Tuesday, November 03, 2026
Half your customer base needs chasing, discounting or managing. The fix usually isn't your delivery — it's who your marketing is attracting in the first place.
Choose ActionCOACH if you want a coaching brand with a platform (ABoS), a free two-week start and a coach near you. Choose Simple-Growth if you want one owner-run coach to find the single constraint first, then build a 90-day plan around it. Both start with a conversation, and neither publishes a price for coaching.
A disclosure first: Simple-Growth publishes this guide and Kevin D'Ambros-Smith is an independent business coach, so he is not neutral. That is why this explains who each option suits instead of ranking them, and uses only what ActionCOACH says on its own website. Checked 4 November 2026. Market: United States.
ActionCOACH's homepage now leads with ABoS, a platform it describes as "a proven system to diagnose, plan and grow". It scores a business across six areas (Mastery, Marketing, Systems, Team, Scale and Freedom), and sits beside business coaching and training. The company says it has been coaching "since 1993" and shows a 98% client recommendation rate and several named client results. The page does not say how typical those results are, and the recommendation rate has no stated sample.
Simple-Growth is one person's practice. Kevin has coached 200+ businesses one-on-one across 30+ industries since 2017, after more than 30 years in business. Coaching clients surveyed through The Icehouse return a Net Promoter Score of +72. The method is simple: find the real constraint in your numbers, fix that first, and only then add tools.
The practical difference: a platform gives you a scorecard and a system to install. A coach who diagnoses first tells you which part of the scorecard matters this quarter. Some owners want the system. Others are already buried in systems and need the decision.
This is not for you if you want a public price list for coaching today. ActionCOACH's pricing page says "our pricing for business coaching varies depending on your specific needs and goals" and gives no dollar figures. Simple-Growth quotes coaching by conversation too.
| Question | ActionCOACH (per its website) | Simple-Growth |
|---|---|---|
| Coaching price | Not published; "varies depending on your specific needs and goals" | Quoted by conversation |
| Contract | "No long-term commitments or contracts required"; pay per session or choose a program | Agreed in the first conversation |
| Free start | Two weeks of free coaching; complimentary initial consultation | Free 30-minute call |
| Guarantee | "Cast-iron, money-back", on condition you follow the systems and complete the agreed work; full terms from your coach | 30-day money-back on Making It Happen and Know Your Future (see each page) |
| Fixed-price entry | Not shown | Quick Wins $97, Making It Happen $297, Know Your Future $497 |
Whichever you choose, ask for the guarantee terms in writing before you start. A guarantee that depends on you completing every agreed action is only as good as the plan you agreed.
If you would rather start with a fixed price, Quick Wins is $97 (15 ways to lift sales), Making It Happen is $297 (turning plans into action) and Know Your Future is $497 (your destination and roadmap). All three are self-paced.
"Working with Kevin has pushed us to step back and look at the business from the outside. He's easy to bounce ideas off, and he keeps us focused on working on the business instead of getting stuck in the day-to-day."
Ben Leitch
Home Lab Store (quoted word for word)
Gallup surveyed 5,926 working US adults, including 3,501 self-employed workers or business owners, between September 26 and November 3, 2025. Among owners without a detailed plan, 75% said they could definitely (38%) or probably (37%) find an outside person to help write one. Help is easy to find. The harder part is choosing the right kind of help for the stage you are at.
Not quite. ActionCOACH describes itself as a coaching company with a platform, programs and a Find A Coach route, so you work with a local coach under the ActionCOACH name. An independent coach runs their own method and practice. Both can be excellent; ask who your coach will be and how they work.
Not on the pages checked on 4 November 2026. Its pricing page says cost varies by needs, goals and meeting frequency (weekly, fortnightly or monthly), and that advisors help you choose a package in the first conversation.
ActionCOACH advertises two weeks of free coaching. Simple-Growth offers a free 30-minute call, plus a free sales training, The World's Greatest Sales Line.
Neither is automatically better. If you want a platform and a local coach, ActionCOACH is worth a conversation. If you want one owner-run coach to find your constraint first, book a call with Kevin. Take the same six questions to both.
Yes. Kevin coaches online, so location is not a barrier, and the self-paced programs are priced in US dollars.
Be the owner who knows the one decision to make first, and makes it.
Not sure which suits you? A 30-minute conversation will tell you, and you are welcome to take the answers to any other provider. You can also read how Simple-Growth compares with Scaling Up and EOS.
Sources (checked 4 November 2026): ActionCOACH, home page. ActionCOACH, coaching cost and pricing. Gallup, Business Planning and RFP Pursuit Vary by Ownership Type, 27 May 2026 (United States). The testimonial is quoted word for word from the person named. Last updated 4 November 2026.
Sunday, October 04, 2026
Some coaches build a business out of being needed forever. Here's the Graduation Test: three questions that reveal whether your coach is transferring real capability, or just keeping you on retainer.
Sunday, October 04, 2026
Most owners respond to a bottleneck by fixing something else entirely. Eli Goldratt's Theory of Constraints explains why that backfires, and documented case studies show a mean 69 percent lead-time reduction once the real constraint is found.
Sunday, October 04, 2026
Roughly four in ten B2B purchase attempts end in no decision at all. It's rarely about price. Here's Alex Hormozi's Value Equation, in plain English, and why it explains almost every stalled deal in your pipeline.
Sunday, October 04, 2026
41 percent of consumers now always read reviews before choosing a business, and 31 percent won't use one rated under 4.5 stars. Here's the Review Velocity System that turns happy customers into a steady stream of five-star proof.
Sunday, October 04, 2026
64 percent of executives say they're juggling too many conflicting priorities, and most SME strategies die from addition, not ambition. Here's the three-step Strategic Short List that turns six priorities into the one that actually moves the needle.
Sunday, October 04, 2026
A third of small business owners are absorbing this year's cost increases out of their own pocket instead of raising prices. Here's the three-step Margin Audit that turns that guess into a safe, thirty-day pricing test.
Sunday, October 04, 2026
Before you approve the next hire, run the revenue-per-employee test. Some of the growth you are trying to buy with headcount is sitting in tasks AI can already take off the list.
Sunday, October 04, 2026
Owner-dependent businesses sell for roughly half the multiple of businesses that run without them. Dan Sullivan's Who Not How question is the simplest fix most owners never try.
Sunday, October 04, 2026
The tasks only one person in your business can do are a hidden cost waiting to land. Here is how to clear the backlog in an afternoon using a recorder instead of a blank page.
Sunday, October 04, 2026
Chasing every lead in the run to year end is how you end up delivering the deals that cost you the most. Here is the Right-Fit Filter that catches a bad deal before you quote it.
Sunday, October 04, 2026
Big brands never approve a campaign on gut feel alone. Here is the cheap, 48-hour pretest SME owners can run on any piece of marketing before a single dollar goes to media.
Sunday, October 04, 2026
There is no single best business coach in New Zealand, only the best fit for your stage and your problem. Here are six criteria, an honest map of the NZ options, and where Kevin D'Ambros-Smith fits.
Sunday, October 04, 2026
Most SME strategies are really just revenue wishlists with no diagnosis behind them. Here is the three-part test that separates a real strategy from a wish, and what to fix first if yours fails it.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
94% of small businesses using AI across multiple functions have cut spending on marketing, data and bookkeeping, and they are more confident than ever. Here is the three-question audit to run before you cut judgment along with the invoice.
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Chasing a poor-fit customer to hit a year-end number rarely pays off. Here is the Right-Fit Growth Filter SME owners use before saying yes.