it, instead of giving up on it. I think the world of ActionCOACH!”

An ActionCOACH will help you cross the finish line a winner.

The Moment Of Truth
Well, it’s quite funny really, because it all began when my husband and I met an ActionCOACH at a bed and breakfast over in the Wairarapa, and we just got talking.

And then about a month later we got in touch again. I called him and we just worked it out from there. I had used a business mentoring service in the past, but I found I wasn’t getting out of it what I needed to. I think it was structured differently from the way ActionCOACH works.

ActionCOACH helped me understand that I was providing value to my customers, especially over time, as I’ve learned more and more, and now it’s pretty hard to stump me in IT areas. I needed to really get over that emotional hurdle; that what I did was actually of value to my customers. And I needed to start charging for things I was previously giving away.

My ActionCOACH said he actually bumped into a customer of mine who said I provided an amazing service, but never bothered sending an invoice.

Well, that said it all to me.

ActionCOACH helped me understand that what I provide, in terms of a service, has value to my customers.

I’ve just hired an employee. ActionCOACH helped me with that too.

My coach helped in terms of how, because when I started my business, I thought I would work completely on my own. But it soon got the point where I was going to have to start looking outside, otherwise I would have to close the business because I couldn’t do it all. So he helped me understand, well, if I was going to hire someone, whom did I need? You know, someone to clean the house, or a technical support person? Or should it be a salesperson? So he helped me identify the type of person I needed. He then gave me lots of advice on how to structure the employment contract so that it works for me as an employer. This was great because many employee’s contracts, as you know, are very much in the employee’s favor. He gave me a lot of hints and techniques in terms of how to structure the employment contract.

And when I had my lawyer review the contract, he thought it was brilliant!

Before coaching started, I didn’t even have a financial target. So once we got started, ActionCOACH talked to me about the four quadrants; about things that are urgent, things that are important, things that are not important, and things that are not urgent.

And I spent a bit of time looking at how I was spending my time. Turns out I was doing many things that were not important, but urgent. And those things tended to be customer’s demands. What I needed to do to make the business run better and more profitably was to reassess all this. So I’ve changed how I spend my day.

I’m still not saying I’m doing it right, but right now I’m just trying to make it day-by-day, while all this other stuff is going on. But what I can see is the light at the end of the tunnel, whereas before I started coaching, I couldn’t even see that.

Our plan tends to be a bit of a moving feast at present. One of the things I agreed to in our last session was that I would go back through my previous goal sheets (that I fill out prior to having a coaching session) to see if they’re still valid.

If I haven’t achieved them, I’d decide if they’re still important, and if so, I’d actually put a time on them.

Here’s another thing ActionCOACH helped me with: I actually “resigned” a customer!

I sacked this customer I didn’t want to work with any more. And it was so hard! Man. I thought, “I owe it to them” and my ActionCOACH said, “But you don’t deserve to be treated that way.”

In the end I’m so glad I did, because they got into all kinds of trouble and are now out of business. I’m so glad that I wasn’t part of all that trouble they had after I resigned them. And I think that they were probably shocked receiving that letter from me; hearing that I didn’t want to work with them anymore.

My ActionCOACH held my hand (not literally) through this whole process.

I mean, I was shaking as I typed the letter, and shaking as I put it into the envelope, but you know, he just said, “You just have to do it. Do it.”

And I just closed my eyes and put blind faith in what he said. In the end it was very right to do it.

And now, I could do it again if I have to.

He taught me that if you can do it once, you can do it again. He often says you get the customers you deserve. And that’s one thing that I’ve found really valuable to keep in my mind. When I look back at the customers I have now, I just appreciate them all so much because I think I’ve started to attract, or draw, those people that I want to have as customers, instead of just having a customer for the sake of having one.

So, by ActionCOACH saying, “You get the customers you deserve,” it has become a self-fulfilling prophecy …

A good Business Coach can help you get your goals in line.

Mary Sue’s Story
Act! is not marketed really strongly in the Asia/Pacific region, and particularly not in New Zealand. It’s not like, you know, there’s a massive advertising campaign for Act!, so most sales, I think, have come through word of mouth.

The sorts of people who use this product are … people … small to medium-sized businesses with 3 to 20 users would be typical. They have a need to communicate regularly with their customers and would want to collect information about them beyond just their names and addresses.

When I say the product hasn’t been marketed, I mean as a brand. The owners (of Act!) do some advertising throughout the Asia/Pacific region, but it’s not heavily advertised. You’d never see it on TV, for example. So from a brand point-of-view it’s not heavily marketed.

From a personal point-of-view, looking at Achieve! Ltd, my reputation is continually growing through word-of-mouth and through some of the advertising that I do.

Before I met ActionCOACH, I certainly faced challenges such as IT issues, and accepting my own worth – and coming from a user-angle as opposed to an IT-angle, which is where a lot of Act! consultants come into the game.

They tend to know everything about computers, but they don’t know much about people, customers, and business processes, and can answer any technical question that’s fired at them but I was the exact opposite. You know, you could throw me with a simple tech question, but man, I could tell you anything about how to market it, or how to improve communication within the office.

I could certainly do that part of it. I had a real hard time expecting payment for some of those technical services I provided.

An ActionCOACH can help you overcome any obstacle.

Profit is the most important thing in business. Without it, no business can exist.

- Brad Sugars -

The Business Name: Achieve! Ltd., Upper Hutt, New Zealand
Business Sector: Information Technology and Services

The Challenge
Working on your own can be one of the most difficult, and demanding, things you can do.

It can also be soul destroying if you’re not careful.

Isolation, lack of stimulation and the real possibility of losing your bearings, both mentally and professionally, are all very real challenges that today’s sole operator faces.

Many thrive under these conditions, but the vast majority don’t. They may manage a meager existence for a while, but the truth of the matter is, it’s a tough environment in which to thrive.

The smart operators recognize the signals when they’re beginning to approach dangerous territory and take action.

Take Mary Sue Severn, for instance. She’s an Act! certified consultant. Act! is a contact management software package, which has over 70% market share in the world, and is used by more than 4 million people.

It helps people manage their communications with their staff, co-workers, customers and suppliers.

While Mary Sue is based in Upper Hutt, she serves all of New Zealand. Most of her customer base is centered between Palmerston North and Christchurch, but she has customers up and down the country.

And they come from all walks of life.

“There’s no business, I would say, that Act! doesn’t work for,” she says. “We have travel companies, recruitment companies, financial advisers … I’ve got utilities, wholesalers … I’ve got retailers. You name it, anybody can use Act!”

OK, so how can an ActionCOACH help someone like Mary Sue?

What, apart from the obvious, can be achieved by having an ActionCOACH Business Coach in a situation like this?

Let’s find out …