ActionCOACH

Global thought-leaders come together for Business Excellence Forum

Last week, the annual Business Excellence Forum & Awards took place at Harrogate International Centre. The biggest and best yet, with over 1,000 coaches and clients in attendance at the UK’s premier event of its kind, sponsored by NatWest and ActionCOACH.

The Business Excellence Forum exists to recognise and honour the innovation, passion, risk-taking and results of some of the best companies and business owners in the world. It brings together a like-minded community of entrepreneurs to share ideas, build relationships and learn from some phenomenal success stories. This year we invited 7 world-class speakers from Australasia, the Americas and the UK including the founder of the business coaching profession, Brad Sugars. Filling our programme with breakthrough content, once the forum had concluded, every single delegate left with multiple actions to grow their business.

On day one, Professor Steve Peters entertained us with examples of our inner chimp whilst Baroness Michelle Mone spoke about the hurdles and successes of business ownership. Australian, Richard Maloney took us through his experiences of increasing employee engagement by fixing the heart of your business and Brad Sugars led a fast-paced session on business growth through productivity and performance.

Christopher Watkin is a business owner and, with the guidance of his ActionCOACH, has become a lettings agency growth guru. This was his second time at The Business Excellence Forum, “The conference was a cocktail shaker of words of wisdom, enjoyable speeches and awesome learnings. Brad Sugars is a true leader and gave me so much to take away for my business.”

The Business Excellence Awards celebrated the last 12 months of client achievements at a black-tie ceremony. Sixteen awards were given, ranging from Best Company Culture and Best Retailer through to CEO of the Year. For those award winners, it was a chance to celebrate and for everyone else it was something to aim for in the next 12 months.

Dr Marshall Goldsmith kicked off day two with an inspirational session on leadership. Every delegate was out of their seats, offering advice to each other; proving that leadership is a contact sport! Black Box Thinking author, Matthew Syed, explained the importance of mindset and learning from the past with some fascinating stories from the world of sport. Philip Hesketh was the final guest speaker and was back by public demand after he wowed the delegates of 2014’s Forum. Philip shared several of his business growth practices including the formula for reputation, 5 things to save and make money, his secrets to excellent customer service and all you need to know about time management.

John Cottrell has been an ActionCOACH for nearly 10 years and recently won EMEA Executive Coach of the Year 2017, an award that considers business coaches across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He recommends this yearly event to all his clients, “It’s not just about the speakers, business owners get fresh ideas and a passion for growth from everyone they meet. The networking opportunities can bring new clients and each interaction is thought provoking and useful.”

Would you like be at 2018’s Business Excellence Forum? Call 01284 701 648 or visit www.actioncoachevents.com

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Preparing for the best year so far

ActionCOACH’s 2017 annual conference was one of their most successful to date with the largest group of franchise owners attending the two-day event in their 14-year history. Packed full of useful advice and fun activities, 120 franchise owners kicked off 2017 in style, planning to make this the best year ActionCOACH has ever had in the UK.

All of the seminars were led by franchise owners sharing the most valuable insights and techniques to help grow their businesses. Franchise owner, Simon Buck, who has been with ActionCOACH for five years shared his business expertise on how to sell and build long-term profitable relationships. Simon has been operating his Bristol-based franchise since June 2011. After the realisation that his previous managerial roles lacked the tempo he desired, he looked to ActionCOACH for a new route to success. Simon explained, “Working with an existing franchise owner, my Master Coach, gave me a lot of insight into the business opportunity itself. I got to see the support network available to us, in practice on a daily basis, as well as the systemised approach to operating a territory.”

The first evening of the conference recognised the success of the Action Coaches and the impact on their business owner clients. The usual Coach of The Year and Best Client Results awards were given but this year a new award was introduced for Engage and Grow, the pioneering employee engagement programme exclusively available from Action Coaches in the UK. The award was presented to Joanna Martorana who has led the way introducing Engage and Grow in the last six months.

ActionCOACH has come a long way from its humble beginnings in a drawing room in Kings College in 2002 with only 3 franchise owners. The rapid growth and success of the business is a testament to the difference ActionCOACH contributes to businesses nationwide. This regular January conference is both a celebration and incentive to begin the year setting and smashing goals, thanks to ActionCOACH’s UK co-founders Julie and Ian who fund the entire event.

As they say, ‘All work with no play makes Jack a dull boy’ and ActionCOACH events are certainly never dull! Some friendly competition between the franchise owners during a volleyball tournament blew the cobwebs away before the second day of the conference began. The conference makes up a small part of the 70 days of training and networking opportunities on offer from ActionCOACH’s UK support team.

If you would like to be part of the next ActionCOACH Franchise Conference and you:

A) get a buzz from helping others succeed

B) love learning and developing yourself

C) have enjoyed success in your career or sport…

Then find out more by watching the overview video at www.actioncoach.co.uk

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Engage and Grow is putting the heart back into businesses around the world and ActionCOACH has secured an exclusive UK deal for their franchise owners to deliver this pioneering programme.

Deloitte recently stated that engagement is the one key element every successful business needs but most businesses have terrible engagement levels. Thankfully, Engage and Grow has been developed to bring the passion back for employees and organisations.

“We’re pioneering a new way to create to advance your systems, behaviour and culture. It’s not coaching and it’s not training; it’s a facilitation of change,” says Engage and Grow CEO and Founder, Richard Maloney. In just a year, the global coaching company has expanded from four coaches to 94, illustrating how valuable their Group Activation System is. The company is based in 15 countries, working across government, health and banking sectors as well as with tradesman and entrepreneurs. However, in the UK, the only place you’ll find an Engage & Grow coach is at ActionCOACH.

“Unlike traditional employee and leadership training, no pens and paper are required,” says Richard. “Traditional training is over. Peoples’ brains are full. They go to a one-day workshop and retain that information for a couple of days afterwards then it’s gone”.

That’s why Engage and Grow coaches attend a client’s site for one hour each week for 12 weeks to build leaders in their own fish pond. This approach has resulted in a 300 percent increase in engagement compared to the usual 10-15 percent.

“We take them on a journey and we get them to own their whole work environment in a way that’s empowering and creative. It’s a great model for millennials and older generations to connect and to expand,” explains Richard. According to Richard, every business has a heart and brain. Your brain is your systems, programs and predicts. And your heart is your relationships, communications, culture and leadership. At its core we open up the hearts of

a business by helping people to understand themselves and each other better”.

The franchise is expanding quickly and ActionCOACH franchise owners will be the exclusive conduits for Engage and Grow in the UK. More information about this new programme is available at the ActionCOACH stand 306 during the show or you can contact: 01284 701648.

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Unprecendented third successive Best Franchise title for ActionCOACH

This week, ActionCOACH was awarded Best Mid-Priced Franchise (£25-99k investment) at the RBS Best Franchise Awards 2016. This isn’t just the first time they have won this award, it’s the third win in three consecutive years.

Steven Frost, CEO of Smith & Henderson, the award organisers, said, “We would like to congratulate ActionCOACH on being recognised as the UK’s Best Franchise in the £25k-£99k investment level. This was an extremely competitive category and what makes this award even more special is it is based on feedback from ActionCOACH franchise owners, who provided outstanding feedback about the support from ActionCOACH, its leadership and products and services. In 2016, for the third successive year, ActionCOACH has been recognised as one of the very best franchise opportunities in the UK.”

Smith & Henderson’s Franchise Satisfaction Survey has been adopted by over 100 franchisors since it started in 2011 and ActionCOACH franchise owners were invited to rate their franchisor, its products and services and its infrastructure. The results of this survey produces a benchmark of satisfaction scores and high-scoring franchises are invited to present to a panel of judges for the RBS Best Franchise Awards. ActionCOACH beat franchises Ewe Move and Tax Assist to the top spot for Best Mid-Priced Franchise this year.

5-Star 4 Times

In 2013 ActionCOACH became the first recipient of Smith & Henderson’s coveted 5-Star Franchisee Satisfaction Award with record-breaking satisfaction scores. In 2016, ActionCOACH became one of just five franchisors to receive the 5 Star Franchisee Satisfaction rating 4 times!

ActionCOACH UK Co-founder Ian Christelow had the honour of being presented with the trophy by Smith & Henderson CEO, Steven Frost, for an unprecedented third time, “We're elated to win a hat-trick of Best Franchise Awards. This year the mid-priced category increased to £99k meaning we were up against the likes of last year's Best Large Franchise winner, Tax Assist, and to finish top again is testimony to the tireless efforts of our UK Support Team.

“I have to mention Julie Wagstaff, our Recruitment Director, who makes events like our Business Excellence Forum better year after year. James Vincent, Director of Coaching, and his world-class team of master coaches. John Asquith, our sales guru, and his dedicated lead and client generation team.

“Most of all, I have to thank our fantastic network of over 150 franchise owners, the calibre of individuals in our network is second-to-none and our culture of teamwork and abundance means support is readily available at the end of the phone. Not just that our franchise owners volunteer to run webinars and training days for free to share best practice and successful innovation, which means we can put on a franchise industry ground-breaking 70 days a year of support in the UK.

“We’ll all celebrate this award as a team but now the challenge begins to make our franchise deliver even more rewards, personal growth and fulfillment for everyone who invests in an ActionCOACH franchise.”

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Entrepreneur of the Year 2016 awarded to UK franchisor

European CEO Magazine has awarded Ian Christelow, co-founder and Managing Director of ActionCOACH UK, the world’s number one business services franchise*, the Business Coaching “Entrepreneur of the Year 2016” for Western Europe.

The renowned magazine for international business leaders has been recognising outstanding successes and innovations since 2003. This year, European CEO Magazine asked CEOs across Eastern and Western Europe to nominate people they have worked with for these awards. The category “Entrepreneur of the Year” recognises the achievements of outstanding entrepreneurs in the international business arena.

The magazine explains the motivation behind creating this category as part of the awarding criteria, “Entrepreneurs are visionaries who are instrumental in the success of a business. These awards recognise those special traits which make successful entrepreneurs so inspiring. Ian Christelow's true entrepreneurial spirit made a compelling case for winning this award. He had the vision to invest in ActionCOACH, consolidating the team across the UK. He is seen as a leader and authority in his field and is the driving force behind ActionCOACH’s development.”

This is the latest in a string of accolades for ActionCOACH UK. Ian accredits his team for the successes, “In fact, from an independent survey conducted by Smith & Henderson, ActionCOACH was awarded the UK’s Best Franchise (£25-75k investment) at RBS’s Best Franchise Awards for the last two years and became one of only five franchises to achieve 5 Star Franchisee Satisfaction Status four times in a row (2013 to 2016). We now have over 160 Action Coaches in the UK and our 2020 milestone is to grow the team to 1,000 so ActionCOACH can serve and help 10,000 UK business owners. Our vision is to become the go-to place for business growth, where every UK business owner is aware of the ‘terminal risks’ to their business and the cure.”

* ActionCOACH is the highest ranked Business Services franchise in Franchise Direct’s Global Top 100 franchises for 2016.

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ActionCOACH shortlisted for Best Franchise 2016

In 2013, ActionCOACH was awarded “5 Star Franchisee Satisfaction” status by Smith and Henderson, following outstanding feedback undertaken anonymously by ActionCOACH franchise owners. This year, they have secured the 5 Star status again and have been shortlisted for the Best Mid-Priced Franchise 2016.

Smith & Henderson’s Franchise Satisfaction Survey has been adopted by over 100 franchisors since it started in 2011. Each of the franchisee satisfaction dimensions are broken down into 4-5 questions. Using a five point scale, 156 ActionCOACH franchise owners were invited to rate their franchisor, its products and services and its infrastructure. The overall score of 86% puts ActionCOACH in the running for the awards held at the end of November where last year they won RBS’s Best Mid-Priced Franchise for a second time.

These outstanding results year after year makes ActionCOACH one of just five franchisors to receive a 5 Star Franchisee Satisfaction rating 4 years in a row! Ian Christelow, ActionCOACH’s UK Co-founder explains, “Our network of franchise owners is steadily growing and that means that we have to up our game in terms of supporting them. This year we’ve doubled the size of our lead and client generation offices to help our franchise owners hit the ground running quicker. We’ve recruited two National Partnerships Managers who have brought our franchise owners some great options for strategic partnerships to help their businesses and those of their clients grow. And we’ve brought the solution to most companies’ biggest challenge – employee disengagement – to the UK.

“We are shortlisted with two other very strong franchises and it’s an honour and credit to our franchise owners and their support team to have made the shortlisted final three times in our size of investment bracket for the UK’s Best Franchise five years in a row.”

The RBS Best Franchise Awards form part of Smith & Henderson’s Best Franchise Conference on 30th November at the Hilton, Milton Keynes.

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ActionCOACH franchise owner shortlisted for national business award

Jamie Goral joined ActionCOACH in 2013 and in just two years won their award for best business growth. One year later and he has been shortlisted for the Startups Franchisee of the Year 2016.

Having grown up listening to stories of business hardship, long working hours and mortgage struggles from his business-owning parents, Jamie Goral developed a passion for helping business owners achieve their potential.

 Today, as a franchise owner for ActionCOACH, Jamie offers business coaching sessions to numerous small and medium-sized companies across North, West and Central London. Whether wanting to accelerate profit growth and/or work fewer hours, Jamie says he is able to help business owners achieve just that using ActionCOACH’s tried and tested systems that have been used to help more than 100,000 businesses during the last 20 years.

Jamie explains, “My client’s profit growth is typically five times his fees or higher within a year of working with me and I was able to include some fantastic client testimonials and case studies within my award entry. By using an Action Coach one retail client has doubled profits to £2m in two years, a manufacturing client has grown by 132%, and two hairdressing businesses owners have grown by 50% in six months. What’s even more fulfilling is when a business owner can take control of their work-life balance to spend more time with family and friends.”

Startups Awards’ illustrious judging panel includes high-profile entrepreneurs, business leaders, and investors. Dragon’s Den star Nick Jenkins, millionaire entrepreneur Cath Kidston MBE, and smoothie superstar Jon Wright are just a few of the outstanding names. They felt Jamie was worthy of finalist status as his franchise operation is benefitting local businesses, creating jobs and giving a boost to communities.

Shortlisted from hundreds of entries, there are 52 exceptional Startups Awards finalists this year from a cross-sector of backgrounds, businesses, and regions across the UK. From food and drink to tech and finance, finalists represent the country’s diverse and thriving start-up community. Jamie will attend the 13th annual ceremony taking place on November 17 at The Royal Garden Hotel, hosted by Oli Barrett MBE.

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Flying high with national service leaver award

Former RAF Chief Technician turned business coach, Graham Orange, has scooped a national award for his successful transition from the services to civvy street. In the last year, Graham has faced the unknown but regardless of its bumpy start, Graham loves his new career and lifestyle. Being self-employed through ActionCOACH brings Graham great job satisfaction.

Now Graham has been honoured in the Nationwide Resettlement Award for Service Leaver Franchisee of the Year 2016, beating two other worthy category finalists. He was presented with his award at a glittering black tie event held at Hotel Football in Manchester by Bill Turnbull, journalist and TV presenter.

With retirement from the RAF in sight, Graham spent years researching options available to him as the possible owner of a franchise. It wasn’t until January 2015, when working as Chief Technician in the structures bay at RAF Marham, that Graham spotted an advertisement for ActionCOACH, the world’s number one business coaching franchise.

Run by Pathfinder International, the organisation which helps military resettlement with careers and training, and Nationwide, the awards recognise the achievements of service leavers who have successfully progressed to life as a civilian. Bryce Glover, Divisional Director at Nationwide, commented, “Nationwide is proud to sponsor these awards for the second year running as we believe celebrating the achievements of service personnel who have left the Armed Forces and overcome the challenges that transitioning into civilian life can often pose is the right thing to do. We also want to support the work being carried out by organisations who demonstrate real commitment to levelling the playing field for our former service men and women.”

Graham is thrilled by the award win, “It was suggested to me by a colleague that I enter the awards and, not having done so previously, I was a little nervous. Once I had completed the application form, with some fantastic help from my wife, Liz, I felt that it was definitely the right thing to do and that my family, friends and the franchise deserved recognition for their support.

“I felt honoured to be nominated as a finalist in the Service Leavers Franchisee of the Year award and felt very excited about attending the dinner to celebrate the winners’ accomplishments. Little did I know that I would be walking away with the trophy and the biggest smile ever!

“I am truly grateful to those who supported me over the last 18 months and enabled me to receive this prestigious award. Thank you all.”

This is the second year that an ActionCOACH franchise owner has won this title with former Army captain, Steve Gaskell, taking the trophy in 2015.

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The action never stops

ActionCOACH’s annual franchise conference was the usual mix of great speakers, friendly sporting competition and recognition of the numerous successes of the network which now exceeds 150 franchise owners.

The two-day event kicked off with guest speaker Tosin Ogunnusi, a motivational training and performance improvement specialist. Tosin is a professional fire-walking, board breaking, bar bending, and glass-walking instructor and trainer, hypnotherapist, and trainer of neuro-linguistic programming. He wanted to talk about ways to improve the power and delivery of presentations and he certainly did that! John McCarthy, a franchise owner since 2014, explained, “His stage presence was incredible and his delivery was outstanding. Rarely do you experience someone who is such a powerful and authentic presenter, who can ensure the whole audience engage and gain such benefit from their presentation.” Easy to see why Tosin won The Professional Speakers Academy Award for 2016 Trainer of the Year.

The year’s franchise owner awards were judged on the recent client survey results of 250 clients surveyed by independent research company, Smith & Henderson. Stuart Johnson won the award for Overall Best Client Ratings with an outstanding Net Promoter Score of 100%. Roger Pemberton, Matt Ewer, Neil Canty, Simon Buck, James Dodd, Roger Lamb and Kevin Stansfield won the awards for their region. Stuart Johnson explains what the results mean to him, “To be voted UK Best Client Ratings 2016 through an independent survey of coaching clients is a great honour in itself but to achieve 100% net promoter score is amazing and something that makes me extremely proud. I’ll be using the score and award as part of my marketing to generate new clients and I have thanked all my clients for their great feedback.”

Unsurprisingly, franchise owners were keen to share their successful client generation techniques and client growth stories from the past 12 months with seven of them presenting over the two days. David Poxon joined the franchise in January 2015, "I found the two-day conference a superb investment of my time and picked up several key learnings during each session which I could implement in my business straight away. I continue to be very impressed by both the quality and the abundance of the ActionCOACH network - it’s genuinely a world-class environment."

Franchise owners weren’t the only winners at this year’s conference, Jeff Shrimpton’s UK team won the touch rugby tournament on the last day of the Global Conference in August this year, with his charity of choice receiving a cheque for £1,000 at the UK conference. Jeff chose a charity local to him in Hampshire, The Rainbow Centre, who inspire and support children and adults with neurological conditions like Cerebral Palsy and MS to become active and reach their full potential.

The conference ended with ActionCOACH’s own version of the Ryder Cup with golfers split into teams representing either the north or south of the UK. Team South prevailed as the last team entered the 19th hole just as the sun set on a great two days of learning and camaraderie.

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Banking on yourself

Joanna Martorana was at a pivotal point in her life when she found ActionCOACH. Just four months into her journey as a franchise partner, she talks to us about her experiences and motivations.

“During my 12-year career in investment banking I had got married and had 2 children whilst working 12-hour days! I was well aware that sacrificing time with my family was far too big a price to pay. I had a wake up call in 2013 which led to my marriage ending a year later. I knew that this huge life-changing decision was still not enough and that by 2015 I had to have made another big change to find happiness through my own personal fulfilment. I had to be doing something different to spend more time with my family; I had to invest in us.

“In October 2014, the lightning bolt hit. I went to Brad Sugars’ seminar and, on the spot, I was hugely inspired and I knew that this was my calling. It was a catalyst for changing my life for the better. I hadn’t been looking to start my own business or buying a franchise but my gut feeling said that ActionCOACH was what I had been looking for to make that change.

“Of course, it was still a big decision to leave my job and it took eight months in due diligence to prepare myself mentally to start this new part of my life. I’ve always believed that if you work on yourself then things will come good. This is even more important with ActionCOACH because the business is about people so you have to be happy in yourself first.

“On 22nd June 2015, I attended two weeks of ActionCOACH University. This is where I found out about perturbation. Perturbation is where you deviate from your comfort zone, you put yourself into a state of feeling perturbed so that you can find your way back to an equilibrium. I liken it to Clark Kent’s transformation as he goes to his Fortress of Solitude only to return to fulfill his destiny and become Superman! You go to ActionCOACH ‘boot camp’ as you and come out on a new journey to become an ActionCOACH ready to take on your ActionCOACH business.

“ActionCOACH University is a grueling fortnight of training and development. It is this that can bring on that uneasiness of self-doubt and anxiety so that you can build yourself back up to set yourself up to fast track your success. If you take the easy road it’ll take you longer to get there; this fortnight is the longer, more challenging training approach. This business coaching boot camp also gives you a taster of what your clients will go through as you coach them so it is important that you are congruent and have first-hand experience of what you are putting them through. Business owners are so protective of their companies that they can go through a real emotional and mental rollercoaster and this training has given me the empathy to deal with my clients so much better.

“In July I started my ActionCOACH business in Hertfordshire. I won my first client in just three weeks. My dad had worked with this business some years ago, the family business had been passed down to the sons and now I was there to make sure their business could thrive for the next generation. Three months in and I have four clients through a mixture of business development strategies suggested by the franchise support team.

“Additionally, I have 3 strategic alliances, 2 with accountancy firms and another with an IFA where I am coaching them for free for 3 months in exchange for running planned Business Growth workshops with their clients and their referrals. I also use the ActionCOACH client generation centre in Chesterfield. I work hard to build relationships with their marketing team which includes Jon Asquith and his dedicated team.

“I consider myself to be a relatively confident sales person but Jon and James Vincent who coach and do the sales webinar every Monday have really built my confidence on my sales and marketing strategies. I’m selling my services to clients because I build relationships. Being a business owner can be very lonely and daunting and I can offer to support them so they feel like they have an extra player on the team.

“Following the ActionCOACH franchise system is another reason why my business has taken off so quickly. I like following systems and I think the support from the franchise team is excellent. John Cottrell is my coach’s coach and I work with him every month on developing my business, developing my coaching skills and, more importantly, developing me personally to become a better me for my family and my clients. At times this takes me back to that state of perturbation that I need to make another leap forward in my development. And as for Julie Wagstaff, co-founder of ActionCOACH in the UK, well… she is a fantastic support along with the rest of the team in head office; they have a smile in their voice whenever I call!

“ActionCOACH is a fantastic network. I have so many people to support me and they all genuinely care about how I am doing. I truly believe that if you build relationships then people will want to help you and the results speak for themselves.

“I held my first affiliate seminar in August attended by 31 people, 24 of whom were business owners and I booked 10 meetings. I have diversified my marketing strategy and budget to include specialists like Luv4 Marketing for my online marketing, Chesterfield marketers, networking events and, importantly, harnessing the personal business connections.

“On a personal note, the perceived risk I took to leave my job in banking and start a business has paid off almost immediately. My work-life balance changed overnight. I can now take my kids to school and pick them up because I choose to work 9-3 Monday to Friday. The first three months were stressful but that was expected. What I didn’t expect was to bank £5,000 in my third month of operation and how great a feeling it is to know that my clients are already benefiting way more!

“I’ve had to update my 6-month goal as I had already reached it so now my next big goals are to bank £10k a month by Christmas and £25k by the end of my first 12 months. Long term, I’m passionate about leadership. I’d like to specialise in leadership coaching as I think it’s the starting point for organisation success; fix things from top-down and the results will follow.

“There is a famous quote from business coach and author Tony Gaskins: Don’t chase love, fame or success. Become the best version of yourself and those things will chase you. I banked on myself and embraced personal development. ActionCOACH is already changing my life for the better and the investment was worth every single penny. The whole team deserve all their successes.”

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Clients agree that ActionCOACH is a life changer

Research consultancy, Smith & Henderson, has recently completed a survey of 250 clients being coached by ActionCOACH franchise owners. Taking a cross section of clients from across industry sectors in the UK, the results show a staggering 94 per cent of business owners say their Action Coach makes a positive difference to their business.

Data collected in a recent survey by Investec Private Banking found that a quarter of UK professionals are dissatisfied with their work-life balance. According to another recent study by insurance provider Simply Business, almost half of the 2,000 small business owners surveyed cancel social plans at least once a week, a quarter take less than 10 days’ annual leave and 25 per cent have fallen ill due to stress and overwork. So, it’s amazing to see that 7 in 10 ActionCOACH clients agreed they had achieved a better work-life balance within less than 12 months of working with their Action Coach.

Jeff Shrimpton joined ActionCOACH less than a year ago but he already understands what motivates all of the 150 UK franchise owners, “One of my clients left school at 14 years old and now has a £2 million turnover business. We set him some goals in January and he met them in 45 days. We are now on track to grow his business to £10 million in the next five years. That feels great – not for me – for my client and that is what it’s all about as a business coach. Once you are making enough to pay the family bills, it stops becoming about me and instead it’s all about the clients.

“When I first met one of my clients he was working 80-90 hours a week and had lost his marriage. In his latest session he told me that he’d taken time out of his business to see friends and was happy to report that his business hadn’t fallen apart without him – real progress. The thing that I enjoy the most is removing the box of limiting beliefs that my clients can often put around themselves. Remove the box and see the endless possibilities – that is fantastic.”

ActionCOACH’s UK Co-founder, Ian Christelow, is delighted with the results of the survey and the power the results give to the network’s franchise owners, “When we can say that 92% of clients consider their Action Coach worth the investment then we know we are doing something right. Independent surveys like this can help us to highlight areas for improvement too. At our recent Global Conference in South Africa, the UK ActionCOACH Team was named the most successful out of over 60 ActionCOACH countries across the world and that is due to the caliber of people we award the franchise to and ongoing development opportunities we offer our franchise owners and, in turn, their clients.”

You can find out more about the life-changing work franchise owners like Jeff Shrimpton do and how, as a bi-product, they can go on to multiply their previous career earnings by watching the overview video at actioncoach.co.uk

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ActionCOACH franchise support team grows as network exceeds 150

ActionCOACH welcomes three new recruits to the franchise support team to ensure over 150 franchise owners continue to be some of the most satisfied in the UK.

“We’ve had such an uplift in enquiries for the franchise over the last two years, we wanted to ensure that we maintained the last few years of fantastic scores we’ve achieved with the Smith & Henderson Franchisee Satisfaction Benchmark Survey,” explains ActionCOACH’s UK Franchise Recruitment Director, Julie Wagstaff.

Laura Thorburn takes on the role of UK Marketing Manager and will be advertising the new roadshow of franchise discovery events. Phil Mowat and Tim Holmes both join the team as National Partnerships Manager, developing exclusive business-to-business partnerships to support both franchise owners and their clients.

The UK support team now stands 50 strong with one of the most active global support teams of any franchise brand.

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Are you a coach without realising it?

Jeff Shrimpton admits to having the realisation that he stopped working for other people and began to work for a lunatic – himself – when he chose to start his own business after 15 years of frustration in the nightclub management business. The large venues he ran on the south coast included managing over 50 staff whilst generating £2 million a year for other people.

“I decided to set up a business in the performing arts sector with my wife, Lucy. This soon took us in a slightly different direction as we rebranded to a marketing and events company and gained clients like Sainsbury’s, Tesco, National Express, Panasonic, Ted Baker, Hyundai and the Red Bull F1 team. But as I began to get a grip of my inner lunatic, it dawned on me that I was never actually part of these wonderful events that I loved, I was just stuck behind a computer screen. So, I decided to find a buyer for the business.

“During the sale of the business, I set up an online marketing consultancy. This was never meant to be my next full-time occupation, just something to generate an income. Even though the main service was lead generation through online marketing I found that many of my business owner clients didn’t have sales process or framework to deal with leads as they came in and so began coaching them around systems and how they could improve business performance.

“I had never really considered myself as a business coach. In fact, I once attended a Tony Robbins seminar where every other delegate was a coach with something to say and I’d been left with a negative impression of coaches in general. But I now found myself coaching and knew that if I wanted to do more of it and make it a full-time career then I needed more substance behind me.

“At the same time I’d been considering buying a business and I got an email from a business broker about ActionCOACH. I decided I should broach the subject of becoming an ActionCOACH with my wife and so I said that I needed to talk to her about something and she said exactly the same thing to me. She had also been considering the franchise as a possible option for me!

“I put a call in to ActionCOACH, spoke to one of their team and went on discovery day. To be truthful, I would have signed the contract by 11am on that day as it just seemed right for me. It was only five or six weeks from my first enquiry to arriving in Las Vegas for initial training in September 2015.

“I liken that training to standing in wind tunnel but it’s information coming at you – it was hardcore learning for 10 days. I was sure I couldn’t have taken it all in until I ran my first seminar and realised that, amazingly, I had. There were 10 completely different characters on my training from different parts of the world and I didn’t think we’d gel but we did and still keep in touch. Those 10 days really help you to shift your identity into being a coach.

“I attended the UK franchise conference in Grantham in October 2015 and the Monday morning following that I launched my new ActionCOACH business in Southampton. I did exactly what I promised to do during my training in Las Vegas, I went and knocked on the doors of some local businesses to challenge my biggest fears of cold calling. However, we have lots of other sales techniques and support from the franchise team. I got my first client within seven working days of launch, I followed the sales process and I realised that I had it in the bag when they started asking buying questions that had been discussed during training – it was difficult to keep a straight face and hide my shaking hands!

“So far I have used our client generation centre to secure five one-to-one clients with the latest two almost handed to me on a plate as the centre had booked diagnostic meetings with the prospects and then our sales closing genius, Jon Asquith, sat in on those meetings to guide me.

“I now have 11 clients split between group clients and one-to-one coaching. I regularly hold seminars with our online marketing partner, Luv4 Marketing, helping to fill the room. From one seminar I signed a one-to-one client and five group clients and it’s working out that the seminars are allowing me to acquire a new client at the cost of £17 per lead – that’s just one of the many ways I measure my business success.

“One of my clients left school at 14 years old and now has a £2 million turnover business. We set him some goals in January and he met them in 45 days. We are now on track to grow his business to £10 million in the next five years. That feels great – not for me – for my client and that is what it’s all about as a business coach. Once you are making enough to pay the family bills, it stops becoming about me and instead it’s all about the clients.

“When I first met one of my clients he was working 80-90 hours a week and had lost his marriage. In his latest session he told me that he’d taken time out of his business to see friends and was happy to report that his business hadn’t fallen apart without him – real progress. The thing that I enjoy the most is removing the box of limiting beliefs that my clients can often put around themselves. Remove the box and see the endless possibilities – that is awesome.

“The UK franchise support team are creative and inspirational. I don’t lean on them too much but do use the structures and processes they’ve created to support all the franchise partners. In fact, they fund new franchise partners to have one-to-one coaching from a master coach until you reach a good level of client income.

“I never thought I would be wealthy or successful but my mindset has changed and now I’m driven to achieve both. I’m aiming for £24,000 a month in client income by September 2016 and if I hit that target then I have promised myself a Maserati.

“We’re a driven family. Lucy has her own business to and if the kids want a new iPhone then we teach them that is it more rewarding to earn that through hard work. My five-year plan is to use my knowledge to acquire capital to invest in businesses and help them grow – to create more for my family by supporting others to grow.

“I try inject warmth into what I do. I like clients who want to have fun with their coaching and I can’t help but become emotionally engaged in their happiness. As a business owner, I know it can be lonely and you can get in your own way sometimes. My mission is to help business owners be greater than they thought possible in order to create a successful business that works like clockwork and a life that is full of fun, abundance and wonderful experiences.”

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ActionCOACH celebrates a bumper crop

You’d be forgiven for thinking that we’ve been growing coaches in the back garden of our UK support office with the huge number of people choosing to own an ActionCOACH franchise in the last 12 months! In 2015 we welcomed 40 franchise partners to our winning team and momentum is still growing.

Not only is our network of over 100 franchise partners growing rapidly but they’re also celebrating success after success in local, national and international awards. Staverton Park Hotel in Northamptonshire was the venue for this year’s ActionCOACH Franchise Partner Awards Ceremony. This annual black-tie awards event recognises the success of our coaches and the impact on the business owners they coach.

Best Client Results 2016 is awarded for the best client testimonial video or letter. Our growing army of raving fan clients make it so much easier for our franchise partners to grow their businesses – after all, who do you believe more the car sales person or your neighbour who bought one? This year’s regional winners:

West Midlands - Andy Hemming

Central Midlands - Mark Jennings

South West - Steve Gaskell

North East & Cumbria - Julie McLaughlin

North West - Paul Whitfield

East Anglia - Roger Pemberton

London - Gil Devlin

South East - Lucy Cameron

Yorkshire & Lincolnshire - Mandy Hildred

South Central - Rob Pickering

Suj Legha received UK Best Client Results 2016 and one of his clients, Gary McMillan from The Horizon Group, explained why, “The service he provides not only changes the lives of the people he works with but also their families and work colleagues. When we started working with Suj less than 2 years ago we had no direction, no plan, no profits and wouldn’t have been able to ‘give the business away’. We had the business valued in March 2015… the business got valued at £4.5M!! That’s what you call a return on investment!! Thanks for everything.”

Coach of the Year 2016 is awarded to the coach who has the best performing coaching business. This year’s regional winners:

Scotland: Tony Hoskins

North West: Paul Whitfield

South Central: Kevin Stansfield

West Midlands: Andy Hemming

South East: Marco Soares

Central Midlands: John Cottrell

South West: Rob Carter

East Anglia: Peter Boolkah

Two contenders, Pam Featherstone and Shweta Jhajharia, for UK Coach of Year 2016 simply could not be separated because of their amazing performance during 2015 when both surpassed £1 million in personal client income for the 12-month period, with the satisfaction of knowing their clients are by far in a way the biggest winners.

James Akin-Smith was awarded UK Best Growth Coach 2016 recognising his achievement of growing his business by the greatest proportion of any franchise partner during 2015. “I started my ActionCOACH business on 1st February 2014 and had just seen Pam Featherstone win Rookie of the Year. I said that I wanted to take that trophy from her and exactly two years on that’s what I did! 2015 was a good year for client income but, more importantly, my clients are very happy and have been referring me to other business owners. It’s been an enjoyable year and my next target is to get into the global top 100 ActionCOACH list.”

Gary Mullins & Steve Mullins received the UK Brand Ambassadors 2016 award for their efforts to grow the ActionCOACH brand. UK Co-founder of ActionCOACH, Julie Wagstaff explains, “The father and son team had the foresight three years ago to invest their own time and money to bring the global founder of ActionCOACH, Brad Sugars, to their home town for a seminar to local business owners. The seminar was so popular that it was rolled out nationwide and it is down to Gary and Steve and their business partners in the venture, Kevin Stansfield & Colin Harding, that we have a sold out tour each year with Brad educating business owners and promoting our brand. Gary & Steve pipped Kevin & Colin to the post in the prestigious Brand Ambassadors award through also having the vision to pioneer the employee ActionCOACH business model in the UK, a model which is key to increasing ActionCOACH’s brand coverage.”

Would you like to be an award-winning business coach by 2017? Contact us by calling 01284 701 648 or watch the opportunity overview video at: actioncoach.co.uk

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Former soldier found his new business at The Franchise Show and now returns as a guest speaker

Former army captain Steve Gaskell has successfully transitioned from the services to civvy street through franchising. He is now a franchise partner with ActionCOACH, the world’s number one business coaching franchise.

The 47-year-old, from Newton Abbot, left his army career with the hope that he could spend more quality time with his family. Steve joined the army in 1985 and 22 years later became the Regimental Sergeant Major of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, ending his career as a commissioned captain.

Having served in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan, his final posting was as the Welfare Officer at Woolwich barracks in London, looking after 720 soldiers and 264 families. In the run up to leaving the army, Steve carried out 18 months of extensive research into what to do and kept coming back to ActionCOACH.

Steve explains: “I went to The Franchise Show at ExCel and met the ActionCOACH team and things fell into place. I left the army in August 2013 and began training with ActionCOACH in September. I had done some really cool courses in the military, attempting SAS selection was by far the hardest, most challenging and best. ActionCOACH training came a close second – it was life changing!”