Monday, October 26, 2026
A well-known coaching ROI study found a $7.90 return per $1 spent. Here's an honest look at where that number comes from, and what actually transfers to an SME owner.
The meeting went well. They nodded, asked sharp questions, said "this is exactly what we need" — and then nothing. No reply to your follow-up. No reply to the one after that. If a sales process that quietly dies after a great first conversation sounds familiar, the problem usually isn't your offer. It's that you read warmth as a buying signal, and warmth and commitment are two completely different things.
Kevin has sat on both sides of thousands of these conversations — inside global agencies pitching household brands, and now coaching SME owners through the exact same pattern on a much smaller stage.
A prospect being friendly, engaged and complimentary in the room tells you they liked you. It tells you almost nothing about whether they've cleared the internal hurdles — budget sign-off, a competing priority, a colleague who needs convincing — that stand between "this is great" and an actual yes. Most SME owners stop following up right around the point a real decision process is only just starting, because the silence feels like rejection instead of what it usually is: someone's week got busy.
Research from RAIN Group puts the average at around eight touchpoints just to land a first meeting with a new prospect, with top performers needing roughly five. If it takes that much persistence to get someone into the room, one polite follow-up after the meeting was never going to be enough to get them to a signature.
You don't need a longer script. You need a short, deliberate sequence that gives a busy, genuinely interested person three different reasons to reply:
"Kevin doesn't just present — he electrifies the room and drives massive, real-world value! He drops game-changing insights and actionable shortcuts that show businesses exactly how to turn everyday customers into raving, loyal fans — and acquire new ones faster than ever thought possible."
— Gareth Bayliss, Sales Manager, The Icehouse
Most SME owners know, intellectually, that one follow-up isn't enough. They stop anyway, because every additional message feels like it risks being "that annoying salesperson," and there's no one checking whether the sequence actually ran. A sales system — not willpower — is what keeps the third message going out on day ten instead of dying quietly in a drafts folder. That's the kind of unglamorous, specific fix that moves a pipeline more than another round of lead generation ever will.
If you close this tab and keep sending the same one follow-up, you'll be wondering about the same quiet deals this time next year. Fix your sequence and you won't be.
Be the owner whose follow-up runs every time, so a good meeting turns into a decision.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
Somewhere in your pipeline right now is a buyer whose budget has to be spent before their financial year ends. Here is how to find them before a competitor does.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
Most SME marketing budget goes to whichever channel the owner already knows, never the one that would actually work best. Here is the simple test that finds it.
Wednesday, October 07, 2026
Most strategic plans fail quietly, from an optimism nobody questioned out loud. Here is the 20-minute pre-mortem that finds the weak spot before you commit a dollar to it.
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
What a business coach for an NZ food, beverage or FMCG brand should do: price waterfall, real constraint, velocity story and a 90-day plan.
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
73% of small business owners feel more confident than ever, yet 57% have flat or falling revenue. Here is the real constraint behind the gap, and the 15-minute test that exposes it.
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
Most SME owners know their cost per click. Almost none know their true cost to win a customer, because the real costs live in four different spreadsheets nobody has ever combined.
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
A pleasant weekly chat and a structured coaching session can look identical from the outside. Here's exactly what should be happening in the room if the second one is real.
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
Most SME task lists have no visible connection to the goal on the whiteboard. OKRs fix that gap in three simple steps, without turning your week into a spreadsheet exercise.
Tuesday, October 06, 2026
Giving away a free sample, audit or pilot feels like it removes risk for the prospect. Mostly it just removes their reason to commit. Here's the structure that converts instead.
Monday, October 05, 2026
There is no single best business coach in the USA. Here are five criteria for choosing one, a fair look at the main formats, and why an outside perspective can change what you see in your own business.
Monday, October 05, 2026
Eighty-four percent of small business owners sacrifice health or relationships to their business, new 2026 data shows. Here is the Transferability Number test that shows why, and what to fix first.
Monday, October 05, 2026
You're about to have your busiest quarter of the year. If nobody's planned for it, your bank balance is about to go the wrong way at exactly the moment the business looks like it's winning.
Monday, October 05, 2026
Ask most owners what they do and they'll answer instantly. Ask them why their business exists, beyond making money, and watch the pause. That pause is costing you customers, hires and referrals.
Monday, October 05, 2026
Ask your team to name the business's single most important goal this quarter. Five different answers from five people means you have one problem, not twelve: nobody knows what the goal actually is.
Monday, October 05, 2026
You trained your team to build rapport and never push, and your best customer last quarter still went with the competitor who pushed them to rethink the brief. Here's why relationship-selling is the weakest profile in B2B sales.