Saturday, October 31, 2026
41% of US owners say the cash-flow gap between money in and bills out is their top stressor. Here's why better follow-up won't fix it, and the three moves that stop the chase before it starts.
You have narrowed it to four names: ActionCOACH, EOS, Scaling Up and Vistage. Every website tells you it is the answer. The real risk is not picking a weak one. It is spending three months comparing, and another quarter living with the same constraint you started with.
A quick disclosure before anything else: Simple-Growth publishes this page, and Kevin D'Ambros-Smith coaches SME owners himself, so he is not a neutral party. That is why this is not a ranking. You get what each option is, who it tends to suit, what is publicly known about cost, and the questions to ask before you sign. Facts come from each organization's own website or the sources linked at the bottom, checked on 1 November 2026.
One fact should take the pressure off. US business coaching is roughly a US$20.0 billion industry in 2026, and no single firm holds more than 5% of it (IBISWorld, US market). There is no giant you are supposed to defer to. Fit beats brand.
ActionCOACH. A global franchise of local business coaches, operating since 1993 and headquartered in Las Vegas. It now leads with ABoS, a diagnostic platform that scores your business across six areas (Mastery, Marketing, Systems, Team, Scale and Freedom), and it offers two weeks of free coaching and a money-back guarantee that depends on you completing the agreed actions. Pricing is not published; the site says it varies with your needs. Because it is a franchise, the local coach you get matters more than the logo. Tends to suit owners who want a structured programme, a platform and a guarantee.
EOS. A management system (Vision/Traction Organizer, Accountability Chart, Scorecard, Rocks and Level 10 Meetings) taught to a leadership team by an independent EOS Implementer, with a free Organizational Checkup to start. EOS publishes no prices. One third-party estimate, from EOS software vendor Strety in July 2026, puts implementer cost at US$20,000 to US$45,000 a year for two years, but treat that as indicative and ask for a quote. Tends to suit owners who already have a leadership team and want one shared operating rhythm.
Scaling Up. Verne Harnish's growth framework. Its site claims more than 102,000 organizations and offers free self-assessments (a Scaling Up Assessment and an A-Players Assessment) plus a seven-day scoreboard trial. Pricing is not published. A trade report in February 2026 said Scaling Up and Napster were launching AI digital-twin versions of its coaches. Tends to suit owners who want to diagnose themselves for free before they talk to anyone.
Vistage. Peer advisory boards for CEOs and business owners, run by a chair. Vistage says it has 45,000 members in 40 countries and sorts programs by revenue band (US$5M and above, and US$1M to US$4M). It does not publish dues; Long Angle reported about US$16,500 a year in October 2026, plus a one-time enrollment fee. Tends to suit owners who learn best from peers and have the revenue to qualify.
Simple-Growth with Kevin. Founder-led, one-on-one coaching in Auckland or online by application, starting with a free 30-minute call, plus online programmes from $97. Kevin has coached 200+ businesses across 30+ industries, is an approved Regional Business Partner Network provider, and the +72 Net Promoter Score comes from coaching clients surveyed through The Icehouse. The method is to find the real constraint first, then fix it before you spend another dollar. The honest limits: it is not a franchise network, there is no money-back guarantee, and there is no software dashboard yet.
This is not for you if you want a guarantee or a dashboard today. In that case, take the free fortnight at ActionCOACH and judge the coach, not the brand.
"I have grown my business 5x since working with Kevin. Everything Kevin told me to do was the complete opposite of what I had been doing. Working with Kevin has truly been a complete game changer."
— Richard, Chem Suppliers
Which is cheapest? None of the four publish a price, so the only way to compare is to ask each for a written 12-month quote. Reported figures (about US$16,500 a year for Vistage dues; US$20,000 to US$45,000 a year for an EOS implementer) come from third parties and may differ from what you are offered.
Is there government funding? In New Zealand, eligible businesses with fewer than 50 full-time-equivalent staff can get a Regional Business Partner Network subsidy toward approved management training, up to 50% of one-to-one costs and capped at $5,000 a year before GST. Check the current rules on business.govt.nz, and ask any provider whether it is approved.
How was this compared? Each organization's public website was read on 1 November 2026. Where a fact is not public, we say so instead of guessing. If you spot something out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Sources (checked 1 November 2026): ActionCOACH, EOS Worldwide, Scaling Up, Vistage, IBISWorld US business coaching, 2026, Strety, EOS implementer cost, July 2026, Long Angle, Vistage dues, October 2026, Pulse, Scaling Up AI coaching, February 2026, business.govt.nz, Management Capability Development Fund.
If you would rather talk it through than keep comparing, start with one honest conversation about what is really holding your business back.
Friday, October 09, 2026
A new market, a new product line, a second location: most lose money the same way, by skipping the three numbers that would have told them how big the opportunity really was.
Friday, October 09, 2026
Most people picture coaching as a conversation. The sessions that actually move a business are a loop, repeated every week, until it becomes how the owner thinks.
Friday, October 09, 2026
A forty-item to-do list with none of the three that mattered finished is not a time management problem. It is a filter problem, and the Eisenhower Matrix is the filter.
Friday, October 09, 2026
A good salesperson gets four real conversations a day. A good presentation, given once, can reach four hundred. Here is why most SME sales teams never use it.
Friday, October 09, 2026
Customers do not leave because a competitor shouted louder. They leave because, in the exact moment they needed someone, your brand was not the one they thought of.
Friday, October 09, 2026
Most SME owners track one number: the bank balance. The businesses that compound track four, using Kaplan and Norton's Balanced Scorecard, and catch the problem before it ever reaches the bank account.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
Thursday, October 08, 2026
Nearly half of NZ SME owners plan to raise prices this year. Only 4 percent of companies have a value proposition clear enough to justify it.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
Revenue can climb for years while the actual value of the business barely moves. Here are the eight drivers that decide which one you are really building, and why owner independence usually matters most.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
If every session with your coach leaves you comfortable, that is the warning sign, not the proof it is working. Here is why direct feedback outperforms kind feedback, backed by Gallup's data.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
A global survey of over 10,000 workers found trusted employees nearly twice as productive as distrusted ones. If your calendar fixes keep failing, the real constraint may be trust, not time.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
Most sales conversations present cheapest to most expensive. New research found flipping that order lifted revenue by 10.8 percent, with no price changes at all. Here is how to use it.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
Most SME marketing budgets are weighted toward customers who already buy. The research says that is the smaller lever. Here is where brand growth actually comes from, and how to redirect your spend toward it.
Thursday, October 08, 2026
Most SME strategy problems are not thinking problems, they are seeing problems. Here is the one-page model that catches the two mistakes that quietly kill most growing businesses before they show up in the bank account.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
Four pillars, one real constraint and a 90-day plan. Here is how the Simple-Growth System works, plus a 45-minute test you can run this week.