Deborah Coskey shares a real-life case study of coaching client Northside Electrical Lighting Security Wholesalers.
Business coaching is all about getting results for clients and having their business work without them. To do this, you need the input of a skilled coach as well as an action-orientated, hardworking business owner and their team. In this feature, ActionCOACH shares the journey to even greater success of one of our clients, Northside Electrical Wholesale, a well-known electrical wholesaler with five 5 branches in and around Durban, across KwaZulu-Natal in Redhill, Durban North, Ballito, Hillcrest and the newest branch in Umbilo.
Situation Prior To Coaching
Northside Electrical Wholesalers started as a small store in 1995 supplying contractors, and has grown from strength to strength over the years. Owners Kevin and Liesl Sparg, and Managing Director Justin Kirby, attended one of the free business seminars hosted by ActionCOACH Ignite in May 2019. They had built a great business,s but wanted assistance in improving systems to take it to the next level – as well as guidance in building a succession plan to allow the next generation to take the business to greater heights. Management also aspired to have all their staff live the culture that the customer is always a top priority.
Situation After Coaching
Fast forward 21 months and the business has grown considerably. A number of key elements have changed within the business, and they have enjoyed record months during the Covid-19 pandemic. The team has a clear vision, mission and culture, and strive to deliver the best service to every single customer. They have hired more staff and now have the right team members in the right positions, responsible for the right tasks. They have a more robust marketing plan in place that has been actioned and is delivering positive results. The Branch Managers and Managers have received regular training sessions on how to run and build a better business, which has allowed the owners the freedom to step out of the business more often and allow their dedicated team to run the day-to-day operations.
Coaching Approach
The first priority was to look at the business as a whole and clearly establish Northside Electrical’s aims and objectives. Once these had been identified, the top three elements to start with included: knowing the numbers, increasing marketing activity and understanding the team.
Working with the team we identified who the ‘dream team’ would consist of, ensuring they were passionate and dedicated to making Northside Electrical the No.1 electrical, lighting and security wholesaler in KZN by helping every customer with remarkable service and quality products.
Northside Electrical now has regular meetings, training for staff and business development growth for each of the managers. Other areas worked on included time management, customer service, sales training and systemising the business.
The current focus is to continue to grow the teams, the company and the client base to allow Northside to excel in all areas of the business.
A few words from the CEO, Kevin Sparg
Action Coach has taught and helped us recruit the best people, and improve systems, management, service and marketing. All this has allowed me to focus on expanding branches and other projects. I knew that in growing our customer base, together with the valuable information learned from ActionCOACH, we would need bigger and better stores to serve the greater Durban area.
In June 2020, during lockdown, we opened a branch in Umbilo with our best showroom, ample stock storage, abundant parking and a great team to serve Durban central and south. After seeing the success of a larger showroom and store, we have decided to improve our Hillcrest branch. We are moving across Builders Way into a much bigger shop, where we wish to build on the success of Umbilo’s showroom and create a dazzling store to better serve our Hillcrest customers.
Another exciting venture that has been in the works for many years is now coming to completion. Our Ballito branch will be moving in to a brand new, much larger shop in the prime commercial development, Northside Park.
These have all been dreams of Northside for many years, and with the assistance of ActionCOACH we have been able to focus on them and make them become a reality. We have seen great changes over the last two years working with ActionCOACH, and we look forward to the next few years and the growth that will follow.
Our Offer To You
Email deborahcoskey@actioncoach.com for a complimentary Business Health Check.
Photo: CEO Kevin Sparg, Deborah Coskey, Director Liesl Sparg and Managing Director Justin Kirby.