How has ActionCOACH made its name in the business coaching industry?
We’ve done it by teaching businesses how to be profitable. It was with this in mind that we produced our new “5 Ways” app for the iPhone.
There are “5 Ways” any business can become profitable, and when you understand how each “way” drives profit, you are setting yourself up for incredible success.
With the “5 Ways” app, you can see how to multiply profits in your business by increasing each of the “5 Ways” incrementally.
And since you can use the app on the go or whenever is important, you’ll never have to make a decision while questioning your numbers again.
The “5 Ways” is one of the most important things ActionCOACH teaches its clients, so don’t miss out on this app for your iPhone any longer.
InBev is not alone. The majority of Fortune 100 companies have taken to paying their suppliers well after the 30 days that used to be the norm.
So what does this all mean for small businesses and the nation’s recovery as a whole?
Until there is some noise about this topic it will continue to go as an unnoticed reason the economy won’t rebound.
For all the talk we hear in the media, the key reason small businesses have seen a lack of cashflow and dearth of hiring is the fact that they can’t get paid on time.
Think of how much easier it would be for small businesses to take advantage of opportunities and expand if they were paid 30 days after issuing a invoice rather than 60, 90 or 120 days.
But what can be done to protect small businesses from this practice?
In my opinion, it’s time for the government to step in, especially if they want to see a real recovery from the recession.
After all, who can protect the millions of small businesses from the practices of big businesses?
To me this seems like another instance of the government not truly understanding the needs of small businesses and their importance to the economy as a whole.
If they are already profitable, why are big businesses holding up the payment cycle?
It just makes good business sense and because it does, it has become the industry norm.
After all, if your business could lay capital costs at the feet of your suppliers you’d do it, wouldn’t you?
Of course you would. This practice increases profitability and the overall value of a company because it turns a supplier’s resources into capital for the original company.
For instance, look at InBev, the Belgian company that bought Anheuser-Busch a few years ago.
In 2009, InBev went to a Net 120 payment system.
According to CEO Carlos Brito, “We always say, the leaner the business, the more money we’ll have at the end of the year to share.” And it’s incredibly easy to run a leaner business when you have your suppliers tying up their own capital for the sake of your business.
When he wrote about this issue in 2009, Steve McKee of Advertising Age said, “By forcing other companies to finance its operations, InBev is tying up capital that doesn’t belong to it. That hinders those companies’ ability to invest in innovation — not to mention meet their monthly payrolls. InBev is stealing their futures, plain and simple.”
We all know recovery from the recession isn’t happening as quickly as we’d like it and there are various reasons given as to what is holding it up.
Banks aren’t lending, the government doesn’t understand how to build economic growth or health care costs are too high.
All of these are valid points, but the economy isn’t growing because small businesses simply aren’t hiring.
The 20 million small businesses in the United States account for about 60 percent of jobs created, but small business growth, along with job growth has been stagnant.
Blame can be laid at the factors just mentioned, but the basic reason small businesses aren’t hiring is they lack cashflow. This comes down to an important issue, and one that hasn’t garnered a lot of press but could be the key to the recovery.
Many big businesses have gone from a Net 30 payment system to a Net 60, 90, or even 120 system. This simply means that instead of paying suppliers 30 days after receiving an invoice, the billing cycle for most big companies takes at least 60 and in a growing number of cases, up to 120 days.
Jeffrey Leonard writes in the Washington Monthly, “While large companies sit on mountains of cash, small businesses struggle to maintain lines of working capital, to pay their creditors in thirty days, and to meet payroll every two weeks—all while waiting two months or more after sending out an invoice to get paid themselves. Multiply this by millions of small firms and you have another piece of the missing-jobs puzzle.”
Education is one of the 14 Points of Culture ActionCOACH prides itself on and because of this, within the ActionCOACH community there is a premium placed on education.
We believe you must learn before you earn. The sentiment runs throughout the ActionCOACH community, from the Global Office to each and every franchisee and their team members.
But sometimes wanting to learn isn’t enough. You have to know where to turn to get the information you need.
All of these books get right to the heart of their subject matter in an easy to understand style that compliments the quality and depth of the information given.
In addition, we have some recommended reading that anyone can learn from.
These books have made a huge impact in the world of business. They run the gamut from books about relationship building to sales and to managing your team.
So what are you waiting for?
It’s time to start learning today and it all begins with turning that first page.
I came across a great article in Bloomberg Businessweek detailing the story of Panera Bread Founder Ronald M. Shaich. Shaich made a huge decision to focus on the growth of Panera Bread despite the fact that other companies under his corporate umbrella, like Au Bon Pain, were more profitable at the time.
Shaich knew that Panera was a franchise that had the possibility of exponential growth but some big changes had to be made to experience that kind of growth.
So where did Shaich find the setting to make such a major decision? He made it while was on vacation.
“I make my best decisions when I’m on vacation. You’re not focused on all the stuff that comes at you,” Shaich said.
The goal of every business owner should be finding balance while creating a profitable commercial enterprise that works, without them. When you have to make decisions in a pressured environment, the choices made can lead to greater problems down the road.
I’ve found taking a step back and finding a calm and quiet place to work out any major decision has helped me through the years.
When it comes time to make a big decision at ActionCOACH, I do my due diligence and then let the factors play in my head as I choose the right course.
Making major decisions during a tumultuous workday can be counter- productive. Sometimes there’s simply too much going on to come to a rational decision.
If I can make those decisions when I have time to consider all the possibilities, I’ve found those choices are much stronger and tend to hold up better over time.
So how do you make your big decisions? Do you have a process? Do you treat big decision differently than smaller ones? Tell me what you think…
Did you ever wonder what traits were in common among top managers? While each individual’s strength might be different, there are certain traits that quality leaders share.
A few years ago we conducted a survey of our coaches to find out what qualities were most important when it came to leadership and managing people.
We received over 1000 responses to the survey and there were seven qualities that appeared more often than any others.
So what are the key qualities that make a good manager, a good leader? This and many other interesting articles are housed in our ActionCOACH Business Library. The Business Library can be a terrific resource for anyone who has questions they need answered, including what it takes to be a successful manager of people.
Click here to read the article and find out what our survey told us. And while you’re there, check out some of the other great articles.
We take our 14 Points of Culture seriously at the Global Office and education plays a big part in everything we do. Developing a winning team and organization takes constant growth and evolution by everyone.
One of the ways I instill that in my team is by giving them a book to read every quarter.
Sometimes the book focuses on time management, sometimes on working together or other elements of business, but this quarter’s book is about customer service. We are reading “The Fred Factor” by Mark Sanborn.
“The Fred Factor” is about a postal carrier that always went the extra mile for those he delivered to. The story highlights the importance of customer service in every walk of life, in every element of business.
One of the basic principles in “The Fred Factor” is that everything is built on relationships.
Building trust with customers takes time and often the quality of the relationship the customer has with the people in the business differentiates the quality of the product or service from the competition.
We have made customer service a priority and something of a competition in our office and I think it has helped our service with our coaches.
First, we start the week off every Monday morning with a reading of “High Fives”. These are unsolicited thank you notes from coaches and other members of the ActionCOACH system our team members received over the previous week.
This is a ritual we are able to do in a team environment that helps highlight the things team members are doing right in regards to customer service.
The team member that has the best “High Five” wins a Postman Pat doll, symbolizing the “Fred” we should all try to be.
So what do you do to motivate your team to provide outstanding service for your customers? Are you educating them to be the best representatives of your company possible through their customer service?
On the Saturday before the Super Bowl President Obama gave a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
In that speech the President said it was the obligation of businesses to step up and “get in the game”. Obama is a fine speaker and his rhetoric was strong, but it seems to me his administration still doesn’t get what is really plaguing American business today.
As one commenter on Obama’s speech said in regard to his stand on business, “It’s like he took a bird, bound its wings, plucked its feather and told it to fly.”
What they don’t understand is that to create jobs, the government needs to find a way to stimulate the job makers, which are small businesses.
So what can be done to change the landscape for small businesses?
Start by putting revenues back in the pockets of small business owners. Forcing businesses to pay for health care or unemployment insurance for their workers is just another expense that many small businesses simply can’t afford.
Incentivize small businesses to hire. Hey they gave a grant to first time home buyers, why not have a hiring grant for small businesses?
If small businesses can get back on their feet and start hiring, the economy will be invigorated and show real growth but until that time we are stuck with a federal government that simply doesn’t get it and an economy that is struggling to recover.
What would you do to stimulate small business growth? Tell me what you think…
The Super Bowl is a phenomenon I’ve come to terms with since I’ve come to America. I’m not a big fan of American football. I prefer the football they play without pads like we have in Australia, but the Super Bowl is always a must watch for me.
It’s not the game on the field it’s the game off it which interests me. I’m one of those people that watch the game for the commercials. I might grab a drink or some chips while they are playing, but once the games goes to commercial break, I’m front and center and this year was no exception.
Unfortunately, I didn’t feel it was a great group of ads this year. Sure, some commercials were interesting. The Volkswagen commercial with the kid in the Darth Vader costume was definitely an attention grabber.
And this Chrysler commercial featuring Eminem and Detroit has been getting a lot of publicity.
Of course some ads were just plain weird and, at least in my mind, missed the mark. One of the strangest was this Doritos ad.
Finally, there was this commercial for Groupon which is really off-putting. It seems to make light of the plight of the nation of Tibet. I’m not really sure why an advertiser would think invoking the name of a country that has been subjugated by a more powerful neighbor and truly is in trouble would help their company sell products, but judge for yourself…
There was nothing that captured my attention the way last year’s Betty White Snicker’s commercial did, but I guess the Big Game can’t be great every year.
What did you think about this year’s Super Bowl commercials? Was it a good crop or were you disappointed? Which did you like best?
How has ActionCOACH made its name in the business coaching industry?
ActionCoaching | Jodie Shaw | 
March 2, 2011 8:27 pm | 
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