The ActionCOACH Business Operating System (ABoS)
The 6 steps of the ABoS installation are the fastest way to build a real business: “A commercial, profitable enterprise that works, without your constant presence.” In other words: the business works on its own, so you don’t have to.
The ultimate goal is optionality – optionality in how you spend your time, optionality thanks to a self-sufficient, high-performing team, financial optionality thanks to a valuable, sellable business. For many this seems like a dream, and for some it always will be. But if you want to change that, this is how it works. After 33 years of experience and literally hundreds of thousands of clients, we have developed a proven approach: there are 6 steps you need to follow to achieve optionality and success.
Step 1
Mastery
We define this as the process of going from chaos to control, moving from a situation where the business runs you to one where you run the business. It often feels like you are in reactive mode: putting out fires and struggling to keep everything going. At worst you are at the level of “just paying the bills”, and at best you think: “If I want it done right, I have to do it myself.”
There are 4 areas of Mastery, and each area has its own set of Strategy Cards that you work with while being coached during the ABoS installation. In Mastery you need to be patient for growth, but very hungry for profit – every single day.
Destination Mastery – Clarity
By installing the ABoS planning and goal-setting systems, you truly take control of your business, both day to day and in the long term.
Time Mastery – Productivity
Installing the ABoS self-management and people-management systems increases productivity. Even small improvements add up to bigger results and a better bottom line.
Delivery Mastery – Consistency
This area ensures that you and your clients experience consistent results. Clients come back and are happy to recommend you to others.
Financial Mastery – Profit
Knowing and understanding your numbers is essential. Historical figures such as profit and revenue matter, but with ABoS you also focus on the forward-looking numbers. That way you know where you are heading and make decisions with confidence.
From basic process improvement and checklists to all the Strategy Cards and Playbooks in ABoS, everything is aligned with your initial ABoS assessment and the ongoing ABoS dashboard, so you clearly see your growth and progress. Mastery lays a solid foundation, gives you confidence and makes sure you are ready to grow your business further.
Step 2
Marketing
This is where you really start to boost your cash flow and take control of your growth. Installing the ABoS Marketing Systems follows our clear and powerful definition of marketing: profitably acquiring new clients for life.
This means our formula only works when your marketing is an investment, where every euro spent comes back as more than that in extra profit.
With the ABoS Test and Measure systems, your marketing turns from a cost into an investment, where ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) becomes something to celebrate regularly.
All strategy cards are connected to this one formula: you install the systems that multiply your profit as much as possible. There are 5 key multipliers, and simply put, each of them has more than 70 to 80 strategy cards defined for you, ready to use as you implement ABoS.
Leads are about your prospects and potential new clients. We coach you in installing measurement and analysis tools, setting new goals and choosing the strategies to generate the right number of leads for a sustainable growth rate that you, your team and your cash flow can handle.
Conversion rate is about installing the ABoS sales systems, so you can build a sales team that consistently follows up leads, converts them and generates valuable purchases, time after time. With 83 strategy cards, you will really appreciate the results you achieve as you implement the ABoS Marketing Systems step by step.
Number of transactions is all about your returning clients. Because most profit comes from clients who come back, this step in the ABoS installation is crucial.
Average sale is about you and your team, and how you can increase the value of every single sale with every client. ABoS offers more than 60 strategy cards and systems to choose from and implement.
Finally, the margin strategies in ABoS make sure you achieve the best possible gross profit on every sale.
Add the Loyalty Ladder to the 5-way multiplication formula. We guide you in installing a system that takes a potential client from your target group all the way to enthusiastic fan. This is a client who not only buys from you regularly, but also refers others of similar quality, is active on social media and so brings in many new clients.
With our guidance and your application of this plan, the client experience in your business will have a direct and positive impact on your profit.
And now it is time to win back your time.
Step 3
Systems
In the ABoS installation, Systems stands for Save Your Time, Energy and Money. It is all about the “that works” part of the definition of a commercial, profitable enterprise that works, without your constant presence.
In the ABoS installation, we coach you in building the systems. The systems then run the business, while your team runs the systems. This creates much more predictability as you grow and scale. Your job is to lead and direct the team while they execute the systems.
The first four of the nine ABoS steps at this level are all about setting a clear direction for your business. By guiding you through the plans for your vision, mission, values and business goals, you get the clarity needed to build an organisation that can actually achieve those goals.
Now the ABoS strategy cards for steps five to seven come into play. While you work with your coach on determining the size and composition of your team, you lay the foundation for making your vision a reality.
The last two steps are the most fun: you install the systems and create the manuals and checklists for a fully streamlined, predictably growing business. It is now time to detach yourself from the day-to-day work and truly lead at a strategic level.
Step 4
Team
Together everyone achieves more is the starting point of the ABoS team installation. As you develop your people, they help build your business.
To build a business that can grow without you having to be there constantly, and that gives you the freedom you deserve, you need a team that can deliver results, with or without you.
There are 6 keys to a winning team. As you implement each key – from the management systems (competence and productivity) to the leadership systems (passion and focus) – and your team develops over time, you will gain more and more confidence in their ability to manage everything independently.
It starts with your strong leadership. From your leadership skills and your personality style as a leader, that is how you build the team your way.
The common goal is the next step in the ABoS plan. It must be something everyone knows, everyone believes in and everyone benefits from.
That leads to a written culture document and what we call the rules of the game for your team. That way, at key 4 – the Action Plan – everyone knows exactly who does what, and by when.
Keys 5 and 6 are a little harder to grasp logically, but as you grow and try new things, it becomes essential to support risk-taking and ensure 100% engagement and inclusion within the team.
Everything comes together with the installation of the ABoS communication systems, and then it becomes clear how your business and team increasingly function as a well-oiled machine. It is now time to let go, or to take a step forward yourself.
Step 5
Scale
In Step 5 – Scale, you move from percentage growth to multiplying growth. The 5 core principles of scaling are all about expanding and scaling the business model you have already built in one location to the size you want.
Not everyone aims for this level of scale, but everyone who joins our CEO & Corporate Coaching programme essentially starts at this level.
The 5 core principles all work together and, when they function optimally, deliver exponential growth. In the ABoS system, each of the five principles is further divided into 4 to 5 main activities. With 537 strategy cards and several plans, your scale-up is well structured and carefully set up.
Strategy, business development, people, execution and mission take on new meaning when you grow at scale. Whether it is you or a management team growing the business at this level, the growth has to be funded, balanced and, most importantly, based on great people building a great business. And that always includes an excellent coach.
And so we finally arrive at the sixth level.
Step 6
Optionality
Building a commercial, profitable enterprise that functions on its own.
Remember that at the start, our definition of a business is about building something you can sell, or at least something you can choose to sell if you ever want to.
Every business owner reaches an exit at some point. Unfortunately, many businesses simply end by closing, often because of the owner’s illness or problems within the business itself.
Of course, with ABoS we want to make sure your exit is planned: a situation in which the business can function independently without you, or an exit in which you can sell it as a valuable asset to a strategic or financial buyer.
Your optionality is the ultimate goal.
That is why, during the ABoS installation, your coach works not only on the business, but also on your personal and professional development.
Your coaching journey, whether you realise it or not, already began when you were a student, in your first steps within a business.
Then, as an employee, you were really an apprentice on the way to becoming a self-employed business owner. There is an enormous amount to learn to prepare for running your own business, and many people struggle at first because they often had only one or two real jobs before starting their own business.
Your emotional development and the growth of your skills, as you rise to manager with your own employees and finally to owner, where you have to let go and let your team run the business independently, come not only from your coach and ABoS, but also through the principle of C.A.R.E.
Community – Running a business can be a lonely road, but at ActionCOACH we bring you together with other business owners to learn from each other, and with each other.
Accountability – Mastermind groups, mutual accountability and your personal coach make sure there is always someone keeping you focused on profitability and growth.
Results – A real focus on your numbers and the key performance indicators that increase your profit and the value of your business. We guide you every step of the way.
Education – Your team and your business can only grow if you grow. From our online learning programmes to our books, and from our annual events to quarterly planning: your personal development is a big part of your business’s growth.
The ABoS installation is how your business grows, C.A.R.E. is how you grow. Now it is only a matter of deciding which coaching level suits you. There is a programme for every level of goals, pace and budget.
