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New Start magazine article May 2009

The talkers on the other hand are good at research. They check things out, analyse the situation and predict what might result when things start to happen. In the public sector these people create strategies. In the private and the third sectors, they simply procrastinate. They become victims of recession, of their competitors and of their own inertia.

I recently travelled to Coventry to hear one of the most action focused people in the world speak to a 500 strong business audience. Brad Sugars founded the global Action Coach franchise and was in the UK to offer some recession beating tips to his franchisees and their entrepreneur clients.

I'd already met a couple of action coaches and interviewed them with their clients for my ‘Mad About Business’ TV series on Sky 171 and so was interested to find out if my interviewees were typical, or had been carefully selected for their enthusiasm and commitment to the cause.

Brad Sugars was a very persuasive speaker but his message was very simple; ‘if you measure and to manage the key performance indicators in your organisation it will become more successful’. Now this is hardly rocket science but how many people have the self-discipline to make the time to really monitor and influence the things that matter most?

Working with one of his franchisees is not a cheap option, but clearly does deliver results. You can put a price on procrastination when you realise you need someone else to help you follow some simple business rules. Not surprisingly his franchisees are both successful and so are their clients.

So self discipline, self-imposed or encouraged by a coach or mentor is the best way to grow an organisation. Yet SFEDI research shows that only a small proportion of enterprises seek professional business support. The majority prefer to take advice from friends and family.

Enterprise advisers come in all shapes and sizes as indeed do enterprises. And I deliberately used the word enterprise rather than business because in my view every organisation is and enterprise. Even the project manager, leading an urban regeneration scheme, perhaps stimulating self-employment in a deprived community, with three years funding has to be entrepreneurial. Sustainability is never certain unless you take control and make it happen.

Refreshingly the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies have recognized this and last month launched a network they are calling ACT. Membership of ACT costs just £10 per month, which as the network grows will provide access to a wide range networking and self development activity. More importantly the only qualification for membership is that you as an individual advise people who are starting a growing and enterprise.

Unlike so many initiatives this one starts with the people who are already delivering advice then sets out to help them do it more successfully. This is a welcome contrast to the more usual model of creating a qualification and focusing on the minority of advice givers prepared to reach it.

The NFEA is a not for profit organisation but one that is owned by its members. It is in my book a social enterprise, and one that is responding to market opportunity rather than bleating about the market share of its current membership. It is one of those too often overlooked basic business principles that you will always do better to go where your customers are, than if you try to attract your customers to you. In other words how ever loudly the ice cream van plays is jingles, it will sell more ice cream on the promenade than three streets back when nobody goes.

So my challenge to you this month is to reflect on your work. Go where the people already are, perhaps take some risks and do something because whatever you do, actions speak louder than words.