By Dennis Wagner

One year. Twelve short months. It’s one of the most basic metrics that every business uses to measure itself against. How much was planned and accomplished within the compact time frame of 365 days?

In many cases there is “a year” in the life of any business that is looked back on with either a strong degree of satisfaction (that was the year it all came together) or dismay (that was the year it all came unglued). The results are the catalyst both fiscally and motivationally for what was planned and implemented in the years that followed.
In the case of one Texas-based company, the theme for that year of reckoning was one of reinvention.

In a single twelve-month period, they went from a group of loosely collaborative colleagues to a structured and profitable enterprise. They implemented internal management and accounting systems larger companies would be envious of. And they introduced a streamlined sales process to assure profitability through elimination of needless expenditure of hours.

Like many journeys of rediscovery, a first, simple step was the catalyst for a world of positive change. And in this firm’s case, that step was to implement education, motivation and accountability by bringing on a Business Coach.

Azure Marketing Communications (www.azuremarcom.com), an international marketing and design firm based in Dallas, TX, has just completed their first year of coaching. We decided to reflect on the year to recap the evolutionary changes from the kind of company Azure was a mere 12 months ago.

Company President Dane Miller sums it up this way, “FY2007 was Azure's best ever from a gross billings standpoint, but we were at saturation as far as capability to handle more client challenges. We were receiving numerous referrals for new business, but we were really not in any kind of position to be able to respond to them with any coherency.

That, and from my personal vantage point, I was spending an ever-increasing amount of time dealing with things not at the core of my value contribution, like AP, AR, insurance and day-to-day office management. A sure recipe for burnout.”

What made us look into bringing on a Business Coach?

“In the early days, we used all the help we could get. There are some great resources in the local area to get general business advice. We felt that we learned what we could from them, but knew we needed more.

The Missing Piece: Accountability

Once we brought Coach Dennis in, we realized that what we were missing was the individual accountability factor. Just like an athletic coach pushes athletes to constantly get better, Dennis did the same with me.

There were times he was very blunt and I hated to face what he was saying – because I knew he was right. Ultimately though, it was exactly what I needed and I really had no one else to turn to for that combination of expertise and at times, brutal honesty.

The greatest surprise was that I never expected someone outside of my business to care about it just as much as I do.”

Working with Dane over the past year has been a great challenge. His desire and drive to keep getting better kept the pace fast (and fun).

The results are clear. Azure now has articulated their Mission and Vision, along with their points of culture, USP and guarantee – all highlighted on their website.

They’ve crafted a streamlined sales process allowing for rapid lead qualification, connected to a fast-turn proposal generation system Measurement metrics are built in at every level to track effectiveness.

“It’s just such a dramatic transformation. Colleagues I have worked with along Azure’s journey have commented on how we have really stepped up our game and are thrilled to be part of the ride. Our clients, happy before, are even more pleased now. We can now be even more responsive, having eliminated the ‘time vampires’ we used to deal with devouring our creative time.”

Dane adds, “This year has been a tremendous year of growth in so many ways. I’m really not sure where we would be today had we not started this journey with Coach Dennis. I can say that in a down economy, had we not started to implement the changes when we did, it’s very likely we’d be in a similar situation as many other marketing/design firms we compete with – dead or dying”.

So what do the next twelve months have in store?

“That’s the beauty of it. I get to decide. Certainly more aggressive marketing for ourselves, since we are so much better suited to handle more unique opportunities now. It stems from playing above the line – ownership, accountability and responsibility.

I never imagined we could have accomplished what we did in just a year.

We have set our plan for the next twelve months, and we’re going to do our best to beat the schedule.”