ActionCOACH
Reviews and Complaints

I also had a cold call from Action coach as they found my CV from Web. Thanks for all the comments above, that really opened my eyes.

Having been in business for 8 years, I could see the construction industry suffering and our profits being squeezed and squeezed. My wife had also become sick over a period of time and I was facing the difficult decision of closing the business if we could not turn thing around (mid 2008).

For a contacting company I had always been actively marketing our firm with consistent growth of around 14% per year, year on year, over the 8 years. As a company we never used an overdraft and every bill was paid within the agreed terms, but there was less and less left over for me.

I decided to increase our presence again, increased our networking and one day met a local business coach at a BNI event, we had some interesting conversations and meetings at around £35 per hour, but it seemed that we didnt get anywhere fast and I needed to push harder to turn things around. Desperation set in.

At a local chamber of commerce exhibition, I met a local business coach from ActionCoach. Within minutes I had been booked for my free consultation worth a stunning £375... where the coach learned about my business, financial troubles, worries etc. and showed me a range of plans where we could work together to improve things. At this stage my head was in a spin and really I was being preyed on as a vunerable character. Knowing that the business was barely breaking even, my coach recommended that I invest heavily in coaching to see greater returns quicker, and signed me up on a coaching program for £1595+vat per month or there abouts... He would push me to sucess and cost me as little as a secretary.

Off I toddle, wondering where I would find an extra £1600 per month, not really knowing what I would recieve for my money... Surely this master business coach would come into my office, meet my staff, see how we work and diagnose problems... Well, the next step... orientation... pay him £1500 to come into our office for 1/2 day... er... no.

I tried to cancel and we met again, I am certain that ActionCoach coaches are trained in NeuroLinguistic Programming to mind wash clients into 'needing' coaching. Within a week I was invited to enjoy a day on a luxury yacht with some of his clients... Of course all these other small business owners spoke highly of him and how well he had transformed their business..

I eventually worked with an actioncoach for 14 months, in which time we increased work, borrowed a significant ammount from the bank to invest in the business, looked at other firms to buy and integrate into the company, took on staff, invested in them, worked harder and longer, burnt myself out then eventually ended up putting the company into liquidation to the tune of £108, 000 in the red.

My marriage has suffered, with a divorce imminent. My business has folded and now i face personal bankruptcy due to the directors guarentees etc. Of the 8 people on the yacht that day, none are still clients of the coach, 2 have had a nervous breakdown, I know at least 4 of his clients that have gone banktrupt in the last 6 months.

Ive met Brad Sugars - Mr. B.S - is a flash and false character that may be a millionaire, but neither he, or a lot of his henchmen realise what a hard earned days money is. My coaching consisted of weekly 'coaching sessions' where my coach would cover the same ground, standard information and rarely prepare or do homework on my business, but hand me books to read to educate me. And a training session or two each quarter. He would openly discuss other clients, and our information with others; our ActionCoach even copied the design of our marketing materials to sell to one of their other coaching clients as their own design... hmmmm... as Brad Sugars would say "isnt that interesting..."

ActionCoach prizes and awards are merely to blow wind up their own Ar*es, and anyone with a good business gifts company locally could knock them up..

My business coach - master business coach, multi award winner, coach of the year, fsb chairman, blah blah blah, was always certain to get his bucks first each month, and made sure you kept coming back. If you suceed, its because of ActionCoach, if you fail, its because you are weak. ActionCoach taught me the hard way, keep your eyes on the money in your business, trust your instinct first, only gamble what you wish to gamble, and as Brad Sugars says business is a game - like most games there are always cheats and ActionCoach are one of them.

Its a shame we took part in some marketing videos etc. for them as I now regret this. Happy to answer any questions... Total Investment in working with an ActionCoach around £24, 000 - total debt in business £108, 000 - personal debt £55, 000. Cost of ActionCoach = marriage, business, mental health.

A few years back when I was running a logistics company, I was approached by one of these action coach guys. To be frank, the content & message of what he was offering was patronising, ridiculously prescriptive, and the coach himself seemed uninterested in anything other than signing me up. I also checked out the Companies House reports for all the local action coaches in my area (Glasgow, UK) and it seemed on the surface of it that none of the limited companies these action coaches used to operate their franchise had healthy balance sheets - in fact the majority looked very poor with small beer trading positions and negative (and / or decreasing) shareholder funds. All seems a bit of a tall-tale, the 'everyone's a winner' actioncoach franchise message. PRF, Glasgow.

Wow! I'm shocked at the level of advice people on this thread have to business owners. Go hire a professional. Great. Which one? How do you know they aren't ripping you off? Ever tried to negotiate with a radio station for an ad? A good coach can help you save his fee in no time flat right there. Not to mention having your particular message well thought out and communicated.
Many of you have businesses that you grew over the years during much better times. Times where you only had to hang a shingle out saying you were open and people started coming through your doors. Believe me, a coach such as myself will not necessarily make you rich, nor will they make you fail. They can help you get to either place quicker.
I am a coach, an ActionCoach in fact. And believe me, there's a number of things to be desired. However, the best thing I find with their system is that many of the basic documents needed to run a business are already created for you to provide your client.
Are you seriously suggesting that an outstanding auto mechanic doesn't need these basic documents? "A Franchise in a Box" if you will? How many businesses fail every year? Only 4% of businesses started today will be around 10 years from now. Why is that? You don't think they could make it if they had a little guidance and help? Trust me, I don't need to tell the mechanic how to do a tune-up or how to overhaul and engine in order to get his business hopping and popping.
The biggest problems with ActionCoach is that the coaches don't set the ground rules from the beginning of the engagement. E.g. I will fire you the client if you are not committed to making this work. I build my business on the success of my clients, period! If they don't get results from me, they can opt out with 30 days written notice and I also reserve that right. Why? Because there are no "get rich quick" schemes.
The biggest mistake that new coaches make is trying to implement too many strategies too quickly in a company. Strategies require an investment prior to making a profit and if you add too many investments on top of the coaching fee, you will coach a company out of business real quick. Most clients are struggling to begin with, that's why they are hiring a coach. The coach must be an expert in sniffing out the strategy that is going to have the biggest impact in the business and work on that strategy until the maximum benefit is gained out of it. Just as the momentum from that strategy starts to slow, grab the next most beneficial strategy and start working on it. Just like washing your hair in the morning, Wash, rinse, repeat.
Regarding the purchase of an ActionCoach franchise, if you don't want to pay the $75k it takes to buy a new license go offer the existing coaches a buy out of their license. Give them an offer of a few thousand dollars and take over their monthly fees. This gives you access to all the tools in the tool box but with a much smaller up front cost. Plus you may not be locked into a long term agreement giving you the option to "kick the tires" before renewing an agreement. This should be real easy since so many of you are quick to point out that there's so many coaches not making it and having to pay a buy-out fee. Shoot, you could possibly just take over their agreement if that is the case. Plus they'd probably give you all their inventory and any clients they currently have. Wow, what a concept, huh?

Bottom line folks, get real. You can't just write a Franchisor a check and expect a huge result. Your client can't just write you a check and expect a result either. It goes both ways. You and the client MUST do the work.

The only real valid comment in this whole string is the one about ActionCoaches feeding off other ActionCoaches. I have witnessed this first hand and quite frankly, believe that the development and support of the coaches should be included in the $1800 monthly fees paid to the organization. If this bothers you to the point that you don't want to be an ActionCoach, then you should seek out other coaching companies and use their systems and tools.

Confirming the last three posts, I recommand that people who get his far also take at good look at a couple of other sites.

http://actransparency.wordpress.com/2010/10/24/actioncoach-entrepreneur-com-the-franchise-500-ranking/

and

http://www.bluemaumau.org/brad_sugars_come_down_0

This all reminds me of a scam artist (claims to be a freelance business strategist out of the UK names Helmut Welte. He ran a scam business called XQ-Coaching until it floundered like any poorly put together scheme. He's still sleezing around the UK trying to sell his tricks and ripoffs. Found some interesting links below from some of his victims!

http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/XQ-Coaching-Reviews-E251048.htm

http://www.officegupshup.com/article80
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=226056566445
http://www.canyoutrustthem.com/index.php?go=details&id=6317
http://www.allscamsforum.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=77&page=1

Here is my view on Action Business Coach: If you have something to sell, that is legitimate and of value to the public, be upfront about it. I currently sell Franchises for a living, and I am very good at it. But I don't BS people, I present things honorably and my customers never complain about me. But today I posted my resume on Linked In, and I received a call from Byron Whalen with Action Coach @ [protected]. All he said in the message was "I saw you resume, it looks interesting, I'd love to talk with you." Ok. so here's my feeling. The guy said his name, his number, and the name of the company, but I could tell he was either a recruiter or something else. But because he didn't mislead me, I called him back. But Byron didn't know that I am a very successful Franchise Broker. So when he answers, I introduced myself then said "What can I do for you Byron?". He said I saw your resume and it looked interesting." I replied "With regards to what? I'm not sure I understand." He then tap danced a little, and I stopped him. I said "Byron, you're not answering my question, and I'm about to hang up on you." He said in a very puppy dog tone "Aw, why would you do that?" My hand inched towards putting the phone down. I said "What is this about?" He started a fairly well structured but evasive "spiel" where he slid the words "Franchise" and "Business Opportunity" into the equation. I stopped him. I said "Byron, are you trying to sell me a franchise or a business opportunity?" Then he did it. Instead of answering succinctly, he said "ahhh...well...maybe one or even two..." I stopped him mid-sentence. I said "Byron, I am an experienced Franchise professional, and I have no interest in buying a franchise nor a business opportunity - and I know the difference."
He started to tap dance again, and I had enough. I said "Byron, if you are selling something, be upfront about it. But you have NO CHANCE if you don't respond directly to the questions of the person you are trying to gain rapport with. I'm not interested. Then, he tried an old fashioned technique called "the tag" which is where you ask ANY open-ended question that requires a long winded response. He said "Well, tell me something...what are you looking for?" I said "It doesn't matter does it?" He was saying "Well...it depends" as I hung up. Boy this economy is sure creating a bunch of scam artists out there. I put my resume up on Career-Builder (don't EVER do that!) and Monster, and I have had 10 Insurance Agent solicitations and about 4-5 Franchise solicitations. No big deal, but WOW, it is obvious to me that there are a lot of people out there that are scamming. This reminds me of the calm before the storm in the mortgage business. It is a sign folks. Be wary of people who want to talk and don't get to the point. There are short-cut artists out there, trying to part everyone from their money. Now, I use my caller ID. If I don't know them, I don't answer. If I get an email from them, i just look at the name of the company and reply "no thanks". Action Business Coach reminds me of Bernard Haldane. Bunch of losers selling "fluff". But if you aren't smart enough to be aware that there are a bunch of scammers coming out of the woodwork lately, trying "short-cuts" to wealth, then it is your own fault if you get sucked in. Put your armor on. Oh...and Action Business Coach Franchise? YUK. Get real...that is a very weak scam. Criticize me if you want for feeling this way, but I just took 5 minutes to type this in the singular hope that if I can educate a few people out there to the BS scams that have increased DRAMATICALLY over the last year or two, then I feel good. And if you read this and then go to one of their (I am sure this is right) STUPID SEMINARS OF FLUFF and Smoke n Mirrors, then you need to smarten up. Action Business Coach as a Franchise or a Business Opportunity?
They must be [censor]s, because you can't be both. They are very different, and the FTC will come screaming down on them if someone records them. FWIW.

The action coach business model sells franchises not coachings and works as follows:

- target corporate professionals who are looking for a job through cold calls

- sell the sizzle of "the freedom of being self employed while having the support of the action coach framework", i.e. action coach is supposed to provide them a short cut to independence

- make it sound elitist and hard to "get in" through interviews and the high entry cost

- put them in touch with supposedly successful coaches who claim they will make 160 000 USD in the second year

- approve anyone who has the money and sign them in for long term contracts, usually 5-7 years with additional costs of 1500 USD a month plus 5% of their turnover

- never disclose or discuss how many clients are actually being coached by action coaches or what their success rate is. Only show testimonials on action coach websites

- never provide hands on training with coaching (like working as an assistant for another coach for a year)

The action coach website does not target small business owners, there is no information on there that will encourage them  to sign up. 

The franchise is the product they sell, not the training 

(75000 USD plus another 18k a year for 5 years = 165000 USD). 

For the price of their "training" you can buy an established business with employees, customers, multi year market presence.

- action coach has very few coaching customers. This is easy to see when you look at the internet. 

If it is true that they have over 1000 coaches and every coach has just 10 clients a year, this would mean 10 000 client projects every year. For every client that signs with action coach, there would be at least another 30 or 40 who are seriously considering it. since the company has been around since the mid 1990s action coach should have had over 100 000 clients and maybe several hundred thousands people interested. 

These people would leave traces all over the internet. 

In discussion forums, blogs, local magazine interviews, comments...etc..in fact there would by now be a large "action coach" community of successful entrepreneurs. 

Just think about how many blog entries and discussions you will find about a tiny high school rock band that only performs three times a year. action coach supposedly holds seminars/events world wide all the time...? Where are all those people on the net? small business owners are extremely active in forums etc..because it saves them a lot of time and money. There should be discussions records that go back to 1998 at least.

You only find a few testimonials on action coach websites, their videos on you tube have extremely few views and no comments, they never show up in disucssion groups or mailing lists. You cannot "create" this kind of internet background chatter.

The internet is empty (apart from their own websites that dominate the first pages of a google search). So...they have extremely few clients.

Their website only boasts "We have over 1100 coaches worldwide" not "We have successfully coached over 100 000 small businesses" - didn´t you notice that?

- The coaches on their website mostly have the same standard text to hide that they are rookies who have never been self employed before. Their long corporate history is usually not mentioned.

- stevie awards are one of many awards you can buy to boast your business reputation.  

This doesn´t mean that the coaches themselves are not genuinly interested in being coaches or don´t have the skils to be successful. They are victims of the action coach franchise.

A small business owner is targeted every day by scammers so after a while you recognize them quickly. 

We get cold calls all the time trying to get us to invest in a new "internet business portal", participate in expensive "contests", learn new "superhuman mental power skills in a resort in Thailand" etc...etc...not to mention all the Nairobi princesses who want us to inherit their millions for a small transaction fee...

But people in cooperations have never been exposed to this. Large companies perform background checks with specialists and lawyers for any prospective business partner, so if you are somewhere in middle management you will probaly never be in touch with scammers. Lazy team members, slow paying customers, yes - but daily contact with fraud - no. 

People from large cooperations are also used to very high marketing costs, they probably have dealt with or decided over budgets of millions of dollars. They do not realize that when you are a small business owner it is NOT normal to pay 75 000 USD upfront and a further 1500 USD every month. These are huge amounts of money in the small business world.

There are many, many schools and colleges that train coaches, most offer classes for a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. many are free. You can also get a degree in psychology/human resource and then work with experienced coaches as a freelancer or employee before striking out on your own.

You can also work with a "business angel", very often retired executives who coach start ups in their spare time, often free of charge.

USE YOUR BRAIN. USE THE INTERNET.

There is no such thing as a free lunch.

There is no "shortcut" to being self employed. If you want an easy life - stay employed...

Being a small business owner is VERY hard. ALWAYS. Even after 10 years. 

Even if you are a millionaire (for instance you will be sued often by fraudsters who are hoping to cash in through settlemets)

If you really want to do it, then read books, network, attend events and seminars from several different schools or universities. try to do freelance work or find business that will train you. 

Stay Healthy. Stay Safe. Be very careful before you give money to people.  Don´t sign contracts that your lawyer didn´t approve. Never work with someone elses lawyer.

If it doesn´t feel right, it usually isn´t.

Be Flexible. Running a business is like surfing - while you ride a wave you always have to look for the next one. 

Good luck!

The discussion has veered from what Eldar originally posted, bad experience with Bruce Doyle as an employee leading to him/her accusing all of actioncoach as nothing better than a scam.

Now to be honest, let me state upfront I was an ActionCoach myself, my experience with Bruce Doyle isn't exactly positive but I think Eldar has to look into his/her own performance before raising other issues.

This was the figures given:

"I was expected to hold about 8 seminars a month with about 6 telemarketers, no real data except from what could be garnered from phone books etc. and one admin assistant. Bruce expected about 40 decent business owners to attend these seminars"

So Eldar has a team of 6 telemarketers and one admin assistant, a full setup, I would say.

The target was 8 seminars of 40 attendees, a grand total of 8 X 40 = 320.

Telemarketing conversion rate is about 1 out of 25 on average, so the team need to make a total of 320 X 25 calls per month on average, i.e., 8000.

8000 calls divided over 6 telemarketers and 20 working days (assuming Eldar do not get involved) means each telemarketer has to make an average of 67 dials per day.

This is assuming the admin assistant and Eldar himself/herself are not participating in dials.

So... it is impossible for a team of 8 to compile a list, fax/dial 67 prospects each per day?

Seems to me like Eldar has personal beef with Bruce Dolye.

And this is coming from a person with no love for Bruce Doyle and ActionCoach.

Having had George s may in for the 3 day hard sell, and now having been working with action coach for a little while, I have to say they are nothing alike. Action coach is a franchise, and I don't doubt that some of them are lousy, it does seem relatively easy to get an action coach franchise up and running. But I am actually really happy with the help my action coach has provided for my business here in MN. The tools that sugars has set up are sound, as long as used correctly. Some franchise owners may try to scam, but some actually can help. I like mine very much so far.

I haven't been working with my coach for very long, but already I have learned a lot about myself and my business. I expect this to continue. Time will tell.