Coaching for Business Growth
I offer structured coaching programmes to help my clients to grow their business by improving their marketing, customer service, team and performance issues.
I am a qualified business and executive coach and am an accredited practitioner of the ECRTM (Emotional Capital Report), an emotional intelligence assessment tool designed to build Leadership Success.
With clients, I use research, analysis and practical and creative thinking to help companies understand and navigate their way through problems related to growth and people (customers, employees and stakeholders). I’m particularly interested how firms through their people engage with their customers, build their customer retention and improve service.
Whilst I work with firms across all sectors, the majority of my clients come from the following sectors: Retail, Technology, Professional Services, Ecommerce; and Creative.
Typical 1-1 coaching clients include:
- Sole practitioners and/or independent/freelance consultants wanting to grow and keep their client base
- Experienced professionals and executives in larger firms that want to develop themselves and their teams
- Owners, Partners and Directors of established and fast growing firms that want to develop their strategy, marketing and customer service
I take a proactive and hands-on approach when I work with clients. The sort of areas we will work on will depend on your needs. But, our work together is likely to cover areas such as:
- Your performance strategy and action plan
- Engaging your employees
- Delivering great customer or client service
- Getting the most out of social media for your business
- Creating an effective marketing and business development action plan
Once we have agreed a plan, I will then work with you over time to help you implement the plan.
A typical coaching programme would last for between 3 and 6 months, although many last for longer, with coaching sessions scheduled every 2 weeks.
Coaching sessions can be done over the phone, via Skype or face to face (if logistics allow) and, normally, are between 60 and 90 minutes long. At the end of every session we will agree tasks that need to be completed and are aligned with your plan.
In between our coaching sessions, you can call or email me if you have any questions or things you would like to discuss.
If you are interested in talking more about how my coaching can help you grow your business, then take a look at some of the testimonials below and contact me for a no-commitment, informal chat.
You can call me directly on my mobile +44 (0)7971 608821.
Alternatively, you can use the contact form here.
Best Regards,
Adrian Swinscoe
Privacy policy: Your email is safe with me and will never be shared.
Often, it’s not what I say about myself that matters but more important is what others say about me. Here’s a few words and testimonials from some people that I have worked with and the results that they have achieved:
“Adrian has a remarkable knack of rapidly understanding the heart of an issue and expressing it in a single pithy sentence. Time and again this helped us make difficult business decisions. I heartily recommend Adrian.” – Pete Callaghan
“Adrian is a ‘no nonsense’ extremely knowledgeable, professional and well read colleague. His personable style and acres of character simply permeates everything he does. If I was asked to spend the money in my pocket on working with Adrian as opposed to others, I would. He has my highest possible affirmation – simple as that.” – Jim Herrington
“Until you work with Adrian, you won’t know how much value he can add to your business. He showed me several tools and ideas that I use every day. Not ‘pie in the sky’ theories but practical tools that reduce my costs and increase my profits. He genuinely cares about the progress of my company and he’s happy to go the extra mile when I need him. Adrian is the ideal resource for SME owners/managers. I will certainly continue to work with him as my business continues to grow.” – Alan Gayle
“Adrian is one of the most strategic thinking people that I know. Whilst he can do ‘the detail’, his natural inclination and real value add is to take clients beyond the present and stretch conversations to include what may lie beyond the immediate horizon. He thinks laterally and draws on a wealth of concepts. If you are thinking of getting a progressive coach to help you, Adrian’s your person.” – David Constantine
“Adrian is an excellent source of creativity demonstrating clear links to goals and objectives. His personable approach to working with clients leads to tangible results.” – Lisa McCance
“Adrian is an essential part of our strategic management. He has listened, guided and empowered us at every stage of our development.” – Tim Clements
“Adrian worked with us to help us work out what sort of a company we wanted to be , what our values and beliefs were, what our financial aspirations were and how to achieve them.” – Alison McCreath
“Adrian is approachable, intelligent, sharp and focused. If you’re looking to get a strategic partner, and someone who you can trust, then Adrian is someone you need to have on your short list.” – Simon Hedley
“I worked with Adrian over the course of about a year and soon discovered his deep understanding of business and business process with an ability to put into practice what he teaches. Adrian also has a strong awareness of issues facing business today and how to address these in a systematic and practical way. I would certainly recommend Adrian if you need a business consultant or mentor.” – Simon Barrass
“Adrian is a creative business consultant with solid interpersonal skills. He gets the job done on time and on budget. He engages well with stakeholders.” – Peter Thompson
“Nothing phazes Adrian, he imparted lots of valuable and constructive advice, helping me take a step back and review the best way forward. A personable and non imposing force that genuinely wanted to help achieve a better outcome. I thought that I’d need a longer ladder – with Adrian’s support we simply bulldozed through! Many thanks, highly recommended” – Caroline Slater
“Adrian helped me for over a year and advised me on many aspects of my business. He was a real asset to the business, he walked the walk, if he said he would call at 3pm, the phone would go on the dot of 3pm. He was a great sounding board and helped me move the business forward to a new level and if I want help again I would certainly go back to Adrian and recommend him to others.” – Jane Milton
“Adrian has a curious mind and the passion to satisfy his curiosity. This is complemented by an open mind and the desire to really engage and understand people.” – Crispin Reed
“After working with a couple of our franchisees to help them grow their individual businesses, we liked what we hear and hired Adrian to work with all of our franchisees to help them grow their businesses. The approach we used was via a series of workshops, learning and networking sessions. Adrian’s approach is both creative and analytical and can get to the heart of an issue very quickly. He has a very engaging and fun presenting style which maximises the learning for all participants. If you would like to grow or develop your business, I would whole-heartedly recommend having a discussion with Adrian as I am sure he will be able to help.” – Daryl Taylor
“I worked with Adrian …………….working on strategy and business development. Adrian brings unique perspectives to any discussion and has strong analytical capabilities. He is knowledgeable, articulate and able to dive into details without losing sight of the big picture. I would gladly work with Adrian again if the opportunity arises.” – Sanjay Bhide
“Adrian really knows his stuff when it comes to business management. If you ever get a chance to attend one of his events or workshops, get yourself along to it as he is very good speaker and what you will learn from them will help you in your own business no end.” – Paul Collins
“I have hired Adrian in the past to work with clients. He is particularly good at reading people and situations, and then adapting his approach accordingly. His approach is professional and his methods very practical because he can draw from many years of experience.” – Olga Astaniotis
“Adrian has run several workshops that I have attended, and his approach has been very professional. Everyone has come away feeling as though they have gleaned a lot from it, and because of the way that the workshops were run, people felt very involved in the learning process. In addition to this, Adrian is a person to get along with very easily and as such, the workshops are both enjoyable and informative.” – Louis Downs
“I worked with Adrian on a number of actual and potential projects. He had a good grasp of what was possible in complex situations and found elegant solutions to the problems raised. He is a very personable fellow but could fight his corner when it mattered.” – Mike Dension
Here’s a few more:
“We have worked with Adrian Swinscoe on two separate occasions in the last three years. Once as the business grew and secondly as the business had to re-structure during the economic downturn. On both occasion we found Adrian’s advice to be professional, positive and creative. He was sensitive to our external pressures and understood the capabilities within our team. The result of working with Adrian has been that we will emerge from the recession in better shape operational, financially and positioned better with our clients. We could whole heartedly recommend Adrian and indeed intend to use his services again in the future.”- DM, Director, JM Safety Limited
“By taking on a business coach, my objective was to ensure that the time I spent in the office was as productive as possible and to ensure sales grew despite the touch economic climate. Our business saw a sales increase of 48% in the first half of our financial year with a more unified and focused team. Adrian spent much time helping me understand my strengths and weaknesses as a man manager, business leader and a person and then demonstrated the impact of these characteristics on our business. Since working with Adrian we have introduced new appraisals for all staff, including the directors and this has resulted in more open communication between team and management, with clearer goals being set to every staff member. As a company director, I learned the value in involving team members in business decisions, resulting in an easier implementation of change and high levels of motivation.
Adrian has also been a valuable listening post in the tricky economic climate. He has allowed me to constantly run ideas past him and this has helped tremendously when preparing for key meetings or potentially difficult conversations. Working with Adrian has also allowed me to tap into his own personal network of contacts and he is very generous with his introductions.
I think that coaching is an excellent tool to improve and fine tune everyday business skills. It holds you accountable for your decisions and acts as a regular forum of feedback for your performance as a manager or business leader.” – MD, Director, Hudson Walker International
“As a business owner, you sometimes need peers rather than subordinates to talk to. In my experience with being a small business owner, you need all the advice you can get to avoid repeating mistakes that others have made countless times before you. I have found that a ‘sounding board’ was very helpful and pragmatic to getting back on track more quickly than without a coach.
The three most valuable lessons I have learned so far in the coaching process are:
- Listen, listen, listen and then respond to your opportunities in the _right_ way.
- Don’t be afraid of critique… embrace it and use it to your advantage.
- Don’t let distractions ruin your daily focus to reach your goals… Make a diary plan and stick to it, remembering to manage clients, not let them manage you.
For someone considering taking on a coach, I would say it is a good way to bounce your ideas off someone, share experiences and get an outsider’s view on your business decisions. Challenging your ideas, decisions and giving some external references and literature / research also helps, since many of us tend not to focus on the ‘bigger picture’.” – DF, VPT Ltd
“I have had a business coach or adviser or a mentor throughout most of the 10 years I have been running my business…….I find it useful to have someone to bounce ideas off and to regularly review the business direction, weaknesses etc as well as my own.
When we first met time was my greatest problem- I just never seemed to have enough! Adrian very quickly showed me that I was not working efficiently and he helped me develop systems that meant I got control of my diary and was seeing real benefits within a month . I used to have working days from 7am to midnight and working over weekends but now that I am more focused I work 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday and achieve far more. I have also formalized my goals and targets and broken them down to weekly targets so I am clearer about what I am working to and whether or not I am succeeding. I am planning more strategically and am currently redoing an organisational plan for my business so I can make sure I will have the right people in the right places going forward. I am being much more effective, feel much more positive about my business and am much clearer about my medium and long term plans. I can’t believe how much we have done in 3 months- I’ve also read books that have changed my thinking and had analysis of my personality type so I can be more aware of that and how I interact with others. No business coach has ever made this much difference, let alone in 3 months.
Adrian really practices what he preaches- he is very organised, delivers what he promises and at the same time he is very personable and easy to get along with. I really cannot recommend him highly enough.” JM, Not Just Food Ltd
“Taking Adrian Swinscoe on as a Business Coach is one of the best decisions we have made for the growth of our business.
Adrian keeps us focused, and gives us immeasurably good advice in all sorts of areas, particularly regarding marketing, communications, and tracking finances.
Adrian’s approach is gentle but tenacious; he makes sure we actually do what we have said we would!
We have seen the impact of his influence on our recent marketing campaign….the response has been far more positive than the previous ‘hit and miss’ campaigns, leading to greater footfall and larger sales. We have been astounded to find that in a traditionally ‘dead’ month, our sales only dipped slightly. This was largely due to us utilising Adrian’s many ideas to encourage customers to visit at that time.
It is great knowing that there is someone with experience who is always there to objectively bounce ideas about with, and who often improves on our ideas by just tweaking them a bit in ways we would not have thought of.
We really would not be without him, and have no hesitation in recommending him to any business – large or small.” – KL & RW, Alleyn Park Garden Centre
“It had been a very difficult first year and by the time I met Adrian, I had lost all confidence in my abilities and amongst other things I felt at a loss as to how to continue and grow the business. Adrian spoke very openly at our initial meeting and he touched on issues that were a concern for our business at the time. I liked his kindly manner and his enthusiasm for helping people. Although I did have some reservations about the costs of appointing a business coach, I instinctively believed Adrian could help and was willing to take the chance that the investment would benefit in the long term.
As a result, my business is steadily growing. Our shop has gained 12 new regular clients, the average pound sale has increased and the business has generated a new network of valuable business contacts. The programme highlights issues and gives discipline to attend to matters that may otherwise be avoided, for example keeping track of day to day cashflow, profit and loss, testing and measuring, and following up on any new marketing strategies that are in place. Adrian is a constant and reliable support, and as a result he has helped me gain more confidence, and made me so much more positive in my approach to the business. The coaching has helped me to ‘step out’ and given me more courage to reach out to others for both help and new business.
If another business owner was considering working with Adrian I would say take the chance, it could quite likely be the most beneficial contribution you can give to your business – I’d highly recommend them to speak to Adrian Swinscoe!” JL, Kensington Flowers
“I am writing to you to recommend you to Adrian Swinscoe. Adrian helps businesses set clear goals and objectives faster and right the first time and then helps them achieve impressive results.
In his role, he was dedicated, enthusiastic, encouraging and committed to the success of our business and demonstrated skill and quickness of mind in dealing with all the new situations that presented themselves. Thus, he earned our respect and trust, and achieved results well beyond our expectations.
I would highly recommend Adrian to all those involved in running their own businesses and wanting to improve their businesses and themselves.” AP, Obsidium Advisors Ltd.
