When you decided to take charge of your own destiny, rather than working for a boss, you would have had a clear vision of what you wanted to achieve.
Are you enjoying the financial rewards that you anticipated when you started your business?
Introduction
Products
Methodology
Cost
My services
The engagement process with my clients is not regulated by a written contract. In the first few sessions a working relationship is developed based on the concept of a mutual exchange of value. If the relationship fails to deliver, then either party can terminate the engagement at that time. If this happens then I only bill for the work done up to that point. It is worth noting that I have had very few cancellations over the years. The primary reason for this is that (a) the value proposition is clearly defined at the start i.e. the issues to be addressed + the solution to be applied + the cost of the intervention and, (b) my engagement pack includes guidelines on how to establish the necessary rapport, empathy, and harmony to ensure that the engagement is effective. I offer three basic coaching and mentoring products. These are: 1. Traditional coaching and mentoring This consists of weekly sessions of about one to one and a half hours. Our first couple of sessions would focus on identifying the areas where you need assistance and prioritising these for attention. These issues would typically relate to areas such as those listed on the first page of this website under one or more of the seven key business functions. In our weekly sessions we would typically first handle any situational issues that may have arisen and consider solutions available to you (e.g. a key employee has tendered his / her resignation and this is a major problem given the general shortage of key skills). Situational issues are a fact of business life and you will probably want to give them priority. The balance of the time is then spent on your identified core growth issues. Engagements of this nature typically last about three months but there is no fixed term. They end when you feel that you have filled your most urgent knowledge and skill gaps. Many of my clients come back one or more times over a period, to address newly identified issues. These subsequent engagements are typically much shorter. I do have clients who have been with me for extended periods of more than two years. Here I become more a part of the business and these clients tend to describe the engagement in terms such as, “Mike fills in the gaps we have around the boardroom table”. For these clients I participate in senior management planning and contribute whenever major long-term decisions need to be made, in addition to facilitating the resolution of situational issues. It must be noted, that I certainly do not have all the answers! However, given my SME experience and business network, I quite often manage to find them or at very least make a useful contribution. 2. Modular coaching and mentoring Sometimes SME business owners need assistance with specific issues which are reasonably well-defined. Some examples here might be (1) Performance Appraisal - the organization has reached a point where authority has been broadly delegated and the Business Owner feels the need for more structure and control. I have developed a module that covers this and could assist you to customize and implement it over four or five sessions (depending on the type and size of your business, (2) the business has stabilized, and a large proportion of income and expenditure items can be reasonably well forecast. The business still operates on an overdraft and would like to eliminate this. I have a budget module and can customize and install this with you over five or six sessions. Over the years I have developed a wide range of modules and this type of coaching and mentoring is mainly template driven. For more examples you can go back to the Home Page and look at the pop-up sheets for Strategic Focus - Management - Marketing etc. I have fully developed modules for most of these and many more. Email me if there is something you specifically want to consider. 3. Business Assessment Over the last nineteen years that I have been working with SME businesses I have developed a detailed Business Assessment document. It is structured around the seven key business elements mentioned on the Home Page and covers multiple sub-elements under each primary heading. Over about six sessions I can take you through each sub-element in terms of what it means, how relevant (or critical) it is for your business and the extent to which it has been introduced and is fully functional. Working through this will lead to the identification of needs which can be addressed and resolved by you, the Business Owner, on his or her own, or I can assist with module driven coaching and mentoring. The output of the business assessment exercise is a comprehensive Business Planning Document.
All aspects of my engagement with a client is covered by a Confidentiality Agreement. The one I use is a standard Institute for Independent Business document that has been used by accredited Executive Associates, like myself, since the inception of the organisation in 1984. This agreement provides an umbrella for our relationship and ensures that we can share information freely and securely. My primary focus is on businesses that have been trading for at least two to three years. It has been my experience that start-ups generally require more assistance than they can easily afford and so they usually need to depend on subsidised assistance to see them through the early years. The focus of the SME coaching and mentoring process is to align the client organisation with best business practice for the sector in which it operates. Unlike large businesses, metrics are not usually readily available and so assessment depends on coaches and mentors who have had significant experience working in this market. The engagement process considers: • reviewing the strategic planning process and content • assessing the systems and processes driving the organisation • considering management skills and competencies Effectively this process is a Gap Analysis exercise and issues are identified and prioritised for attention. The focus then is on clearing blockages and promoting growth through closing gaps. In general terms, coaching and mentoring in the SME context is about assisting you to regain your momentum and facilitating the achievement of your goals.
I use a Solution-Focused development framework throughout the coaching and mentoring process. This is a well tried and tested methodology used by a wide range of educational specialists and institutions. It is renowned as a learning solution because of its capacity to produce lasting solutions in the shortest possible time. The focus is predominantly on solutions rather than problems and advocates the early establishment of objectives. Free session If you meet the basic criteria i.e. • Your business is generally categorized as an SME • You have been trading for at least two to three years • You are either the majority owner of the business or have been clearly mandated to make changes where necessary then the first 30 minute session is free. The objectives of this session are:  1. To obtain a general and realistic overview of your business mainly in terms of the business model  2. To identify the primary development needs of the organisation and the most suitable SME Mentoring and Coaching product to apply Sometimes more than 30 minutes is needed for this exercise but, (provided that both parties are optimistic of a mutually beneficial outcome) this process can continue for a longer period. Pricing My standard rate for a 1½ hour session is: 95 GBP -- 115 USD -- 1,150 ZAR Comparing prices with other Coaches and Mentors is not straightforward because there are many who claim this title but lack relevant knowledge, skills, and experience to make a significant improvement to your business. In order to assist your purchase decision I offer the following: • Could you afford a person with my experience as a full-time employee?( a quick Google search reveals that in the United Kingdom an Accounts Clerk with between two and four years of experience would cost a company about £1,920 per month! ) • If you could afford a full-time person, is it safe to assume that you would not need that person for more than two to three months? • Could you, in any case, afford to spend all your time with this person for three months? Notwithstanding the above, probably the best way to gain an insight into the positive contribution I can (and will) make to your business is to take up the free 30-minute coaching and mentoring session.
When you decided to take charge of your own destiny, rather than working for a boss, you would have had a clear vision of what you wanted to achieve.
If you are not there yet then I can help.
Managing and controlling the full range of disciplines that influence and determine SME business performance 01 While having a significant depth of knowledge, skills and experience in your own specific area of expertise, you would have found that there are other disciplines where your knowledge is not as comprehensive. Large businesses have a number of directors each of whom are functional experts in their own disciplines. You, however, on your own, have to ensure that all of the relevant key functions (and their sub-elements) are fully covered. These directors usually also have significant general business experience and provide broad-based support to the Managing Director as and when required. The first challenge for the SME Business Owner is that sometimes you simply don’t know what you don’t know. The second challenge is that acquiring new knowledge, skills and experience to fill gaps, from the ground up, is VERY time consuming and often quite costly. This is where an experienced Coach and Mentor comes in. My experience and subsequent research has shown me that there are seven key functions that are critical for SME success and growth. These are present in virtually all organizations be it a church committee, a local community club, a stamp collecting society, or the next Microsoft-in-the-making. Unless all of these are competently covered the organization will experience problems. business owners (both in terms of money and your time) and ensuring a consistently good return on this investment can make or break an organization. Management is a core discipline for any SME business and is best understood as a profession where skills and proficiencies can be honed and improved on an ongoing basis. Getting good results from others (your subordinates) substantially increases your ability to expand your area of impact and achieve your growth targets. REMEMBER: the Business Owner’s management style and operating methodology usually cascades down the organization. If you are not operating at optimum levels then the chances are that your subordinates are not either. Developing a full range of Management Skills 02 Management skills are NOT soft skills - anything but! Getting the most from your subordinates is vital because you will have far fewer human resources than does your large company counterpart. Employees are usually a substantial cost for small The following four key management skills are the cornerstones of the process and a high level of competence in each is essential: 17 x 960 17 x 960 35 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 Having ready access to expert business support 04 As can be seen, there are many occasions when the SME Business Owner will benefit from having ready access to expert business support. You can only achieve your goals if your business continues to move steadily along the path to maturity and this road is full of bumps. While an increasing number of SME Business Owners are turning to qualified Coaches and Mentors for assistance many more have not yet done so. The majority still turn to friends and associates and, while the advice offered is generally well-intentioned, it is certainly not always effective. To put this into context - if you are ill you will consult a medical doctor - if you need legal advice you will visit an attorney - if you need investment advice you will engage with a financial planner. Logically then, when you need business support with the entity that generates a livelihood for yourself and your family it makes sense to engage the services of an experienced Business Coach and Mentor. This is where I can help you. 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 17 x 960 SME Business Owner Expectations 1 When you decided to take charge of your own destiny, rather than working for a boss, you would have had a clear vision of what you wanted to achieve. Are you enjoying a rich quality of life with an optimum level of work vs free time? As an SME Business Owner are you the envy of your corporate friends and associates? Are you enjoying the financial rewards that you anticipated when you started your business? Have your expectations been met? 17 x 960 17 x 960 If you have achieved these goals then you don’t need me! Over the last fifteen years I have worked with a wide range of Small and Medium Enterprises in various parts of the world and have found that there are four main areas where SME Business Owners usually experience difficulty. The primary reasons for not achieving business growth goals 2 These are: Your Unique Selling Proposition is clearly defined and regularly reinforced with a view to ensuring that you are at all times clearly differentiated from your competitors Your business Vision and Mission has been clearly defined and everyone in the organization is fully aligned with it All aspects of your Business Model have been confirmed, documented and are regularly adjusted to ensure competitiveness in your chosen market/s Functional objectives for each of the key business elements have been set and are regularly reviewed and updated Key Business Indicators have been set up and are regularly tracked to ensure that the business is moving forward on a controlled and measure basis 1. Strategic Focus 1. Planning Planning is the work done by a manager to develop and maintain a logical framework that maximises the chances of achieving the organization’s planned future. There are two basic ways of managing a business (1) you can respond to issues as they arise and, (2) you can develop a mental picture of what you want to achieve, reflect and analyse the various aspects of the issue, carefully look at alternatives, and then make sound and considered decisions. Clearly these two options are not mutually exclusive but the extent to which you favour one or other will have a major impact on your business results. In essence the distinction here is between employing a predominantly reactive management style or a predominantly proactive management style. The key elements of the planning process include: 1 Forecasting Establishing objectives Scheduling Establishing policies Establishing procedures 2 3 4 5 2. Organizing Organizing is the work done by a manager to develop and maintain an organization structure that comprehensively documents all the work that needs to be done in order to achieve the organization’s planned future. In the early years of trading, most small businesses are not highly organized. As the business grows, however, an increasing urgency develops to formalize structures with particular reference to the delegation of responsibility. This urgency arises because when responsibilities are not clearly defined the end result is managerial and structural inefficiency. The key elements of the organizing process include: Developing organization structure Establishing relationships between positions Delegating responsibility Delegating accountability Delegating authority 1 2 4 5 3 3. Leading Leading is the facilitating and supporting work done by a manager as he empowers the members of his team to achieve and then exceed their work objectives. Of all the management functions leading tends to have the highest component of emotional content. To a large extent people are governed by their emotions and the astute manager will take this into consideration when looking to achieve overall performance improvements. As a general observation, the manager who is able to secure understanding will usually achieve good results. An essential part of this process is to engage in a two-way exchange which allows him to contribute through his personal knowledge and experience. The buy-in obtained in this way will motivate the employee by recognizing and acknowledging him as a valuable asset. The key elements of the leading process include: 1 2 3 4 5 Decision-making Communicating Motivating Allocating people Developing people 4. Controlling Controlling is the work done by a manager which is directed at ensuring that all aspects of the work delegated to his subordinates is done satisfactorily at all times. Performance must be objectively evaluated against the individual responsibility, accountability, and authority that has been formally delegated to the employee. Controlling is very a “hands-on” activity. If there is sub-standard performance then it is the responsibility of the manager to engage with the employee and resolve the issue. As far as possible performance issues should always be resolved at the lowest possible level. The key elements of the controlling process include: Are there times when you feel that some of your subordinates are not operating at peak levels? Do you sometimes find that it is “easier to do it yourself”? If this sounds familiar then I can help. 1 2 3 4 Establishing performance standards Measuring performance Evaluating performance Correcting and improving performance These include: 03 Planning all aspects of your business Having good management skills is essential for success. However, this is only half the story. By definition the focus of the management process is on ensuring that the MOST IMPORTANT tasks are completed AT THE RIGHT TIME. For this to happen you need to have a clear picture of what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, who is tasked to do it and how well they are performing. In the corporate environment the various levels of management each have accountability for planning their own areas of control. For SMEs the Business Owner must plan, integrate, and control all levels. The development and maintenance of these core business guides is essential if you are to achieve your business goals. I can assist you in this process. The Business Model The Business Vision and Mission Business Objectives (three years) Operational Objectives (6 to 12 months) Weekly and monthly progress reviews 35 x 960 Group point Group point Group point Group point Group point Group point Group point Group point Group point Group point Group point Group point Group point Group point Group point Group point Group point Group point 7. Financial Monthly financials are available by no later than the fifith working day of the new month The organization operates in accordance with a formal budget Profit margins are closely monitored and there is a formal plan to improve over a specified period The profitability of the organization is higher than that of the industry average The organization’s debt to equity ratio is closely monitored and there is a formal plan to improve over a specified period 6. Human resources Your Manpower Plan is structured around an organization Skills Matrix and covers all essential knowledge, skills and experience A basic Job Description and Job Specification exists for each position within the organization A formal Performance Appraisal evaluation is conducted with all employees at least once per annum All aspects of recruitment and selection are conducted in accordance with a formal evaluation and assessment process An Employee Development Plananpower Plan exists for every employee in the organization 5. Value-Add All aspects of your Value-Add process/es (product or service) from base inputs to final outputs are effectively structured and planned and are completely controlled The customer demand for your products is fully synchronised with your Capacity Plan and organization structure Your suppliers are genuinely part of your Value-Add process and are regularly and systematically assessed Product (and / or process) quality control is integrally integrated in your value-add process and not only added in afterwards Your business has reached a level of maturity where Continuous Improvement has become a core part of your business process management 4. Sales Your Sales Objectives have been derived from the organization’s Marketing Plan All Sales personnel regularly undergo Sales skills and product training Your Sales Funnel has been carefully structured and is actively managed on a day-to-day basis Your Sales team is kept motivated and operating at a high level of efficiency and all aspects of Sales Performance is qualitatively and quantitatively assessed Your Sales team promotes value to client rather than depending heavily on price to conclude deals 3. Marketing You have a structured marketing planning process and your Marketing Objectives and Programmes are defined accordingly Marketing Mix elements have been developed for each of your chosen markets and your business capabilities are fully aligned with defined customer wants New product offferings are being planned and developed with a view to staying relevant in your chosen markets Your Pricing Strategy centres on intrinsic value for the customer rather than simply the cost of developing and providing the product or service Your Customer Relationship Programme focuses on customer retention and maximising up-selling opportunities 2. Management The business has an up to date Organization Chart and the responsibility, accountability, and authority components have been clearly defined for each position Each position in the organization has a basic Job Description and incumbents have been fully briefed regarding organizational expectations Objectives have been agreed with all employees and deadlines are taken very seriously Employee performance is closely managed and corrective action is taken where necessary Each employee has a basic development programme and this is regularly reviewed Having examined the lists above, are you confident that all of the areas that relate to your business are fully under control? If not then I can help. These key functions (and some examples of sub-elements) are: Strategic Focus Management Marketing Sales Human Resources Financial Value-Add examples ……. examples ……. examples ……. examples ……. examples ……. examples ……. examples ……. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Your Unique Selling Proposition is clearly defined and regularly reinforced with a view to ensuring that you are at all times clearly differentiated from your competitors Your business Vision and Mission has been clearly defined and everyone in the organization is fully aligned with it All aspects of your Business Model have been confirmed, documented and are regularly adjusted to ensure competitiveness in your chosen market/s Functional objectives for each of the key business elements have been set and are regularly reviewed and updated Key Business Indicators have been set up and are regularly tracked to ensure that the business is moving forward on a controlled and measure basis 1. Strategic Focus
my coach and mentor
Business Support That Works
SME Coaching and Mentoring
Business support that works