When a business owner tells me they want to grow, my first question isn’t about marketing. It’s about foundations.
In the ActionCOACH Business Operating System, the first stage is mastery: moving from chaos to control. It has four parts, and each one builds on the last. Get them right and growth becomes far easier. Skip them and growth becomes expensive and exhausting.
1. Delivery mastery
Most owners focus on new customers first. I want to know whether you can look after the ones you’ve already got.
Would you run a bath with the hot tap on and the plug out? That’s what chasing new business looks like when existing clients are leaking away. Keeping a customer is seven times cheaper than winning a new one.
The test: can you deliver on time at least 80% of the time, on budget, on scope, with no negative feedback and no late-night panic? First, score yourself out of 10. Then ask what one or two points better would look like.
A simple way to raise the bar is to imagine your favourite celebrity just became a customer. Of course, you’d pull out all the stops. What would you do for them that you’re not doing for everyone?
2. Destination mastery
Simply put, before you build something, you need to know what you’re building.
We spend more time planning our family holiday than planning where our business is going. Nobody turns up at the airport with a backpack and no idea where they’re flying. And nobody builds a dream house by dumping bricks in a field. Instead you’d hire an architect and see the drawings first.
So take two full days. Decide where you want the business to be, what it’ll turn over and which customers it’ll serve. That’s your blueprint.
3. Financial mastery
If you don’t know last month’s net profit, you don’t really know your business.
Every one of my clients reports their numbers to their coach monthly: revenue, gross margin, net profit and average sale. Together they answer one question: are you on track or off track?
Technology makes this easy now. My AI agent pulls our numbers from Xero every Tuesday morning and emails the team a report. As a result, a three-hour job became thirty minutes.
And if your accountant only gives you year-end accounts nine months late, find one who’ll give you monthly numbers.
4. Time mastery
Fortunately, I only ask for two to four hours a week, blocked out, to work on the business.
If you’re not building your business, someone else is. However, it rarely ends up looking the way you wanted.
Where to start
Score yourself out of 10 on each of the four. Pick the lowest two and focus there for the next 90 days. Finally, once those are solid, you’re ready to grow.
Contact us to book your free coaching session.
Take Action. Get Results.
