It was a desire to grow their new venture that led Sarah and Paul of Premier Fleet Solutions to seek help from ActionCOACH White Rose initially.
“We were at a real turning point of our business where we'd moved into HGV and PCV training as a new avenue from what we'd done reviously, so it was almost like starting at the beginning.”
However, there was some initial nervousness about working with a coach.
“I think we were, at the beginning, put off by thinking it's more expense, is there going to be a return on it”, Sarah admits.
But having heard her friend’s experience of coaching, and after an introductory meeting with ActionCOACH White Rose, Sarah was persuaded.
With their coach, Alex Colebrook, they put a detailed growth plan in place with stretching but achievable goals and a number of processes to support the business.
“It helped us prioritise what we needed to do first with a focus on key areas, and also make sure that financially we were viable at every point with every decision we made.”
Sarah values the extra accountability a business coach gives them in keeping on track.
“You tend to get stuck in the day-to-day when you're running a business... but it does make you step back to look at the bigger picture...which actually is necessary.”
The results speak for themselves. They’ve seen a 100% increase in turnover year-on-year, enabling them to make big investments in the business, including the recruitment of two members of staff, with another one in the process.
Three months into the second financial year of working with ActionCOACH White Rose and they’re on track to double turnover again.
“It's a big year for us - we've won a couple of big contracts, just recruiting a new member of the team. [We’re aiming for] big growth again on the turnover from last year and the profits.”
But it’s not just in the financials where Sarah and Paul have seen the benefit. While they admit that they’re not there yet, they can see that with the help of ActionCOACH, their work life balance will start to improve.
“At the moment it is very busy... ultimately the aim is to make the business fit what we want”; something that they are actively working towards with their coach.
And perhaps even more important for Sarah, coaching has built up her confidence in her own business owner abilities.
“It's given us confidence to believe we can do this.”
