MetroWest495 Biz

26 MetroWest495 Biz | August 2014 WhAT IT TAkES e d McDonough, a director of the united regional Chamber of Commerce, built his executive coaching business from dust – that is, sawdust. After working as an It professional for 25 years, he started his first business in custom finishing and woodworking. Be- fore long, he was coaching other woodworkers on how to start and mar- ket their businesses, and realized that's where his passion lay. "so I put together another business plan and made the transition" into executive coaching, he said. he generally works with businesses with annual rev- enue of $1 million to $5 million, typically for three to six months. In general, what are some of the most common mistakes made? They're usually struggling with profitability. That is a really common thread. So the business owner doesn't either realize how to track profitability or actually what it is. It's an extremely common issue … I'll find that the business owner spends 60 to 70 percent of their time doing jobs that bring the least profit to their business. But because they are so enthralled with their business … that's where their passion is — they never take a step back. The next part of what I do is I help them develop that business plan/marketing strategy to find more of those profitable customers. Sometimes the reaction you get is one of surprise? A lot of times they know they're profitable but they can't show you how they're prof- itable … they measure profitability by, "Well, I have all these customers and I keep generating all this revenue and I keep paying the bills." But are they really profitable? Sometimes they're not. Sometimes they're underwater and they don't even know it. Do you feel that you ever need coaching? Oh, I have coaches all the time. It helps you get your results faster. That's why I hire a coach. Recently I just hired a coach to teach me how to properly do webinars. Could I have figured it out myself? Yeah. But what we did in eight weeks would have taken me six months. I was a project manager for a lot of years in corporate, so that's really what we're doing. I work with people on a project. I am at Point A and I want to get to Point B in the fastest way possible. We develop a strategy to do that. I don't even develop strategies for people. I help them develop it, because if you develop your own strat- egy, you're likely to follow it. Some psychology involved here, would you say? It's a learning process. You're going to find out some surprising things about yourself and your business. But we do it with an open heart and in a loving way, so that it isn't too much of a shock and that it doesn't throw somebody into a place where they feel like, "Now I'm never going to get out of this." In any business, if you're not good at something, you have to either learn how to do it — spend the time and the money — or hire someone who can do it for you. Those are your only two choices. And most business people get that. I watched one of your webinars and you discussed focusing on the customer. Is that something we say and don't actually do? Again, they don't really do it from the customer's or prospect's perspective. I always try to convey to people that someone who is looking for a product or service is tuned to one radio station, WIIFM, that stands for "What's in it for me." Anytime you or I go out to buy something … we see some intrinsic benefit. Every- thing we buy, we do that. We have this conversation in our head: What am I going to get out of this thing? Business owners completely understand that, except when it's their product and their prospect. So you have to drill down with them and say, "What are the ultimate benefits that someone gets by doing business with you?" Do you think networking works? I think you need to do both (networking) and (marketing). The other thing networking helps you do, too, is that it helps you learn to better communicate what you do with your business. When I go to a networking event and I know you're a business owner, I say, "I help small businesses get more business." Now we're going to have a conversation about (the) needs of your business, not what I do. That's how I build relationships with people. I saw on your website "Three things people need to do to get recom- mendations." The first question is, "Why did you decide to do business with me?" The second one is, "After you started working with me, what are the exact results you saw?" And the third question is, "If you were to tell someone about working with me, what would you tell them?" These three questions are soliciting benefit … so your prospective clients can (say), "Oh, well, if these people are getting these benefits, then I can get this benefit, too." n This article was edited for length and content by Susan Shalhoub. Ed McDonough Executive Business Coach An insider's view of how to build and sustain a business. P h o t o / M A t t V o l P I N I "In any business, if you're not good at something, you have to either learn how to do it — spend the time and the money — or hire someone who can do it for you."

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