I had my first experience with a business coach in January 2016. Initially I was very enthusiastic about our activities, plans and goals. However, as the year progressed I felt that we were jumping from one theme to another without fully completing outstanding tasks. On reflection we were responding to the current issues whilst not having a carefully considered business plan. A failing, I identified in myself, but one that a seasoned business coach would have alerted me to and held me accountable to by analysing the business, identifying the priorities and setting ambitious goals. In addition, and most importantly, they would provide bespoke management tools pertinent and relevant to my business. Unfortunately, going into the last quarter of 2016 I couldn’t identify any significant progress; or returns on our coaching investment. Therefore, I terminated our contract with the business coach.
Around the same time, I received a referral from a supplier to give Stuart a call, who at that stage he’d work with for two and half years; and arranged an initial meeting to discuss our situation. From the outset the whole approach was completely different. I felt that despite our recent bad experience we couldn’t refuse the opportunity to engage Stuart’s services. Stuart was very analytical from the start of the meeting, asking detailed questions about our business, listening intently, and suggesting improvements that immediately resonated with us.
We already had a fairly good understanding of our businesses financials, but Stuart interrogated them to a much deeper level and through 2017 we gradually implemented additional systems to plan, measure and forecast our financial performance. This helped us to make much more informed decisions about the business and our strategies moving forward. In addition, we continued to maintain detailed financial reports enabling us to really keep our ’fingers on the pulse’ of the businesses’ financial performance.
Stuart founded and managed his own company, over a twenty-five year period, which I believe sets him apart from the majority of other business coaches. It seems an obvious prerequisite to becoming a business coach, but the facts are that most coaches haven’t actually operated their own businesses. They are classroom taught rather than learning from their own experiences good or bad.
During our first year with Stuart our turnover increased by 32% and our net profits improved by 109%, which made a significant impact on the business.
Stuart is a valuable member of our management team and continues to play a significant part in our financial, sales, marketing, operations, production and HR activities.
I would have no hesitation in recommending Stuart’s services to other ambitious businesses, regardless of their industry, who require help and support to build a more profitable business.
