(Photos | Courtesy of Rosell Wealth Management)
Greg Salciccioli from Coachwell shares his Insights
It’s hard to believe it’s June already! It’s that time of year to both work hard and play hard. Many readers of Cascade Business News as well as my clients are business owners. One of my clients is in the process of selling his successful manufacturing company. A few years ago, he hired Greg Salciccioli and his team at Coachwell here in Bend. His intention was to procure the professional guidance to prepare his company to get the systems and numbers to a certain place to receive the highest price possible as well as find the “right” buyer to take over his baby. My client stated: “Greg’s ultimate goal is not only to help build a ready-to-sell business that maximizes revenue but also to help business owners to enjoy life throughout the process.” It was then that I asked Greg to meet with me so I could learn more. I was so impressed with him as a person as well as the service he provides that I asked him to be a guest columnist this month as well as interview him on my podcast show, Recession Proof Your Retirement. Greg Salciccioli is the founder and CEO of Coachwell, a professional consulting company providing executive coaching and coaching systems for leaders and their organizations. For the past 20 years he has devoted his life to helping business owners build and sell exceptional companies. He’s also the author of a wonderful book titled: The Enemies of Excellence-7 Reasons We Sabotage Success.
Here’s some words of wisdom from Greg:
It’s lonely at the top. When you are leading a business, often the chance for bettering yourself as an owner and leader slips through your fingers. It’s not your intention to forget the importance of self- development, but it’s hard to fit it into a schedule that is crammed with urgent decisions, supply chain concerns and talent management challenges.
As important as today’s business demands are, the path to elevate your business is in working “on” yourself and your business not just “in” it.
And going it alone in today’s challenging business climate can be brutal. All of us can benefit from the valuable “outside insight” a seasoned Business Coach will provide. The question is: how do I know I have the right coach? Glad you asked — Let’s answer that question.
It’s easy to get confused about what hiring a business coach means. There is a lot of noise out there and promises made, but what really matters is finding — the right experienced coach and accountability partner for you and your business. Finding the right coach means they bring an understanding of business best practices, and they care about what motivates you and your team. They possess knowledge of the many intricacies of running a business and understand how that has an impact on your profitability and team members. A good Business Coach will display competence in navigating productivity snags and challenges that come your way, be intent on listening to your problems and present solutions to the roadblocks you face.
For example, we had a client that was a solopreneur who enjoyed his business but struggled with growing it. We helped him realize that if he was to grow and scale his business he needed to replicate and hire someone who could focus on full time sales. We helped him find the right salesperson and in the last nine years his revenue has increased by 400 percent. As he scaled, he also learned how to grow additional producers. Today he owns a thriving business with over $10MM in annual revenue. Great coaching is about taking simple ideas and implementing them to produce dramatic results. That’s the essence of Business Coaching.
Business Coaching is Unique
Why is business coaching unique? And how is it different from hiring a Consultant? A Consultant is usually hired for a specific need in a business’s life cycle. A sales plan, a rebranding of the company, or maybe as a temporary conflict mediator. However, a Business Coach is there for the long-term, steadying the hand of owners as they reach higher levels of productivity and growth.
Quality relationships are the cornerstone of the business coaching process. Development and growth only happen in an environment of trust. A Business Coach is responsible for creating this trusting relationship and helping you nurture it with your team. One of the effective ways a Business Coach achieves this is through accountability.
Entrepreneurs who invest their heart and hard-earned money into a business coaching venture want more than a consultant. They need someone who is invested in their present and their future. Someone who cares for the well-being of their team and who isn’t afraid to offer crucial feedback that leads to clarity and progress on the path to greater success.
The Business Coaching Process
There are a number of ways a Business Coach might work with a business owner. One of the best ways to facilitate this process is with a collaborative model of coaching. Instead of using a predetermined agenda for how to reach success, the most effective Business Coaches collaborate in building goals and action steps that accelerate results.
Active Listening also plays a big role in the collaborative coach’s approach. Good coaches listen and learn in order to recommend the right solutions that advance the business.
Regularly scheduled coaching sessions are a critical part of an effective coaching process. Over the years we have discovered a bi-weekly coaching cadence to be most effective. The week between coaching sessions allows owners time to implement their action steps. Then in the next coaching meeting, learnings and results can be reviewed. This refined process with hundreds of clients over the years has proven to be highly effective.
The collaborative model of coaching with a Business Coach who actively listens and learns – gets results! It ensures business owners and team members are inspired to act in their best interests. And the process is holistic. Focusing on topics like:
- Cash-flow.
- Priority management.
- Leadership effectiveness.
- Team member retention.
- Marketing and sales.
- Profit margin.
All these topics and more are captured in the Business Growth Plan.
Putting Together a Business Growth Plan
A Business Growth Plan is formed directly from the relationship between the Business Coach and the owner. Each plan is customized to the particular needs of the client. It all begins with the client and what needs and expectations are most urgent in their world. This gives the coach a sense of direction. The client’s priorities, not the coach’s, come first. Identifying opportunities, roadblocks and priorities are part of building a successful Business Growth Plan.
Business Coaching, while a bit of an art and a science, isn’t about flying blind. Key metrics are established in a Business Growth Plan to measure growth. As part of the Business Growth planning process the Business Coach watches: staff retention, cash flow, productivity, company culture and the owner’s productivity levels while at work.
One of the most effective tools in a Business Growth Plan is a Business Valuation.
The Business Valuation
A business valuation covers all areas of a business’s competency and helps a Business Coach and the Owner gauge market value of the business. The Business Valuation is a diagnostic tool to not only understand the market value of the company but also “understand what’s going on under the hood” as well as areas of opportunity to help the business expand.
A business valuation benefits a business of any size, regardless of whether or not they are ready to sell. It shows the likelihood your business will grow in the future and at what rate, helps you to understand cash flow swings and seasonality of sales and how differentiated your business is from competitors. The point of a business valuation is to provide a set point for where the business is in its pursuit of future growth. It shows what factors are within your control as a business owner and how you can improve the valuation of your company.
The Power of Business Coaching
Business Coaching is all about results. When solutions are implemented, there will be signs of improvement everywhere you look.
The important thing to understand is that business coaching doesn’t work to fix problems or people. The Business Coach engages relationally with owners, and their teams, to inspire, direct and promote positive change in every way possible.
Greg can be reached at greg@coachwell.com or 541-728-0601.
David Rosell is President of Rosell Wealth Management in Bend. RosellWealthManagement.com. He is the host of Recession-Proof Your Retirement Podcast and author of Failure is Not an Option — Creating Certainty in the Uncertainty of Retirement and Keep Climbing — A Millennial’s Guide to Financial Planning. Find David’s books at local bookstores, Amazon, Audible as well as the Redmond Airport.
Securities offered through ValMark Securities, Inc. Member FINRA, SPIC.130 Springside Drive, Suite 300, Akron, OH 44333 800-765-5201 Investment Advisory Services offered through ValMark Advisers, Inc., a SEC-registered investment advisor. Rosell Wealth Management is a separate entity from ValMark Securities, Inc. and Coachwell.
