Matthew Nelson

CEO, DigiDynamic Print & Media Cc

''Candid discussion with Matthew Nelson on the transformation business coaching has had on his business and life''

Paul Roos

Director, Pro Plum Ochards (Pty) Ltd

"I was working 80% of the time in the business and 20% of the time on the business - it has turned around now".

Michelle Jardim

CEO, Tutor Box

" Implementation Of A Plan & Uniting As A Team"

Champ Thekiso

Director, Thekvest Group

"Living A Balanced Life As a A was working 80% of the time in the business and 20% of the time on the business - it has turned around now".

Gys Jacobs

CEO, Jacobs Transport

" Meet our awesome client Gys Jacobs, owner of Jacob's Transport. Watch this testimonial as ActionCOACH Business Coach Francois Lubbe speaks to his client about the growth he achieved in his business"

Cliff's Way Engineering

CEO, Brian Dixon

Our Action Coach Journey Cliff’s Way Engineering is a company that has been in existence since 1987.
We manufacture machined components.

Brian Dixon is one of the original founders working together with his son and daughter in the business.

Cliff’s Way Engineering embarked on a program on November 21 with Francois Lubbe Action Coach.

The company was operating in a survival mode at the time, we found ourselves on a roller coaster ride which was not an enjoyable journey.

We have gone through shareholder buy-outs as well as the Covid pandemic.

Action Coach led by Francois started a program firstly with the three of us to find a strong cohesion between ourselves.

Importantly challenging our mind sets individually (together) to identify our purpose for our personal life and business.

Setting strategies and goals to be achieved short and long term.

Couple months later we started with team alignment programs with our manager levels, which we currently continue on a weekly basis to date.

We have enjoyed the rewards of seeing our staff grow and unleash hidden talents.

Working with Francois Lubbe as our Action Coach we were encouraged to develop the following skills in our company:

* Create a shared vision specific to our company.

* Create a Value system for the whole company.

* Define roles and responsibilities within the company.

* The importance of sales and different techniques to help us.

* Involve our team in the building of our company to get alignment throughout

* The importance of Goals and how to go about goal setting.

* The importance of team building to create problem solving mentality.

* How to reflect on past performance and how to better ourselves going forward with both. challenges and achievements.

* The importance of KPI’s and the information that we receive from them and what to do with that information.

* How to manage ourselves in time.

* How to run successful, effective, and productive meetings.

To mention some of the following skills our company has enjoyed, encouraged, and develop

The above are some of the enjoyed benefits, there are many more we have discovered.

With our Action Coach been part of our team he has instilled a new breath of air within our company.

We have learned that on a daily basis it is required that we remind ourselves of the simple things, to take care of the larger goals.

Our Coach has collectively taught us the required skills and not given us the answers.

The list in truth is much longer in reality, however the key take aways from all of this is that we have had our team come together, combining old and new.

At the time of joining Action Coach and starting our journey with Francois we could ill afford to waste a cent of the company, but we made a decision to invest in ourselves and our company and that the calculated risk was worth it.

We started on having coaching sessions weekly and we have moved to bi-weekly.

We have also done a team alignment coaching session with our staff and our coach that has had a very positive impact.

In 12 months, we have improved cashflow and increased our turnover by at least 50%. At the time we started with our coach we had only 2 customers giving us 80- 90% of our orders, but now they only make up approximately 50%.

We have increased our customer base by about 30% with new customer orders.

We are currently increasing our diamond chip customers and doing well.

We are sharing the skills we are learning with our staff and seeing big improvements in their problem-solving abilities as well as their abilities to be above the point of power in their approach to work.

The biggest challenge and most rewarding have been the path of personal growth of ourselves. We are pushing more and more and learning skills, every day.

Action Coach has played a vital role in helping us change our perspective and restructure our company to be more equipped to face challenges in a positive and more effective way.

The changes have been so significant that we have recommended Action Coach to various clients.

Ayogas Pty Ltd

Managing Director, Lars Steyn

Our Action Coach Adventure

" Adventure is not outside man; it is within." - George Eliot

 Ayogas Pty Ltd is a “family-owned and run” business that turned 10 years old on 18 March 2024.

The business operates in the construction and energy industries.

At this meaningful milestone in our business, we are deeply grateful, full of hope, and excited for what lies ahead.

We have a mantra of saying and believing that “the best is yet to come…”

As recently as 12 months ago, that was unfortunately not the case. As partner and director of the business, I was stressed out, disillusioned about owning and operating my own business.

I was scraping the bottom of the barrel for self-believe and motivation.

The business was also struggling, unstructured and fluctuated a lot with 50% of our turnover generated by one client in the construction industry.

 In an interesting turn of events, that is a story for another day, I was introduced to my Action Coach, Francois Lubbe - the legend himself. I have since heard many of my fellow coachees say that your coach seems to find you at the exact moment when you are ready to be coached.

I concur.

I was supported by my business partners and we made the Action Coach investment. The investment entailed money, time, effort and an openness to change as an individual and as a business.

The adventure started with a formal business review session with my Action Coach. I came well prepared from a numbers and figures point of view but not so much from a personal perspective. It is here that I quickly learned “adventure is not outside man; it is within”. I learned that the business cannot outgrow me as the owner and where I find myself (in my thoughts and believes) on the entrepreneurial ladder, matters most. I realised that I owned a job, not a business.

From then onwards, I met Francois on a two-weekly basis and worked hard and smart on the key action steps between sessions. My Action Coach has the ability to ask the right and very difficult questions at exactly the right time – on point and to the point, to say the least. He rarely gave answers and hence allowed me to think and grow and believe that indeed, I can do it

 What follows now, should give you a sneak preview in the practical changes that took place in myself as the leader and the business. 

In the past twelve months I read 12 books (only 3 of them fictional) as opposed to 3 in the 10 years prior to that. And listened to approximately 20 podcasts. I have my own personal 90 days and 12 months goals.

 We developed our company value proposition. We now know exactly what it is that we as a business offer our clients and what we do to make our clients successful in their industries. We had our first team alignment workshop in the existence of the business and our team members understand and are aligned to our value proposition.

We are light years more structured, yet have not nearly arrived. We now have weekly team and exco meetings. We developed a skills - value matrix identifying who must do what in the business to extract the most value from opportunities. We also recruit new personnel based on the skills – value matrix. We have streamlined the way we compile and submit proposals to clients and have cut down on the lead time to submitting proposals significantly. Our processes and systems now allow us to measure and track how we get customers and keep customers. We know what’s in the pipeline and what needs to be done to get projects through the pipeline to reach value for our clients and our business.

From a numbers perspective, in the past twelve months, turnover increased by 30% and gross margin increased by 50% year on year. Given the excellent performance of the business in relation to the low growth rate of our country’s economy, we feel both blessed and excited. Our dependency on one client also reduced from 50% to 25% of annual turnover, adding predictability and stability to the business.

 My Action Coach, Francois, has had a huge impact on me as a person, on my family, and on our business. He challenges me in the way I think about things and continues to ask difficult questions. Apart from wise counsel, he operates as an excellent soundboard and holds me accountable, – two traits that are in high demand, but often missed, by entrepreneurs like myself.

Our Action Coach adventure is not over, as we now embark on the next phase of coaching.

The best is yet to come…

Lars Steyn

Managing Director Ayogas

Inkazimulo Consulting Pty Ltd

Managing Director, Phumlani Ngcobo

CLIENT - ORIGINAL POSITIONING

 The professional services environment is very demanding and consulting in the public sector is very challenging with high expectations of service delivery and public accountability. This means consulting firms compete on securing highly skilled individuals with relevant experience. We started out as a small company which means a lot of the processes and responsibilities were performed by directors.

BUSINESS CHALLENGES

I have always been involved with all operations of the business coming from a technical and financial background. I used to spend on average 110 hours per week including weekends and didn’t have time for extramural activities and my family, even though I have a team of 37 people including 6 managers.

The company sets high standards to deliver excellent service to its clients who are also setting high demands in terms of quality and meeting of deadlines.

The long working hours coupled with the high number of employees resulted in reduced margins and much to the detriment of the growth of the staff and the business.

This resulted in me having low energy and couldn’t see how I could grow the business further because it would mean that I have to work even harder and spend longer hours on top of the existing extremely long hours.

  COACHING APPROACH

We started off with a business alignment session to establish the deeper understanding of the business which resulted in identifying immediate opportunities to be capitalised on and challenges to deal with.

•      Drafting the short term and long-term business and personal goals, short term priorities and a picture of how the business must look like in 5 years time.
•      Weekly coaching sessions have been held to ensure effective implementation of agreed strategies and challenges are addressed as and when they arise.
•    Sweating the assets – Affording the project managers the opportunity to lead more than one project.
• Streamlining of processes and systems.
•    Implemented strategies that allowed me as a business owner to work less hours in the business and more on the business and have more time available for myself to spend outside of the business.

  BUSINESS RESULTS

A redefined vision, mission and values. These were clearly defined and understood by all employees of the business which led to renewed energy, excitement and growth opportunities for the business and individuals. Afforded project managers to lead multiple clients and to be part of decision making resulted in a motivated team with enhanced level of team contribution. Profit margins improved from 25% to 40% with strategies I couldn’t see by myself prior to coaching and which had a significant impact on the business profit and cashflow. This was a big game-changer for the business since we work with large clients with high volumes and Rand values and it impacted not only the short-term profit and long term sustainability but opened up the opportunity for scaling the business aligned with my goals to achieve.

 My average hours of 110 hours per week has changed to 40 hours per week which gives me much more flexibility and freedom to choose where to invest my time in personally and professionally.

 The most recent significant milestone was the appointment of a Senior Manager, which was an internal appointment after a rigorous recruitment process where strong external candidates were also considered. He acts as a General Manager overseeing 80 percent of my previous operational tasks and allow me now to work more strategically, whilst keeping and eye on the performance and leading the team through coaching and mentoring.

A personal goal to invest in other income streams was also met when an excavator extractor Caterpillar was acquired.

 “ Although I am an Accountant by trade, I love these big machines”- Phumlani Ngcobo

FINANCIAL INVESTMENT

 No amount of money can be placed on the value that coaching did for me as an individual and for my company.

The monthly coaching fee was set R25 000 exc VAT.

  CONCLUSION

As a very wise man said to me about a year ago: ‘When the student is ready, the teacher will appear’.

And how right Francois was. Not only has Francois coached me and my business, he has opened our eyes to new possibilities. Coaching is not a once-off investment, it is an on-going journey of change that I always feared. I still fear change, but I have a friend and ally in Francois to constantly test my boundaries, to exceed my expectations and to listen to me moan and pick me up when things get tough.

This journey, like everything worth having in life, is not easy!! BUT it makes the WINS that much sweeter and such a joy to look back at past milestones only to constantly create bigger and better ones!

  CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

 Client contact for reference purposes: Phumlani Ngcobo: 073 1468 939

 1.What made you consider coaching?

 Francois Lubbe was recommended by my sister and before then I was unaware of the benefits of having a business coach since I had thought I was doing quite well prior to coaching 

2.What was it like before you have a coach?

 I spend a lot of hours working in the business and was working very long hours including weekends, which was started to take a toll on me. The profit margins were average.

3.What is it like now that you have a coach?

I have someone who help me to see what I haven’t seen before which cost me a pile of money in the past I was unaware of. I am being challenged and inspired to reach new heights and have a soundboard to tackle complex problems. Francois doesn’t provide me with answers but ask great questions so I get new insights and discoveries to make my own decisions towards what matters most.

 4.Where did the coach make the most impact?

The financial impact on the business has been significant, combined with the reduction in my working hours. The focusing on strategic side of the business and learning to trust my staff on delivering on delegated tasks have been a major shift in the way I was leading and managing the business.

5.Why would you recommend coaching?

I would highly recommend business coaching. It keeps you focused on your goals and help you achieve them faster and see new opportunities for further growth and new experiences.

 Phumlani Ngcobo

Managing Director - Inkazimulo Consulting