I often find myself taken aback by a client’s commitment to the quality of the work they do for their customers. At the same time there is this niggling question in the background - ‘how do we grow this business and keep delivering the same levels of service?’ 

Often they go looking for help and wind up sitting in front of me. My first step is to find out whether they actually need a business coach and if so, am I the right match for them. When I meet a prospective client for the first time they often want me to fix a specific problem in their business. It could be “How do I get more sales?” or, “How do I get my staff more engaged?” but in some cases, they don’t really have a problem. Some clients just want to know what levers they need to pull to get the business to the next stage. They are frustrated at the plateau they have reached and can’t agree how to move forward.

Consultants and business coaches are two different things. Business coaching is a relatively new industry and many business owners don’t fully understand what we do. Consultants fix ‘problems’ in businesses. Coaching is different; it’s about the client acquiring the skills themselves to deal with the issues that arise day-to-day in their businesses.

How does coaching help? I use a golfing analogy (even though many of my clients look like they’ve been too busy to go anywhere near a golf course for a long time). On the course the business is playing off about a 13 handicap. The simple questions I ask are “what handicap do you want to go down to?” and “how long do you want to take to get there?”

That’s when the silence happens… After an unusually long pause one client asked another question: “Can you help us with that?” Yes, is the simple answer.

It’s my job as the business coach to provide the framework for them to see their business issues and for them to have the clarity and confidence to act accordingly. At times, because of my 30 years business experience and drawing from the hundreds of businesses that I have taken to the next level of success, I’ll also provide some direct consulting advice. I call it the “magic mix”.

How many businesses are clear about what type of clients they are looking for? Who finds it difficult to say 'no' to potential clients? What is your company known for in the market and what is it offering to its customers? Easy questions - tough to answer. Why? Because as a business, it forces you to focus on what you do for your clients. Do they buy from you because of your products, your service or perhaps price? Or do you serve a specific market? Do you have a framework for determining what type of client you are attracting and how well is that understood throughout your business?

If the answer is 'yes', then do your clients understand what you are known for? If that's a 100% ‘yes’ too, then read no further. Your product and positioning strategy is working. If it's a 'no' then there's an opportunity to build one.

Understanding your position enables you identify the right opportunities quickly, align your marketing and discover where you are in the marketplace in relation to your competitors.

The very first step is to understand if your company is a 'product' company or a 'distribution' company? Quite often I find clients think they are a product company because they "sell products" but on further analysis they are a distribution company selling others products or services that look like a “product”. Product companies are usually in the minority. They are the companies that spend proportionally more on R&D than other expenses. They innovate product, build it and leave the distribution and selling to others. Distribution companies are usually service based and client focused.

For example, many software businesses build software solutions for clients. They are distribution companies. Once in while they do such a good job on solving a client’s problem they think, “this would make a great product to sell to lots of businesses – let’s do that as well”. They then begin offering this “new product” to the market and find it difficult to get it moving. That’s because their skill base and capability is in “servicing clients” rather than delivering new “product” to a market. You need to decide what the core capability in your company is.

How does a company decide how to package and position their product whether it’s a service or a product?

1. Discover whether you are a product or distribution company.

2. Determine how you are presenting your company. Is it by product, price, market or service offering?

3. Make your primary position choice - the other three make up your secondary position.

4. Create alignment over all four. For example, if service is your primary position, does your pricing (secondary) reflect the cost of providing that service or do you still discount?

5. Build a positioning statement. Think Avis, “We try harder”

A new positioning strategy takes application and time. Once completed, the commercial and cultural benefits to the company will be substantial.