Rather Inventive

In the beginning…

Ben began having one to one sessions with his coach, both face to face and over the telephone. As the business was at an early stage, the initial advice from Arrivista was aimed at helping Ben develop his business plan and strategy. One key outcome of this was the development of web marketing workshops.

These were initially aimed at gaining leads but now have become a revenue stream in their own right.

As Ben said “My coach helped me define the workshop structure and even came along and co-presented the first ones. I was helped to realise that at first, the seminars should be free as part of our marketing efforts.”

The initial focus

The initial focus on developing leads was crucial for building the business and is the starting point of the Arrivista '5 ways' model. This breaks the business down into five key areas from leads and conversions through to margins and directly drives profitability; therefore, after leads, Ben and his coach started working on conversions.

As Ben stated "with the help from Arrivista, I now realise the importance of frequent contact with prospects. My coach pushed me to get back in touch with our prospects via phone call, which was something I wasn't entirely comfortable doing, but I was helped to script the calls, giving me more focus and confidence. My coach was right to push me as it has clearly resulted in more business."

The ‘Five Ways’ model

Using the ‘5 ways’ model enabled Ben to plan for the future. He now has a clear target of doubling his turnover this year and by using the model, he knows exactly which areas he needs to develop in order to achieve this. 

Empowerment is a wonderful thing

This approach is key to Ben's coach, as Ben is now empowered to find the answers himself. Ben remarked "I get asked lots of very searching questions by my coach, that nudge me towards the answer, which gets me to really think about my business and what actions I need to take. Most importantly, I am then held accountable for what I agree to do."

Time management

Some specific areas that Ben was helped with included time management and delegation.

Ben's coach asked everyone in the business to do a time analysis, which involved tracking all activities they do throughout the week. This helped everyone to be more efficient with their time and enabled Ben to delegate certain tasks, resulting in Ben finding more time to work on driving the business forward.

DISC profiling

Ben and his team also performed DISC profiling which identifies key personality traits. This has helped everyone understand the best way to work with each other and has strengthened the team, which is especially important as everyone works remotely utilising technology such as Skype.

Accountability

Many business owners find it is difficult to maintain focus when they don't have someone holding them accountable. Ben has found this a major benefit of working with Arrivista.

"I don't have a business partner to work with. Having a coach is better than a partner as they are objective and always positive. I am always kept focused on making more profit and pushed to take responsibility for everything within the business."