It was all about putting the foundations in place to start with – reviewing and revising the company purpose, vision and values – really getting the under the skin of what Tony wanted to achieve.

With that clarity that the whole team at Ashdown Solutions could understand, attention turned to the marketing and sales process.

The first thing we guided on as a business success coach was halting the existing marketing activity. After analysing its performance, there wasn’t a sufficient return on investment, so the company was losing money. 

Therefore, we started by identifying the ideal client and who was and wasn’t going to be a good fit for a long-term client relationship. 

With defined and multiple target audiences established, a marketing strategy was developed which looked at the following:

• The value proposition for each audience
• What the messages for each of these audiences needed to be
• What tactics would be more effective at sending the message out
• Where those messages needed to be to reach the target audiences

Coupled with the refinement of the marketing strategy, the sales strategy was also reviewed:

• How the value proposition was communicated throughout
• How and where customer value could be improved
• Opportunities for upsells and cross-sells

A sales process was created, which made it ‘definable and repeatable’. This meant it was no longer the sole responsibility of the business owner but could be delivered to a high standard by the team. 

This allowed the team to deliver the sales process confidently and gave the owner confidence in delegating this responsibility. 

Enhanced sales process tracking enabled Ashdown Solutions to identify their ideal clients within their pipeline.

Systemisation is a vital area for a business success coach to work with owners on, so tasks aren’t the sole responsibility and capability of the business owner, which allows a company to grow.