Ambitious Growth Achieved: Sales Increase and Entering the Australian Market
When Jeannette first connected with Logan Wedgwood from Advisory Works in 2021, the company she runs with her brother Grahame, Avalon International, was experiencing modest growth but at the cost of tremendous effort. As a distributor to a wide range of retailers in New Zealand, the COVID-19 pandemic had created additional challenges across the entire industry, and despite working extremely hard, the results weren't matching Jeannette and Grahame's dedication and potential.
"We were not seeing the business grow in the way we knew it could. We were working very hard for the small amount of growth that we were achieving."
With eyes opened to the untapped potential within her business after attending an Advisory.Works seminar, Grahame and Jeannette began a partnership with business coach Logan Wedgwood and Advisory Works that would transform their business over the next four years.
The Advisory Works Approach
Logan's work with Grahame and Jeannette and their team spanned multiple dimensions of business advisory coaching:
- Sales and negotiation training to build revenue-generating capabilities
- Leadership development to grow and empower their senior team
- Business coaching to drive progress and strategy
- Strategy days to create focused time for big-picture thinking
- Team building to strengthen company culture, foster collaboration and alignment
Transformative Results
Over four years of working with Logan and Advisory Works, Avalon has achieved remarkable outcomes:
1. Revenue Growth
- 45% increase in sales since 2022
"We set a target revenue that seemed totally unachievable because it was so far from the reality of our business at that time. But, little by little, we began making progress and gaining confidence. We got 95% of the way there by the deadline and we're on track to achieve an even higher target this year."
2. Market Expansion
- Successfully expanded from New Zealand into the Australian market
- Created a foundation for continued international growth
3. Team Development
- Cultivated a strong senior leadership team
- Improved staff engagement scores
- Created a positive workplace culture with increased team contributions
Key Success Factors
Team Culture Focus
One of the most significant transformations at Avalon came through the development of a vision charter that fundamentally changed the workplace environment. As Jeannette describes it, this initiative created "a really positive workplace with conviction from the team where they all know that they're working towards something big," making the team "really powerful and impactful." The vision charter became the business advisory cornerstone for enhancing company culture, encouraging contributions from everyone on the team.
The off-site days and team-building activities facilitated by Logan were instrumental in fostering this cultural shift. A particularly valuable aspect of Logan's approach was his ability to navigate emotional situations that sometimes arise during these events. Jeannette notes that "sometimes emotions come up during these sorts of events and Logan has an amazing skill for turning it around into something positive." Rather than allowing challenging moments to derail progress, Logan's skillful facilitation transformed potential obstacles into opportunities for growth, ultimately strengthening team cohesion.
These cultural improvements yielded measurable results, with staff engagement scores showing significant gains. By creating an environment where team members felt valued and understood their role in the larger vision, Avalon developed a more engaged and motivated workforce aligned with the company's strategic objectives.
Leadership & Strategy Coaching
The partnership with Logan provided Grahame and Jeannette with critical leadership development that she credits as critical to the success of the business. As a second-generation owner working alongside her brother, Jeannette particularly valued the outside view that Logan brought to their leadership team. This external perspective helped her identify blind spots and focus on strategic priorities rather than getting caught in operational details.
In his role as business coach, Logan challenged Avalon to set ambitious but achievable goals that initially seemed intimidating. The expansion into the Australian market exemplifies this approach. The brother-sister duo admit they didn't think that they could do it, but with Logan broke down large objectives into manageable steps. Realising they could play into their strengths of fostering and nurturing relationships, they quickly signed their first deal in Australia. After getting a win on the board, suddenly what had seemed impossible became achievable. This strategic approach to goal-setting enabled Avalon to exceed their financial targets.
The strategy days facilitated by Logan were particularly valuable in helping the leadership team step away from day-to-day operations to focus on the bigger picture. Jeannette acknowledges that "when you're in the office every day, you get caught up in the day to day of life," but the strategy days provided a different environment that fostered fresh thinking and strategic clarity. This separation from daily operations proved essential in developing and refining Avalon's growth strategy.
Accountability and Action
A cornerstone of Avalon International's transformation was the implementation of structured processes and consistent accountability mechanisms. Logan helped implement critical structures, particularly in the sales team, starting with simply creating a sales meeting agenda to focus the team and drive targets home. These business advisory frameworks created clarity around expectations and performance metrics.
The fortnightly leadership check-ins with Logan established a rhythm of accountability that kept the team focused on strategic priorities. Grahame and Jeannette consider these regular meetings absolutely essential for their business success. While their team was already naturally action-oriented and effective at implementing tasks, the consistent check-ins provided the structure needed to maintain momentum. This cadence of accountability ensured that strategic initiatives continued to move forward despite the everyday demands of running a distribution business.
The results of this accountability framework were impressive, with Avalon achieving 95% of an ambitious revenue target that initially seemed unattainable. The combination of clear goals, structured processes, and regular accountability enabled them to achieve what had once seemed impossible.
Looking Forward
The partnership with Advisory Works has given Grahame, Jeannette and their team "a taste of success" that has fundamentally changed their perspective on what's possible. Having achieved what once seemed unimaginable, the question now is "what's next?" The business is positioned for continued growth with:
- A clear strategic direction
- A motivated and aligned team
- Proven systems and structures
- An ambitious but achievable growth trajectory
Advice for Other Business Owners
Jeannette's advice for other business owners considering working with Advisory Works is straightforward:
"If you want results, you have to put in the work and you have to actually implement what you are being coached on."
The post Ambitious Growth Achieved: Sales Increase and Entering the Australian Market appeared first on Advisory Works - .
