Testimonials

"Our business was facing some specific small business challenges. We wanted to grow it without losing our vision and philosophy, and this led us to work with Alan. What we found out working with Alan is that he is not only an amazing business coach but also a great mentor. He guided us through several steps, every time with lots of pragmatism and brutal honesty, but at the same time with patience and caring for us as if he was part of our own business. Together we established a strategy and the necessary steps to grow our business, while keeping within its original philosophy as the business has evolved. Alan combines the perfect mixture of skills. He has enormous experience as a business coach and as an entrepreneur. He loves business, people and communication. His way of seeing business combined with his sense of humour makes any challenge a small one."

"I work with Alan when I’m faced with difficult decisions and the stakes are high. I prize his insight, coaching and mentoring very highly; he is direct, scrupulous, sees the big picture and all the detail. Alan fights my corner and challenges me hard to think differently — as an entrepreneur, that's my top combination! He also meets me (conceptually) at a place that leaves me energised, not overwhelmed."

"When I came to Alan I was at a crossroads, wanting to grow, but not sure how. Terrified of making the wrong decisions, so not making any. Fear and doubt were prominent themes in my daily handling of business and clients. Alan brought structure and clear thinking to my choices. He provides incredible insight and guidance, while enabling me to make the decisions and develop a solid plan. I now feel I can move forward with clarity, and this is life changing. I can now see the future I want and have – in just a few months – and I've made huge progress towards it. Alan is a very good teacher of theories and principles behind excellent business development, and he’s been an entrepreneur and an investor a number of times. So he knows his stuff from experience. Most of all, I feel much happier about what I’m doing. Somehow his coaching has re-ignited my love for my work. What’s more this has been noticed by friends and family, with whom Alan is now quite famous!"

"When Alan started working with us, we needed to change the business radically. Alan was very good at getting me to dream and think out of the box. No one else has managed that! Then he helped us work out how to achieve what I dreamt of. We've since been running the business in a way that's given me the brain-space to think about the future. That's a first for me! Alan is brilliant. I wouldn't want to work with anybody else."

"I needed help with development of funding plans and projections. Working with Alan enabled us to successfully raise the funds required. He also guided me on who and where we should go for the funding, and how we should approach it politically. Alan is an unusual combination of being both analytical and creative. He has a holistic and distinct approach. Alan is very good! He's a solid chap, funny and listens."

"Our business had organisational issues and I needed help in sorting them out. As soon as Alan became involved, he quickly gained valuable insight into the business and identified the key issues immediately. In his own controlled and considered way, he was unafraid to have uncomfortable but necessary conversations. Not only has he helped my business, but also my own personal business development since I first started working with him. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Alan. I trust his opinion and value him greatly."

"Before taking part in The Business of Business® Accelerator Programme I knew I was missing some basic business understanding. Alan taught us about how to run a business in the most effective way. The Programme helped me to focus and to delegate more. It's been really beneficial because it’s made me constantly challenge myself and question my actions. I would definitely recommend the Programme to other entrepreneurs.”

"I was running a high growth organisation that was heaving on its keel. I needed help to restructure the business when I met Alan. We worked closely together and he helped transform the organisation into a more relaxed, happy place, in which I'm doing far less with no loss of growth or standards. He's very perceptive, with excellent timing during the tussle of boardroom discussions. Alan is a great business coach."

"I was faced with a range of issues in my business when I was recommended to Alan. He helped me analyse them and turn them into opportunities. In addition, Alan helped us grow a new revenue stream by 600%. He is a first-class business coach / advisor / consultant (all three are different), and he steps between them with ease. Alan's a genuinely great guy and an invaluable sounding board."

“Alan’s coaching has really developed my ‘business sense’ — helping me to understand finances and the metrics that indicate the health of the business. Something that many first time entrepreneurs neglect or have never been taught. His breadth of knowledge is impressive with our sessions covering anything from management style to sales training to recruitment advice, and he effortlessly switches the focus according to need. He’s a great listener and generous with his advice. And he has a knack for picking up on the significant clues that indicate there’s an issue to address.”

"One of our biggest issues was how to grow our business. Alan has been instrumental helping us do that. My clients are typically successful business owners working towards exiting their business. Alan knows when to encourage them to push through, and when they need to do things differently. Having owned and sold businesses himself, he has been 'in their shoes' and has the perfect credentials and experience to help my clients along their journey."

"We didn't have a clear strategy for our business when we engaged Alan. He helped us create strategy papers for three key areas of our business. He was a rock of support, offering his expert guidance and assistance throughout each step of the process. Over time, as the papers took shape, he helped us knit the whole project together to achieve the most effective outcome for our business. He's made a huge positive impact on our business."

"When we started with Alan, we were struggling to grow the business; we were focussing on the operational stuff. He changed the way we look at the world. He has helped us see things differently from the outside in, and evaluate our internal environment with a fresh perspective, so we’ve been able to restructure effectively. Through his business coaching, Alan helps people to understand their own businesses better than they could before, and he has helped transform ours."

"When we began working with Alan, our business needed a better internal structure, and clarity in the marketplace. He helped us create a clear and focussed plan, and enabled us to position our business clearly. He also advised us on our international distribution strategy. He brings creative rigour and business acumen, and helps with whatever the business is challenged by, producing the right tools to help it succeed. He is obsessed with business excellence!"

"Alan changed the way we look at the world. He has helped us see things differently from the outside in, and evaluate our internal environment with a fresh perspective, so we’ve been able to restructure effectively. Through his business coaching, Alan helps people to understand their own businesses better than they could before, and he has helped transform ours. I'm at least 50% more effective as a result."

"When we met Alan, our business was growing fast. It was exciting and scary in equal measure. As young entrepreneurs, my partner Theo and I knew what we wanted to achieve, but we weren’t sure how to get there. Alan highlighted the gaps in our knowledge, and helped us focus in on our skills with a lot of care. He has played a key role in helping us build out the foundations for the growth and development of our business, and we are very grateful to have him as our mentor."

"I’d been running my business for 25 years and it was time to sell. We worked with Alan for two years to get the business ready. He not only identified a hidden asset in the business, but he helped us sell it for more than we ever imagined. He has helped us to understand the value of our business and its added value to our clients, as well as the financial value. I’m so grateful to him for what he’s done for us."

"Before working with Alan, I led the business on my own, which was hard. But over the many years I’ve worked with Alan, he has helped us through our whole business cycle. He has an innate ability to distil things down to the key points. Ultimately Alan has brought clarity and purpose to my business at a time when it's been undergoing extensive transformation. Also, he's been instrumental in helping me negotiate a number of key deals that have been very lucrative."

"Before working with Alan we faced the challenge of taking the business to the next level in a controlled manner. Alan has been instrumental in helping us grow, derived from his years of business experience; all done in a diplomatic, knowledgeable and passionate manner. Alan is a tremendous asset to our business, adding huge value by providing methodologies and structures to apply, while asking probing questions about our next steps. I highly recommend Alan’s services."

"Stress and poor work life balance were issues I was facing when I started to work with Alan. He's bloody wonderful. He has helped me be clear and consistent for what is relevant; to perform better with less stress. He's given me a really good balance of working as a human being in business. He paints a picture of structure and you focus on the right message and it will pay dividends for you."