“Increased Focus and Direction of where we need to go”

It was a desire to grow their new venture that led Sarah and Paul Martin of Premier Fleet Solutions to seek help from ActionCOACH Wakefield.

Sarah had recently left her teaching role to join the business, and with neither having any commercial experience, they felt it was important to get some support. While they were looking for help with putting a strategy in place, they were also keen to find a mentor who could coach and develop them too.

ActionCOACH Wakefield business coach, Alex Colebrook, was just that person.

“He has helped give us more focus and more direction of where we need to go, and to start to put plans in place rather than just waiting for things to happen.”

This included breaking down a five year goal into small, achievable daily, weekly and 90-day plans and targets. Sarah also values the extra accountability a business coach gives them in keeping on track.

“If I know I’m meant to do that plan and other day-to-day stuff has got in the way, but I’m seeing Alex on the Wednesday, it’s like, I need to do it and so it does make you do it.”

Those plans, and Alex’s guidance, have led to them putting in place a number of important processes that will support their growth goals, including sales, a booking system, invoicing, and so on.

The impact on the business has made their investment in coaching “100% worthwhile”.

Ten months in, and they have recruited two team members, invested in four vehicles, and moved into an office space.

Sarah believes that the business support that Alex gave them, and the corresponding confidence they felt in their business, were the driving forces behind their growth. “Being able to see the projections of the business, and being able to see where we were growing gave us the confidence to say this is now the right time to expand the team, which now allows us to bring in more business.”

And perhaps most importantly for Sarah, coaching has built up her confidence in her own business owner abilities.

“I’ve never done this before, but I think particularly with the meetings with ActionCOACH, you start to think ‘actually I can do this’ and your confidence grows.”