GE 263: How Michael Bungay Stanier Sold 400K Copies of The Coaching Habit in Just 2 Years & Doubled Box of Crayons’ Revenue (podcast)

Tune in to hear Michael share how his business model used to be “if it has a pulse and a wallet he was interested”, how they stay in the $3-5 million dollar profit margin range, and how good coaching can positively impact your business!

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

• [00:33] Before we jump into today’s interview, please leave a review and rating and subscribe to the Growth Everywhere Podcast!
• [01:24[ After getting a law degree, he left Australia for England.
• [01:40] Once there, he met his Canadian wife who was getting her Ph.D.
• [01:58] They moved around quite a bit before settling in Toronto.
• [02:38] His business model was “if it has a pulse and a wallet” he was interested.
• [03:35] He uses the canon ball metaphor to explain his failures and successes.
• [04:20] He realized there was a market for coaching and new coaching techniques.
• [04:40] The company is 15 years old and for the first 5 years, that hadn’t fully established the coaching aspect of their business.
• [05:10] He used to think the Box of Crayons mission statement was “to help people and organizations do less good work and more great work.”
• [05:25] Now, their mission is to teach 10 minute coaching, build stronger teams, and get better results.
• [05:46] BOC makes money through their training program.
• [06:00] Their clients range from large banks to fashion houses (Fortune 1000 companies).
• [06:55] They offer three programs: 2 half-day programs and 1 full day program.
• [07:03] The half-day programs costs $8,500. The full day costs around $16,000.
• [07:35] BOC is in the $3-5 million dollar profit margin range.
• [07:45] Last year, they doubled in revenue thanks to Michael’s book, The Coaching Habit
• [08:45] You can’t just do training alone.
• [08:57] You want training to be a smaller part of a bigger “game”.
• [09:20] The challenge is keeping people engaged and curious.
• [10:24] BOC has a bunch of post-training methods.
• [10:38] Accountability partners have proven helpful.
• [10:50] They also have a text-based follow-up program.
• [12:15] The book has sold nearly 400,000 copies in two years.
• [12:45] The book started out with key design principles.
• [12:55] The first principle was keeping it as short as possible, while still getting its point across.
• [13:10] The second principle was that it had to look interesting and accessible.
• [13:51] The third principle was that the team needed to stay committed to marketing the book for a whole year.
• [14:15] The looked at Dan Pink’s Drive, looked at who reviewed it positively, and reached out to them.
• [14:55] Michael then wrote an article about how he sold his book, which in turn, sold more books.
• [15:25] They spent 4 or 5 months seeding the market before the book’s official launch.
• [16:07] Once the book was written, it was a full year of getting it published and marketing the book.
• [17:25] Coaching will make your life better.
• [17:55] Good coaching saves managers time and effort.
• [18:11] Good habits are important to success.
• [18:40] Before getting into coaching, figure out what it takes to change your behavior.
• [19:25] Pick one of the book’s 7 questions and practice using that before moving on to the next one.
• [21:30] “Just out of curiosity” is an important phrase to use when coaching.
• [21:50] It lessens the pressure of the potential answer.
• [23:05] It’s all about the delivery, when it comes to messaging.
• [23:25] Michael recommends Truth and Lies by Mark Bowden.
• [24:20] Michael thinks a chin-up bar has added value to his life. He tries to knock out a few chin-up’s per day.

Resources From This Interview:

• Box of Crayons
• Michael’s Website
• The Coaching Habit
• Michael’s Growthlab article
• Must-read books:
  • Truth and Lies
  • Drive

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