As a professional business coach, this is without a doubt the question I most frequently get asked! It’s entirely understandable as most owners and executives, while they have heard the term, have never met or spoken to a business coach. It’s not surprising as there are 29 million businesses in the US and Canada, and only 12,300 business coaches. Equally relevant, is that there are 1.5 million businesses with 10 or more employees and half of these have 20 – 2,500 employees and the larger the business the more likely they are to need the help of a business coach.
My favourite response to the question is a simple but direct quotation ..... “If you want to build your business and at the same time have a rewarding personal life, you call a coach.” – the Denver Post
What a Business Coach Does
Top 10 Contributions you should expect from a Business Coach
1. The first and most important thing a business coach does with clients is work with them to help them understand their personal values and set goals, whether that be Wealth, Leisure time, Retire by a certain age, or spend more time with the family
2. Then the coach works with them to develop goals and Action Plans for the business that are fully aligned with and support their personal goals
3. The third step is to “deep dive with them” into their business and ensure they get the best possible results in all areas, but particularly:
4. Improving sales and profit
5. Managing cash flow
6. Providing consistent, superior Customer Service
7. Marketing the business more effectively, with a clearly defined Unique Selling Proposition
8. Managing financial information to ensure business results are achieved
9. Recruiting, training and developing good people and developing a Succession Plan
10. Achieving a healthy Work/life balance
The first thing you should understand, if you’re considering hiring a coach is that it’s not a regulated industry and not all business coaches have the experience, training or qualifications to deliver the practical results you're looking for.
The good news is that many are “Licensed Professional Business Coaches,” certified and trained, as in my case by the Professional Business Coaches Alliance, based in Canton Ohio, which has some 120 member coaches in the US and Canada. The PBCA only licenses business and executive coaches and the requirements are very stringent – a minimum of 15 years of senior management and/or ownership experience and academic qualifications…. a degree in Business Administration, like an MBA, or a professional designation such as a CPA or CA. The Worldwide Association of Business Coaches (WABC) has equally high standards for certification and membership. These two organizations have over 1200 members! Both screen members carefully and require they take and pass training programs Specifically in Business Coaching. In addition, the International Coaching Federation (ICF), trains coaches in many fields – primarily HR, and Organization Behavior but also in Leadership, executive and business coaching!
Should I Hire a Business Coach?
Frankly, 9 times out of 10 business owners or managers themselves are the ones who know if they need business coaching! I’ve lost count of the number of times owners and executives, without any prompting have said to me “I work far too many hours and don’t make nearly enough profit. I know I need a coach.”
If you’re in this situation or find that any of the following applies to you, then the chances are you may benefit significantly from business coaching and should at least speak to a coach.
■ You are not sure what your next steps with the business should be and feel you need a strategic plan, but don’t know where to begin.
■ You’ve grown the business as far as you can, have tried every approach you could think of, but seem stuck and just can’t take it to the next level!
■ You are spending money on marketing and advertising but are not getting the leads, referrals or customers you think you should.
■ Your customers are not buying from you as often as you would like them to and you want to increase the average value of each sale.
■ You want better trained and more motivated employees.
■ You want to spend less time on your business and more with your family, but want to be sure that you have a system in place to run the business without you!
Naturally, one of the most important factors you will consider as you evaluate whether Professional Business Coaching will benefit you is what the direct financial benefit will be! Fortunately, there has been a lot of hard, well documented research done in this area and the results present a strong argument for hiring a business coach. The 2001 Manchester study and several later ones, including by the Harvard Business Review and Fortune have confirmed that Business Coaching provides a Minimum Average Return on Investment of 500%!
Try it Before You Commit
Most Business and Executive Coaching firms offer FREE Initial Consultations. My company, for example, BizGrowth Coaching Inc. offers a no-strings-attached Complimentary 1 1/2 hour Coaching Session to prospective clients and a Free Biz HealthCheck Survey on our website.
Phil Richardson MBA, LPBC
President and Founder,
Licensed Professional Business Coach
BizGrowth Coaching Inc.
http://www.bizgrowthcoaching.ca/
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment