By Greg Allan, tradesman and creator of Data First Coaching
Why do most business coaches not work for a cabinetmaker?
Most coaching programs are built for small business in general, not for a workshop running CNC machines, board and hardware costs, site measures and install crews. A cabinetmaker is asked to explain the business from scratch, and what they describe is already a few weeks out of date by the time the advice arrives.
A generic coach hands out the same worksheet on follow up calls and goal setting that a landscaper or an electrician would get. None of it touches what actually drives a joinery business: the gap between a quoted kitchen and the kitchen that gets built, the laminate and edging costs that crept up since the last price list, or the install day that blew out because the site wasn't ready. The advice sounds reasonable and changes nothing, because it was never built from this business.
What is the real cost of coaching advice that skips the numbers?
When a coach works from memory or a quick chat, the thing the owner names as the problem is usually a symptom, not the cause. A cabinetmaker might say pricing is too low on vanities, when the data would show the real issue is deposits not collected before board is ordered, or rework eating workshop hours because shop drawings went to the CNC before the builder signed off the design.
Gross profit margin is the number that tells the truth here, and it needs watching month to month across every kitchen, wardrobe and vanity job, not just worked out once at quoting stage. A coach who never looks at that figure, or looks at it once and moves on, is treating a symptom and leaving the root cause to resurface on the next job.
What should a cabinetmaker business coach actually look at first?
A coach worth paying for starts with your own job costing and finance numbers before they tell you anything. They look at your gross profit margin by job type, how much of the workshop's time is billable versus lost to rework and warranty callbacks, and how long jobs sit between site measure and a signed off design before board gets cut.
That is data first coaching: the numbers set the agenda, not the owner's memory of how last quarter went. It means the time in a coaching session goes on the actual problem, whatever your data shows it to be, not on retelling the business from scratch every time you talk.
What questions should you ask before signing with a coach?
Ask whether the coach has run a trade business themselves, ideally one with a workshop and install crew, not just sold coaching to tradespeople. Ask whether they will start from your own numbers or ask you to describe the business in a first session. Ask what happens when a problem shows up: do they build a system that fixes it at the root, or hand you a worksheet and move to the next call?
Greg Allan, who built his own trade business before coaching others, starts every engagement from the owner's own data rather than a conversation about the business. That is the standard worth holding any coach to: do they look at your numbers first, or at you?
What are the warning signs of the wrong coach for your workshop?
The clearest warning sign is a coach who sounds like a salesperson before they sound like someone who has run a business. A close second is advice that would read the same for a plumber, a landscaper and a cabinetmaker, with no mention of board costs, lead times on hardware, or install scheduling anywhere in it.
Another sign is a coach who answers every problem with “hire someone”, regardless of what the numbers actually show. Sometimes the fix is a system, not a wage. If every session ends with the same prescription no matter the question, the coach is not looking at your business, they are running a script.
How does AI fit into coaching for a cabinetmaking business?
An AI agent is software that does a job the way you would do it, with your prices, your wording and your rules. In a joinery business that can mean chasing a builder for a progress payment before the install crew is booked, following up outstanding deposits before board gets ordered, or keeping supplier lead times visible so a kitchen doesn't stall because hardware didn't land in time.
AI agents don't replace the coaching, they take on the non-billable office work that used to eat the owner's evenings, so the owner and the office spend more time on customers, design, and the crew. A cabinetmaker can own systems built around how their jobs actually run, flat pack or two pack, CNC or hand finished, instead of renting software built for every trade at once. The data shows which off the shelf tools still earn their place and which don't.
How does Data First Coaching approach this?
Data First Coaching, built by Greg Allan from his own years running a trade business, starts with the cabinetmaker's own numbers through the Trade Business Intelligence: gross profit margin by job type, workshop time lost to rework, how deposits and progress payments move through a kitchen or wardrobe job. It finds where the problem actually starts rather than treating whatever symptom the owner names first.
The how, the systems and the setup, is worked through inside the Academy with other members. It is built for owners who are open minded, innovative and willing to share, because the Trade Business Intelligence is powered by every member, for every member.
