`Business Barometer’ Points to Specific Behavior Modifications for Local Companies
Fort Worth, TX – A majority of U.S. small business owners have changed the way they think about and operate their companies as a result of the recent recession, according to a survey conducted by The Growth Coach, a business coaching franchise system which serves several thousand small business clients annually in more than 150 markets across North America.
Tim Fancher, owner of The Growth Coach franchise in Fort Worth, recently participated in the ‘Business Barometer’ survey, a study completed by 40 percent of the business coaches (Growth Coach Franchise Owners) across the country. The Growth Coach corporate headquarters conducts the survey quarterly to capture a snapshot of the “economic mindset” of the thousands of small business clients their coaches serve.
Based on survey responses, 95 percent of business coaches, including Fancher, reported that their small business clients (defined as less than 100 employees) have made overall expense reductions, while 80 percent implemented a workforce reduction and/or a hiring freeze.
“Small business owners in Fort Worth and the surrounding areas are continuing to search for ways to manage their businesses and lives as they want greater success and fulfillment,” said Fancher. The recession has created humility among small business owners and self-employed professionals and it has opened up their minds, making them more receptive to working with business coaches to grow their businesses and stay ahead of the competition.”
Other post-recession behavior modifications were highlighted. Another 80 percent of overall survey respondents reported that their small business clients were now more focused on achieving better results and receiving a higher return on investments (ROI). Owners are questioning every expense and demanding better ROI validation before spending their cash.
Other indicators that small business owners have learned their lessons, modified their mindsets, and implemented noticeable changes to their day-to-day business operations include:
• Wiser sales and marketing investments (77.5 percent)
• Better focus on all-around productivity (77.5 percent)
• Better budgeting and planning process (70 percent)
• Changes to leadership and management approach (67.5 percent)
In addition, 85 percent of business coaches surveyed including Fancher, reported feeling that the recession has fundamentally changed the way their small business clients view and think about their businesses, while 75 percent believe the recession has had a positive effect on the way their clients now think about and operate their small businesses.
The Growth Coach utilizes its signature Strategic Mindset® group coaching process, one-to-one coaching, telecoaching, and other related services to help clients reach success in business and in life. All initial coaching services come with a 100 percent money-back guarantee. The coaching process helps clients gain clarity, strike a balance between their personal and professional lives and close the performance gap with ongoing action plans and accountability. For more information from the local business coach, please e-mail at T.Fancher@TheGrowthCoach.com, visit on-line at www.TheGrowthCoach.com/tfancher or call at 817-301-9982.
About The Growth Coach
Founded in 2002, The Growth Coach is the only pure business coaching franchise system with the single purpose of helping drive the success and balance the lives of business owners. Their goal is to help clients gain greater focus so they can work less, earn more and enjoy more fulfilling lives. Clients include small business owners, franchisees, self-employed professionals, high-end sales and financial services professionals and managers from businesses of all size. Through an expanding national accounts program, The Growth Coach serves franchise systems, dealer networks and associations. With a presence in more than 150 markets across North America, The Growth Coach encourages diversity within its franchise system, as well as the development of small business and franchising worldwide. Currently, The Growth Coach is a member and/or affiliated with the following professional organizations: International Franchise Association, SBA Franchise Registry, VetFran, Minority Fran and is listed in Bond’s Minority Franchise Guide, 2010 AllBusiness.com AllStar Top 300 Franchises, and Entrepreneur’s 2010 Franchise 500®. For more franchise opportunity information, visit www.TheGrowthCoach.com.
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Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
A Small Business Helping Other Small Businesses
A lot of small business owners establish their business doing something that they love to do. Many times they take a passion or hobby that they have (and in most cases already doing) to the next level and construct a business around it. Turning something that they are passionate about into a cash flow, income generating business is a tremendous idea! I bet we wish we could all do that.
I’ve also met many others that had absolutely no intentions of starting a business but for some reason, the business started itself. It commonly starts out with them helping someone else with their needs or passion and the next thing they know; they are deep in the middle of trying to manage a small business themselves.
In both cases, the newly crowned business owners tend to concentrate on what drives their business, focusing on the passion or tasks that drove them into business in the first place. This is what I refer to as the technical side of the business, or “tech work”. Tech work is the hands-on, making something happen, busy work that is typically the revenue generating product or service. It’s what your customers are paying for. Tech work is definitely an important fundamental piece for any small business. Most, if not all, small business owners would agree that taking care of the customer’s wants and needs is their top priority. It is what makes the dollars flow in so they can continue to pay their bills. Making sure you are taking care of the customers is what helps grow the business.
It’s what happens next that typically determines if their business will continue to grow or it becomes stagnant. Most small business owners, no matter how they got into business, typically have the technical skills to be sufficient for their customer’s wants and needs but don’t always have the business skills to maintain or even grow their own business. They have a tendency to get caught up working “IN” their business instead of working “ON” their business. Although they may sound similar, they are worlds apart when it comes to running a business.
Working “IN” your business as a business owner means continuing to do the “tech work” yourself and spend most (if not all) of your time focusing on the day-to-day tasks. Making sure that every order was filled or processed correctly. Making sure that every e-mail was read and responded to that day. Ensuring that each of your employees had exactly what they needed to do their job that particular day. Being the go to person to answer all their questions about that day’s work.
Does this sound familiar? Did I just describe your average day? If so, you are caught up on working hard but not necessarily work smart. Don’t get me wrong, every single one of the items I just listed above are very important to providing your customers with exceptional service and an important part in growing a business. They are all necessary tasks on a daily basis. It’s just the person who is the center of it all that is the problem.
As the CEO (yes, you are the CEO of a company!), are these the types of tasks that you should be working on personally or should someone else within your “organization” be handling these? I know you are saying, I don’t have an “organization”, I only have a few employees. I can’t ask them to do everything and I just sit back and watch. I would agree. You can’t ask them to do everything but you can “organize” everything that does need to be done and then decide who is responsible for each. Having an “organization” is not just having a bunch of employees, it’s having a detailed description of everything thing that must be done on a daily basis to take care of the customers and each of the items assigned to an employee or a group of employees. The “organization” is knowing what needs to be done and who is responsible for it. Yes, you are an employee and you should have some tasks or responsibilities assigned to you.
That is where working “ON” your business comes in. As the CEO, you should be focusing on the future of your business and looking for new and fresh ideas. You should be focusing on how to market your products and services to new customers and how to create more sales and revenue from existing customers. You should be looking at ways to make your “organization” more efficient and less costly. You should be visiting your current customers and asking them “what else can we help you with?” You should also be looking for referrals and potential new business. All of these things are focusing on growing your business and making it more efficient.
I already know your next comment, “I don’t have time to do all of these things!” That is a very common response to understanding the difference of working “ON” the business verses working “IN” the business. Many business owners are struggling with multiple challenges at one time. It’s difficult to juggle them all and give them the amount of time that is needed.
What are your greatest challenges in business currently?
• Time Management
• Financial concerns
• Getting referrals/developing referral partners
• Work/life balance concerns
• No Strategic business plan
• Lack of implementation
• Lack of business systems
• Inability to get to the “next level”
• Lead conversion/sales
• Marketing
• Team building and recruiting
• Employee management
• Other
This is where my business comes in, hence the title, “A Small Business Helping Other Small Businesses”. We are The Growth Coach, a business coaching firm that specializes in small to medium sized businesses and self-employed individuals to get more out of their businesses and lives. Our goal is to help entrepreneurs to work less, make more, and enjoy richer lives. Specifically, with a proven quarterly focusing process, Strategic Mindset®, we help enhance the strategic mindset and actions of owners and self-employed professionals. Over a two-year process, we help owners to go to work “ON” themselves and “ON” their businesses. They learn how to think, focus and act more strategically while at the same time, discovering more effective ways to grow and manage their businesses. Because our coaching and accountability process has been used and continually refined for over 15 years, it is so well proven that we provide a money-back guarantee for all our clients.
Because we utilize a proven strategic-focusing and on-going review process, you will:
• Achieve greater income and free time
• Sharpen your strategic focus
• Leverage your time, talent and resources
• Identify more business opportunities
• Assess and overcome personal obstacles and limiting beliefs
• Adopt effective personal-management and business-management strategies
• Create and continually update a customized action plan based upon your vision and goals
• Receive on-going accountability to make adjustments and stay on track
• Achieve greater clarity of direction and greater confidence in yourself and your future
If you are seeking better approaches to managing your business and life, The Growth Coach can help. We understand the unique mixture of pleasure and pain that comes with owning and managing a growing business.
Our proven Strategic Mindset® process and many coaching programs help owners like you to slow down, reflect and decide on the critical changes necessary to improve your business and personal life. Through our programs, Growth Coach clients discover practical and highly effective personal-management and business-management strategies and mindsets. They gain clarity of direction, peace-of-mind and greater confidence pursuing their business and personal goals.
No matter how you got into business, the trail that you blaze from this point forward should be more strategic. The fact is, just like any professional athlete, you need a coach with a proven system and an objective, on-going review process to elevate your performance and results. Take advantage of The Growth Coach business coaching process today.
I’ve also met many others that had absolutely no intentions of starting a business but for some reason, the business started itself. It commonly starts out with them helping someone else with their needs or passion and the next thing they know; they are deep in the middle of trying to manage a small business themselves.
In both cases, the newly crowned business owners tend to concentrate on what drives their business, focusing on the passion or tasks that drove them into business in the first place. This is what I refer to as the technical side of the business, or “tech work”. Tech work is the hands-on, making something happen, busy work that is typically the revenue generating product or service. It’s what your customers are paying for. Tech work is definitely an important fundamental piece for any small business. Most, if not all, small business owners would agree that taking care of the customer’s wants and needs is their top priority. It is what makes the dollars flow in so they can continue to pay their bills. Making sure you are taking care of the customers is what helps grow the business.
It’s what happens next that typically determines if their business will continue to grow or it becomes stagnant. Most small business owners, no matter how they got into business, typically have the technical skills to be sufficient for their customer’s wants and needs but don’t always have the business skills to maintain or even grow their own business. They have a tendency to get caught up working “IN” their business instead of working “ON” their business. Although they may sound similar, they are worlds apart when it comes to running a business.
Working “IN” your business as a business owner means continuing to do the “tech work” yourself and spend most (if not all) of your time focusing on the day-to-day tasks. Making sure that every order was filled or processed correctly. Making sure that every e-mail was read and responded to that day. Ensuring that each of your employees had exactly what they needed to do their job that particular day. Being the go to person to answer all their questions about that day’s work.
Does this sound familiar? Did I just describe your average day? If so, you are caught up on working hard but not necessarily work smart. Don’t get me wrong, every single one of the items I just listed above are very important to providing your customers with exceptional service and an important part in growing a business. They are all necessary tasks on a daily basis. It’s just the person who is the center of it all that is the problem.
As the CEO (yes, you are the CEO of a company!), are these the types of tasks that you should be working on personally or should someone else within your “organization” be handling these? I know you are saying, I don’t have an “organization”, I only have a few employees. I can’t ask them to do everything and I just sit back and watch. I would agree. You can’t ask them to do everything but you can “organize” everything that does need to be done and then decide who is responsible for each. Having an “organization” is not just having a bunch of employees, it’s having a detailed description of everything thing that must be done on a daily basis to take care of the customers and each of the items assigned to an employee or a group of employees. The “organization” is knowing what needs to be done and who is responsible for it. Yes, you are an employee and you should have some tasks or responsibilities assigned to you.
That is where working “ON” your business comes in. As the CEO, you should be focusing on the future of your business and looking for new and fresh ideas. You should be focusing on how to market your products and services to new customers and how to create more sales and revenue from existing customers. You should be looking at ways to make your “organization” more efficient and less costly. You should be visiting your current customers and asking them “what else can we help you with?” You should also be looking for referrals and potential new business. All of these things are focusing on growing your business and making it more efficient.
I already know your next comment, “I don’t have time to do all of these things!” That is a very common response to understanding the difference of working “ON” the business verses working “IN” the business. Many business owners are struggling with multiple challenges at one time. It’s difficult to juggle them all and give them the amount of time that is needed.
What are your greatest challenges in business currently?
• Time Management
• Financial concerns
• Getting referrals/developing referral partners
• Work/life balance concerns
• No Strategic business plan
• Lack of implementation
• Lack of business systems
• Inability to get to the “next level”
• Lead conversion/sales
• Marketing
• Team building and recruiting
• Employee management
• Other
This is where my business comes in, hence the title, “A Small Business Helping Other Small Businesses”. We are The Growth Coach, a business coaching firm that specializes in small to medium sized businesses and self-employed individuals to get more out of their businesses and lives. Our goal is to help entrepreneurs to work less, make more, and enjoy richer lives. Specifically, with a proven quarterly focusing process, Strategic Mindset®, we help enhance the strategic mindset and actions of owners and self-employed professionals. Over a two-year process, we help owners to go to work “ON” themselves and “ON” their businesses. They learn how to think, focus and act more strategically while at the same time, discovering more effective ways to grow and manage their businesses. Because our coaching and accountability process has been used and continually refined for over 15 years, it is so well proven that we provide a money-back guarantee for all our clients.
Because we utilize a proven strategic-focusing and on-going review process, you will:
• Achieve greater income and free time
• Sharpen your strategic focus
• Leverage your time, talent and resources
• Identify more business opportunities
• Assess and overcome personal obstacles and limiting beliefs
• Adopt effective personal-management and business-management strategies
• Create and continually update a customized action plan based upon your vision and goals
• Receive on-going accountability to make adjustments and stay on track
• Achieve greater clarity of direction and greater confidence in yourself and your future
If you are seeking better approaches to managing your business and life, The Growth Coach can help. We understand the unique mixture of pleasure and pain that comes with owning and managing a growing business.
Our proven Strategic Mindset® process and many coaching programs help owners like you to slow down, reflect and decide on the critical changes necessary to improve your business and personal life. Through our programs, Growth Coach clients discover practical and highly effective personal-management and business-management strategies and mindsets. They gain clarity of direction, peace-of-mind and greater confidence pursuing their business and personal goals.
No matter how you got into business, the trail that you blaze from this point forward should be more strategic. The fact is, just like any professional athlete, you need a coach with a proven system and an objective, on-going review process to elevate your performance and results. Take advantage of The Growth Coach business coaching process today.
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