Sunday, October 11, 2026
Gallup's 2026 data shows global employee engagement fell to 20 percent, even in the best-performing regions. Here's the three-question check SME owners can run this week to find out where their own team really stands.
A good business coach helps a chemical or industrial distributor find the one constraint holding back profit, then fixes it in order. For most distributors that is not product or price. It is customer concentration, thin differentiation or a sales process that depends on the owner. Coaching turns that into a 90-day plan with owners, measures and accountability.
Kevin D'Ambros-Smith is an Auckland-based business coach and advisor who has coached 200+ businesses one-on-one across 30+ industries.
Distributors sit in the middle. You buy from suppliers who set the price, and you sell to customers who compare every quote. Margin gets squeezed from both sides, and you are usually the best salesperson, the key supplier contact and the problem-solver all at once.
A coach does not sell you chemicals or tell you how to blend them. The job is different: find your real constraint first, then fix it, before you spend another dollar on stock, staff or advertising. In practice that means looking at four things together: who you sell to, what you sell, how you win the order, and how much of the business runs without you.
When two suppliers stock the same product at similar quality, the buyer sees a commodity. The only difference left is the number at the bottom of the quote. That is how a good business ends up in a price war it cannot win.
Distributors elsewhere face the same squeeze. McKinsey's 2019 analysis of industrial distribution in the United States found that distributor returns had lagged the wider industrials sector for 15 years, and that leaders were responding with sharper pricing discipline, better sales effectiveness and value-added services rather than simply selling more volume. It is a US study and a few years old, so treat it as a direction of travel rather than a New Zealand benchmark. A current, sourced NZ figure for this sector could not be found, so none is quoted.
It is rarely the one you name first. Owners say they need more leads. After a proper diagnostic the constraint is usually one of these:
Each of those has a different fix. Spending on a new website when the constraint is customer concentration is how owners lose a year. This is why the diagnosis comes before the plan.
Start with the numbers you already hold. Rank customers by gross profit, not by sales. Rank products the same way. Then ask where your next profitable dollar will come from. Here is a checklist to get that conversation started:
That is the start of your 90-day plan. It is deliberately small. A distributor that does three things well for three months will beat one that starts ten things and finishes none.
Smaller than most owners expect, and more specific. You do not need to be loud. You need to be the obvious choice for a defined group of buyers. That means a clear statement of who you serve and why they should choose you, proof that you deliver, and a simple follow-up routine so enquiries do not go cold.
Kevin's early career was in advertising at DDB, Ogilvy and Saatchi and Saatchi, working on 60+ global brands. The lesson that carries straight over to a trade distributor is distinctiveness: buyers cannot choose you if they cannot tell you apart. Kevin has also founded or co-founded 9 companies, so he knows what it is like to carry the stock, the staff and the cash flow yourself.
"I have grown my business 5x since working with Kevin... Working with Kevin has truly been a complete game changer."
Richard, Chem Suppliers
Coaching clients surveyed through The Icehouse return a Net Promoter Score of +72.
Ask any coach you are considering four questions. Have you worked with businesses like mine, or at least with the same pressures? Will you diagnose before you prescribe? What will I have in writing after 90 days? How will you hold me to account? If the answers are vague, keep looking.
If you want to compare options first, the guide on how to choose a business coach in New Zealand sets out the criteria in full.
Yes, if the coach starts with your numbers rather than a generic framework. A coach will not replace your technical knowledge. The value is in spotting the constraint, choosing a few priorities and keeping you accountable to deliver them.
It varies by coach and format. Eligible New Zealand businesses may be able to use Regional Business Partners Network co-funding toward one-to-one coaching, which is up to 50 percent. Check eligibility first, because it depends on your business.
Coaching suits owners who are already trading and want to grow with intent. Simple-Growth works with businesses from seven-figure operators upward, and owners decide by mindset more than by sector.
Clarity usually comes in the first few sessions. Commercial results depend on how fast you act on the plan, which is why every action has an owner, a date and a measure inside a 90-day window.
If you run a distribution, chemical or industrial business and you suspect the real constraint is not the one you have been working on, a 30-minute conversation is a low-risk way to find out. There is no obligation, and you will leave with at least one thing to test. Become the distributor who wins on value, not on the lowest quote.
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Kevin D'Ambros-Smith, Simple-Growth