The Moment Of Truth

It all changed one fateful night in September. The centre management had invited a representative from ActionCOACH do a free seminar on sales and marketing to show us how we could improve our businesses.

I thought I would go along just to see what these “consultants” were on about and what ideas they might have.

I thought it was all very weird when one of their representatives started trying to balance about ten helium balloons all at once.

I was actually going to get up and leave.

Then it all changed.

One of the ActionCOACH Business Coaches stood up and started to pull my strings. He asked the group how many of us were truly free of our businesses. How many of us, he asked, could take days, weeks or months off whenever we wanted to? How many of us could be assured our businesses would run efficiently and effectively whether we were working or not? How many of us truly valued the concept of time, and how many of us were spending our time doing things we enjoyed, or would rather be doing something else?

The coach proceeded to tell us all about ActionCOACH and the options that were available in their ActionPLAN. I took the information home and told Natasha about my evening.

I remember going to sleep thinking, “I dare you to give it a try.”

The very next day, I did.

I gave ActionCOACH a call and the rest, for me, is history.

On my first meeting with ActionCOACH, the Business Coach asked, “What is it that you want most of all from your business?”

At that stage my sights were limited. I knew Natasha wanted our backyard landscaped, so I replied, “I want the business to earn enough money so we could get our backyard landscaped.”

The coach smiled wryly and asked, “OK, so we are in September, what do you want from the business in October?”

I’d never really thought about it before, but the Business Coach kept asking questions, delving deeper and deeper. It all really came down to one thing: time.

I began to realize this was the commodity I wanted most.

I wanted to spend time with my family; time to do whatever I wanted, when I wanted. I didn’t want to feel trapped and full of worry.

I’m sure you have all heard the saying, “Spend more time working ON the business, not IN it.” I never really understood that until I started working with ActionCOACH. For the first 3 months, that’s what ActionCOACH taught me to do. I systemized everything in the business, from opening up the shop, to how to measure up a client for a suit, to how to manage the computerized Point of Sale System.

This seemed at the time an extremely tireless job, however, I absolutely loved it. I could see that it was the first step toward building a better business.

It wasn’t long before I could afford to spend a day at home each week working on the business.

This totally re-energized me and I began to think, “Hey, this can really work for me.”

ActionCOACH taught me that consistency was the key to a successful business. It was also the key to releasing myself from working IN the business and spending more time working ON the business.

You see, if a customer were to come into the shop, he or she must experience the same level of help and service no matter who helped or served them. And they must have exactly the same experience every time they came in.

This was my first step to making the business less reliant on Ray, and also on me.

We started a VIP program and set about signing up our key A-grade clients. We then began holding special events every month. But what we needed most, at the time, was advice on how to make some quick cash.

In October of 2001, I had my first taste of a successful marketing campaign, and what an absolute eye opener it was.

Once we had our new stock in for that season, we experienced our first success.

ActionCOACH suggested we hold a closed-door sale for my loyal customers. So I invited them to an event to celebrate the arrival of our new season’s stock. We served refreshments and gave anyone who spent in excess of $1,500 a dinner at one of Sydney’s most exclusive Italian restaurants.

I must admit that I did have certain expectations and hoped for a good turn up, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d get the turn up we did.

In one weekend we took more than what we typically would in 10 days of trading. After the event, Ray said, “In my 37-years in this business, I have never ever experienced anything quite like it!” What was even better was the fact that our takings were on full margin; there were no discounts given and nothing was “on sale.”

That day we gave out 13 dinners to the value of $150 each.

I had started. I was now really hungry for more.

All of a sudden, instead of just plodding along and wishing for customers to come through the door, I proactively went after them. I started a frequent buyer’s program that rewarded customers every time they bought, with points that could be redeemed at a later stage for goods from the shop.

I began to compile specific customer lists that grouped people together according to their likes and dislikes. This helped me plan promotions for each individual group and to make contact with them specifically. For example, I organized a “Made to Measure” suit and jacket promotion and was able to reach my target market because I had a list of people who had an interest in “Made to Measure” articles.

When we received new merchandise from particular labels such as Polo Ralph Lauren, I had a list of people whom I knew wanted to be told about it.

I also helped organize an agreement with Lavazza Coffee whereby I would serve their coffee to our customers, if they supplied me the coffee and an espresso machine free of charge.

I also had wine and whiskey for those customers who had had a particularly difficult day at work. And do you know what? Some customers began coming in just to say hello and to have a cuppa. It was great!

I even recently invited the local Harley-Davidson dealer to put a bike on display in the shop. It was great to see these “shopped-out” husbands dragging their wives into the store to see the Harley, and to hear their wives say, “Yeah sure, but you need some new clothes!” Work was becoming really fun.

ActionCOACH warned me that other shop owners would think I was a bit weird. I remember once when centre traffic was slow, the other shop owners were complaining how slow business was. I was booming. They kept asking me how I did it, and I always said, “Get an ActionCOACH.”

It amazed me that no one took my advice.

In the first 6 months of working with ActionCOACH, business coaching helped our turnover increase by 18%, but more importantly, our profit increased by nearly 40%. I was hooked. I have never enjoyed working so much.

When it came time for our next season’s launch, I wanted to try something a little different. However, I didn’t know what. One day I was speaking to ActionCOACH about the latest James Bond movie and my Business Coach said, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could get James Bond into the store for the promotion?”

Well, unfortunately Pierce Brosnan was busy that weekend, but I organized for an Aston Martin DB7 to be on display in the shop instead. I also organized complimentary dinners at the MG Garage Restaurant for our customers.
Needless to say, that promotion was even more successful than the first.

What I really enjoyed most of all was hearing compliments from our customers like, “There is no other store that offers me as much as what you do,” and “You know you are ruining my overseas shopping experiences, because I just come here for everything now.”

Then there was this: “My husband keeps telling me to ask you to stop having promotions, because he enjoys coming here for them and always spends too much money.”

I love these comments! It makes me think I’m doing something right. I mean I love communicating with my customers, and if they leave feeling happy, then I know I have done something right.

We basically changed the business from being a passive one (waiting for customers to turn up) to one that is a real fun place; one that is an incredible experience. This concept is breathtakingly simple, yet difficult for owners who are store-blind to see.

It’s simply about the being able to “go the extra mile.” That is what ActionCOACH keeps telling me.

We do things that I can guarantee nobody else does. Like sending new customers thank you gifts for coming into our shop, whether they buy anything or not.

Or even sending our good customers gifts like pen sets or calculators.

I remember one instance when a lady came into our store and began looking around. I introduced myself and struck up a conversation. She had never been into our store before, even though she was a local. She told me that her husband shopped at one our competitors about 20 km away. I took her address and her husband’s name. When she left, I boxed up a pen and pencil set that we had purchases for our good customers and promptly sent it to her.

That weekend she and her husband came into the shop and spent over $6,000. They are now dedicated customers.
“If you have to make a decision, make it in favor of the customer,” my Business Coach would say to the team. My team were becoming so good, it did not matter who served our customers. What a change!

I was able to promote my young salesperson to general manager. I then recruited another team member to train. In turn, Ray was able to semi-retire, and I got to spend time with my family. In short, we were all progressing towards realizing our own dreams.

One of the advantages of having a more successful business was that I managed to afford to increase the size of our store by 30 square meters, and I spent $50,000 fitting it out. Needless to say during the refit, (funny how it always seems to take longer than expected) our turnover was not good.

Consequently I decided to get in some ties for a promotion. Once the refit was completed, I sent out a letter to all our customers offering them a free tie just for coming to have a look at the new shop. Over a 3-day period I gave away 23 ties (at the value of $11 each) and I took in over $23,000.

I still have a very long way to go in the business. In fact, I feel I have only just begun. My next step is to build the business to a stage where I could franchise it to begin making some passive income.

I am currently not only enjoying working in my business, but I also absolutely love the extra time I have with my young family. If that’s all I ever achieve in life, then my time with ActionCOACH has been worthwhile.

I have gone from a position of negative cashflow, negative profits, working long hours, and questionable customer loyalty to owning a company that is thriving.

Oh, and ActionCOACH managed to get our backyard make-over money in one weekend! I am so glad I got into ACTION!