Action Coach: World's Leading Business Coaching Franchise

I just thought that I would check my Google ranking for "business coaching" and I saw a PR release from Brad Sugar's business coaching firm Action Coach saying:

"ActionCOACH is the world’s number one business coaching and executive coaching firm, with more than 1,000 offices in 26 countries."

I always smile when I see this claim and it sure sounds impressive doesn't it?

But is it true?

I'm not having a pop at Action Coach who are getting free PR and a plug for their franchise on my blog.

There is no denying that:

• Action Coach provide business coaching - although I am surprised by the claim on their website that Brad Sugars Brad Sugars and Action Coach started the business coaching industry.
   
  
• Or that Action Coach are international
   
  
• Or that there are hundreds of Action Coaches scattered around the world.

It's the use of the word "firm" that surprises me.

The Merriam Webster dictionary describes a firm as

1. the name or title under which a company transacts business   
    
   
2. a partnership of two or more persons that is not recognized as a legal person distinct from the members composing it
    
   
3. a business unit or enterprise

Action Coach is the brand name for a franchise of self employed business coaches.

So it's not a company and it's not a partnership.

Is it a business unit or enterprise? Yes it sells business coaching franchises and trains people to be business coaches.

Yes I think it's that word "firm" that always makes me smile because really ActionCOACH is a brand - and that's where the big value comes from.

When you are building the brand, firm sounds so much better than franchise.

Franchise tells you that if you are a client, you are dealing with someone who has paid money to use the brand, is governed by the franchisor but isn't really part of the master organisation in a way that a subsidiary would be.

Interesting isn't it how different words can present different pictures.

What do you think? Do you think that ActionCOACH is a "firm"?

As I said earlier, I am not criticising Action Coach for the claim.

As a business coaching franchise, I have no doubt that they are the biggest when you consider "offices" which I guess is business-speak for franchisees. I can't think of another franchise or firm that comes close to that number of business coaches.

Becoming An Action Coach Franchisee

I paid special note to the PR release today because I have been seeing adverts recruiting ActionCOACH franchisees in The Sunday Times recently saying the same thing.

And I know that I get readers hitting this blog with "How do I become a business coach" type searches so I thought it was about time I gave you a chance to learn about the ActionCoach franchise and to share your thoughts.

ActionCOACH give some information about becoming a franchisee on their website but I found this summary for UK coaches to be much more informative.

It's not clear how old the pdf is but fee rates between £200 and £500 per hour and net profit of £100,000 to £250,000 are impressive numbers for an investment of £57,625. I also understand from other sources that there is a monthly fixed levy of about £1,500 - a substantial amount of things don't go as well as you hope.

What did surprise me was the amount of training.

A ten day intensive course in Las Vegas that covers everything needed to learn followed by a 12 week kick start training course as you set up the practice plus regular extra training calls.

It doesn't sound too much effort to build a big income does it and you can see why so many are attracted into the ActionCOACH franchise.

If you want to become a business coach, then do take a look at Action COACH. After all as the world's number 1 business coaching firm, you need to understand them, even if they only become a competitor.

What Do You Think About ActionCOACH?

I would be interested to see what you think about ActionCOACH so please leave a comment if:

• You are an ActionCOACH franchisee
   
  
• A former Action Coach franchisee
   
  
• Someone thinking about becoming a business coach who has consider the ActionCoach franchise
   
  
• An ActionCOACH client  

I have been planning to feature the business coaching franchises on my Business Coaching blog to help people who are considering becoming a business coach and who are wondering whether it is worth buying into a coaching franchise.

ActionCOACH are the first because they are the world's biggest business coaching franchise and are the obvious place to start.

As always do your due diligence when you consider spending this much money.

I have heard some very good things about Action Coach but I also hear stories of coaches who lost a lot of money because they weren't really suited to life as a business coaching franchisee. I know it wouldn't suit me because I can't follow other people's rules and procedures.

Talk to other franchisees with different lengths of membership, search the internet - there are some horror stories - but most of all, be clear on your own motivation, strengths and commitment.

Just as a business coach cannot make the client successful if the client won't follow advice, the the coaching franchisor can't create successful franchisees if the proven system isn't followed.   

Books by Brad Sugars

Can you judge the quality of ActionCOACH by the quality of the books?

I hope not but you can read my reviews and see that I wasn't impressed, either as marketing tools or information products.

The Business Coach

Instant Cashflow

Successful Franchising

Instant Team Building

Instant Referrals     

Comments

[Geoff Davis]

If you are thinking about buying an Action Coach franchise you should read the information on unhappyfranchise.com

http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/actioncoach-brad-sugars-overview-discussion/

It is extremely active with many comments about Brad Sugars and Action Coach.

An essential part of due diligence which will give you plenty to think about and questions to ask before you spend your money.

[Paul Simister]

AdviCoach is a new name to me but they are bringing their business coaching franchise over to the UK and Ireland.

http://businesscoaching.typepad.com/the_business_coaching_blo/2009/01/advicoach-coming-to-uk-ireland.html

[Jromrell]

Maybe they are a firm because the solo franchisee is not the only model. They have firm models in which one party can buy around 8 licenses for coaching and then hire people on as coaches and split profits with them. There are also master licensees who recruit coaches to be on their team. In that regard, maybe firm is more than a claim.

However, I don't think people just lose money because they weren't suited to the lifestyle of business coaching. There are a lot of compulsory fees, outside of royalties, that come up after the contract is signed that create problems for coaches. Some of the coaches were even long-term and successful, but left unhappy because of their money gets spent more on promoting Brad Sugars than promoting the ActionCOACH brand. Recently, in fact, they stopped all marketing activities to focus on combating negative blogs about Brad Sugars. It was very successful! However, it left bad tastes in coaches mouths.

[Paul Simister]

Hi Jromrell

Thanks for your comment on the Action Coach franchise.

The blog I wrote was very much spur of the moment after seeing again the claim to be the "world's largest business coaching firm" when I do think it should be described as a business coaching franchise.

But maybe I was being pedantic!

Thanks for your comments on the Action Coach compulsory fees. I think that it is a universal complaint with franchisees that the franchisor should be spending the marketing budget more effectively.

I had also heard about the concerted effort made to try to overwhelm bad comments about ActionCOACH.

This seems to be a strength and weakness about social media.

While it can provide a platform for people to bring legitimate problems to the attention of potential franchisees, it can also be abused by a small minority who have a grudge.

I have seen on the Amazon reviews for Brad Sugars books, there does seem to have been an attempt to manipulate the ratings with biased reviews from people in ActionCOACH.

But I also understand that this happens on Travel review sites like Trip Advisor where a few false good reviews may be written to counteract a bad review. Or vice versa where a competitor goes in and slags off the business.

The link that Geoff Davis posted above on ActionCoach and how the franchisees fare in Action is certainly very active.

http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/actioncoach-brad-sugars-overview-discussion/

If you want to invest in an ActionCoach franchise then you need to read what is said.

But I think you have to take what is said with a certainly flexibility since theer is a strong "ActionCOACH are bad" lobby and an "ActionCOACH is great" lobby.

What it can do is to give you plenty of more questions to ask in your due diligence of Action Coach. Getting answers that you can rely on may be more difficult since, if there is a coach retention problem, it would be natural to try to hide it.

Below is Brad Sugars response to the problems of the criticism coming through of ActionCOACH on the Internet

http://www.bradsugars.com/the-good-the-bad-and-the-internet/

As you will have seen this had gathered a lot of comments from Action Coaches in support of ActionCoach.

No surprise there then, either to support their own decisions to be an ActionCoach or (being cynical) to suck up.

So here is the response to Brad Sugars' blog back on Unhappy Franchisee

http://www.unhappyfranchisee.com/brad-sugars-actioncoach-the-battle-of-the-blogs/

My advice:

1 - Be aware of the allegations about Action Coach

2 - Do what you can to find out the facts. Ask questions, look for evidence, check whether it is credible (official, genuine third party), talk to ActionCoaches present and past. (If you stop to think about it, the current coaches should be very positive, even if they are not happy because of the damage of negative self talk).

3 - Make your own mind up. Both sides may be manipulating this debate but it is your money and your future.

Caveat emptor, buyer beware still stands.

Business coaching is about helping business owners to seize control and make things happen rather than being victims to what is happening.

The same advice applies to prospective coaches. Accept the personal responsibility for making your decisions based on your interpretation of the facts.

And if you get into a franchise, remember Brian Tracy's zero based thinking question.

http://businesscoaching.typepad.com/the_business_coaching_blo/2007/11
/difficult-decis.html

If you do think that you have made a bad decision, you may be better getting out quickly.

So with that in mind be clear about the commitments you are entering into and how long they last.

Just like a shop, it costs money to start but the real problem can be the ten year lease that you have to keep paying, even though the shop isn't viable.

The same thing applies to a franchise.

I don't know the exact details of the ActionCOACH franchise but I understand that there is an ongoing commitment.

Buying into a franchise is a huge decision so don't go into it lightly. The more expensive the original license and the more onerous the ongoing commitment, the more time you need to take over the decision and the more you need to make sure that logic is backing up your emotions.

[Paul Simister]

The link I gave you above to unhappy franchisees has disappeared because it seems that the unhappyfranchisee.com site was hacked and the ActionCoach post destroyed.

Unfortunately it is not that uncommon for sites to be hacked by people with malicious intent.

The website owner has reposted the main discussion here

http://www.bizzia.com/franchisepick/actioncoach-brad-sugars-discussion/

You can also find out more about ActionCoach and whether it is a good franchise at

http://www.soulcast.com/post/show/248750/Brad-Action-Coach

Do take the comments with a pinch of salt. I have no idea whether they are true.

But I believe that if you are thinking about buying an ActionCoach franchise, you need to be aware of the issues and you can ask questions and make your own mind up about the issues.

One party of me thinks "where there is smoke there is fire".

Another says that people are jealous of successes and will knock and try to bring successful people down. There is no doubt that Brad Sugars has been extremely successful and that ActionCoach is a huge organisation - at least compared to the norm in the business coaching industry.

[John]

Some sad stories coming from Action Coaches on this post

http://www.angryfranchisee.com/actioncoach/actioncoach-share_your_experiences/

only about 10% are doing well - 100 out of 1000

Another reports that out of 17 coaches who started in October 2007, 12 have already left.