Friday, October 30, 2026
If your business stops the moment you do, the problem isn't your team. It's how many of their problems you're still quietly carrying. Here's the fix, from a 1974 HBR classic.
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.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Most SME owners benchmark against competitors whose real numbers they can never see. Here is the same-quarter self-benchmark that actually predicts growth.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Organic growth is always category growth plus share change. Here is the Share-of-Growth Audit that shows whether your revenue chart is real outperformance or a rising tide.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Habit research shows real change takes an average of 66 days, not three weeks. Here is the Commitment Corridor for judging whether coaching is working before you quit right before it does.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Workers lose roughly ten hours a week to manual, repetitive tasks. Before your next hire, run the Automate-or-Hire Filter to find out if the role should exist at all.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Half your sales team hitting quota means the other half is being carried by one or two people whose method has never been written down. Here is how to fix that before someone resigns.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Seventy six percent of purchase decisions happen at the shelf, not in the weeks of advertising before it. Here is the Shelf Impact Audit for FMCG brands that have never actually tested their own packaging.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Your dashboard has too many numbers and no owner for most of them. Here is the Focus Metric Framework SME owners use to find the one number that actually drives growth this quarter.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Twelve million American businesses worth nearly $10 trillion need new owners within a decade - and most of them, as currently run, cannot be sold. Here is the three-part test that tells you whether yours is one of them, and what to fix first.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Bain found a 5 percent lift in customer retention can boost profits 25 to 95 percent. Here's the Cohort Retention Audit that reveals whether your growth is real or just replacing lost customers.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Research shows much of the feedback we receive is too comfortable to change anything. Here's the Pushback Test that reveals whether your business coach genuinely challenges you or just agrees.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
APA-published research found task switching can cost up to 40 percent of productive time. Here's the Work-in-Progress Cap that stops SME owners starting everything and finishing nothing.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Gartner found B2B buyers now complete 80 percent of their journey before talking to a vendor. Here's the Pitch Refresh Audit that stops your sales team pitching to a buyer who already knows.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Nielsen found 92 percent of consumers trust recommendations from people they know over any advertising. Here's the Proof Asset Audit that puts your own customers' stories to work instead.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Most leadership teams spend less than an hour a month on strategy, and half spend none at all. Here is the protected-time system that fixes it, and why accountability is the missing ingredient.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
93% of small business owners expect growth this year — but 75% no longer trust their own bank to fund it. Here's the Cash Flow Runway Check to close the gap.