ActionCOACH Again Claims Top Spot in Entrepreneur Rankings

LAS VEGAS, Dec. 23, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Entrepreneur Magazine has again ranked ActionCOACH Business Coaching as the #1 company in the Business Coaching category, a position the company has held dating back to January 2004.

The magazine's annual rankings announcement comes on the heels of the company's new joint venture agreement in India, as well as the opening of the company's first office in China.

Details on all of the Franchise 500 companies will appear in the January 2011 edition of the magazine.

The latest Entrepreneur rankings not only demonstrate ActionCOACH's industry strength, but its reputation in the franchise industry.

"ActionCOACH pioneered the business coaching market and we continue to drive the marketplace in terms of growth, innovation and results," ActionCOACH Founder and Chairman Brad Sugars said. "We are pleased to be recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine as the leader in our field, and will continue to deliver our proven system and methodologies to business owners all over the world."

For its rankings, Entrepreneur based its Franchise 500 awards on a number of factors that include financial strength, financial stability, growth rate and size of the franchise system.

In other categories, ActionCOACH ranked #175 (Franchise 500); #50 (Top Homebased Franchises), and #138 (America's Top Global Franchises).

"Some of our movement in the rankings this year is a result of our new Firm model, which we've really positioned as the future of our franchise," ActionCOACH CEO of U.S. and Canada Jodie Shaw said.

The company's Firm model, launched by ActionCOACH in the U.S. this year, was a response to the economy and requests by the franchise's multi-unit developers to meet a different kind of marketplace demand.

"Due to the economy, we had a lot of people who were qualified to be coaches, but the state of the credit markets proved to be an obstacle for potential franchisees," Shaw said. "So instead of longer-term franchise agreements with our coaches, the Firm model allows Firm owners to bring new coaches on as employees, very similar in structure to other professional service firms like lawyers and accountants."

ActionCOACH has been instrumental in developing the business coaching category since Brad Sugars started the business in 1993 from his home in Brisbane, Australia. Since 1993, the company has grown into an internationally recognized and award-winning franchise with more than 1,000 coaches in 32 countries.

"In total, we opened six new countries this year, and are in the enviable position of having a foothold in both India and China," Shaw added. "So, we expect great things in terms of growth next year."

The company also revamped its company website and introduced a new guarantee for coaching results. Continued expansion into South America and the Caribbean is also expected to drive growth for ActionCOACH next year.

ActionCOACH is the world's number one business coaching and executive coaching franchise with more than 1,000 coaches in 32 countries. To learn more, go to www.actioncoach.com.

SOURCE ActionCOACH