Business Coaching

Business Coaching

As a business coach I will meet with you on a regular basis to help work through the problems and challenges of running a business. I will review your business and make suggestions about areas where you can improve your cash flow, profitability, and market share. Take a look at the example below for any idea of the kinds of things that I could do for your business and read about how to choose a business coach.

A Major Pet Store

I have done work for the owner of a major pet store since 2003. One of the first things that I did was examine the financial statements, which led me to believe that too much money was being spent on advertising to risk it being misallocated. I followed up by analyzing the distance that customers traveled to shop at the store. The data was used to better allocate the advertising budget, especially yellow pages advertising. The data was modeled in a spreadsheet that I created which allowed us to look at spending by distance, by disposable income and distance, and by city from which traffic originated. Later, when the pet store moved, we were able to modify the spreadsheet to predict sales at new potential locations. While this analysis was not the only factor in determining the new location it was a major component in the decision.

In the course of my work for the pet store I have also done tasks as diverse as: Developing internal financial statements in which costs are broken down by department. Common costs are allocated using a variety of methods (such as floor space used, sales, labor costs) depending on the type of expense. This allowed the owner to examine the profitability of each department and make adjustments to improve the performance of the operation as a whole.

Assist in negotiating the mortgage on the new store. I suggested locking in a rate that did not reset at the end of construction a decision that saved a lot of money since we were in an environment of rising interest rates at the time the construction began.

Negotiating contracts with vendors as diverse as merchant account (credit and debit card) services, phone and internet services, and billboard companies.

Developing and delivering educational programs.

Developing procedures for doing physical inventories to get accurate inventory values.

A Software Company:

I have also done business coaching for a software company that produces circuit simulation software. Over the last several years, I have provided assistance with international marketing, strategic direction, quality assurance, marketing campaigns, press releases, Intellectual property protection, and strategic alliances.

When you don't agree with my advice

In any business coaching relationship there will be times when as a business owner you don't agree with my advice. For example, the owner of the pet store and I have disagreed for years on several things, such as the optimal pricing levels for live animals versus hard goods and whether the store should add a retail website. The store owner has gone as far as having me produce a fully functional retail website, turn it over to a store employee to be refined and never made it live. That's O.K. There will be times when a business owner disagrees with a coach. Part of the value of a coach is the ability to disagree and argue another perspective. The coach may be wrong at times or may be over-ruled.