Do you ever wonder what a business coach or mentor really does?
If you're a business owner, entrepreneur or business lead, a business coach may be able to help you accelerate your business results.
Business coaches have been around for decades and are becoming more and more popular. Most likely because business coaches have a greater ability to reach their target audience through advancing technology and digital marketing. As well, it's more acceptable for a business lead to seek help from and find someone outside of their business with the capabilities to deliver results.
Business coaches differ from business consultants as they take a higher level approach to solving business problems and challenges. They mainly advise and mentor you on the solutions, actions, methodologies that you need to implement or execute on. Consultants are known to provide "done-for-you services" which means that they will either provide packaged solutions for you to implement or they will implement the solutions for you. Some business coaches do provide consulting services as well.
So What Does A Business Coach Do?
There are different types of coaches but the majority of them help you find solutions to your business challenges or advise you on ways to improve your business. They are able to help you get the results that you want for your business, whatever that may be.
Business coaches are like personal trainers for your business. If you really want your business to be "fit", then you want the best possible coach by your side.
They have the experience, knowledge, skills and problem solving ability to help you accelerate your results. Based on their experience and skills they can share "best practices" or "cheat sheets" to get you results. Every business has limited resources and how and where you utilize your resources is what will determine your business success. A business coach is there to guide you to utilize your resources effectively. They also help you discover challenges that you may not be able to see or figure out on your own.
Business coaches can help you in many aspects such as:
- Grow your business
- Expand your market share
- Improve your marketing
- Increase your profits
- Overcome employee challenges
- Build a success mindset
- Improve your operations
- Reduce expenses
- Increase client retention
- Enhance your customer experience
- Break through your plateaus
- Find your business chokeholds
- And the list goes on.
Business coaches can help you with pretty much every aspect of your business if you find the right ones. As mentioned earlier, some business coaches are leading experts in certain business areas and can play a dual role as a business coach and a business consultant. These coaches are hard to come by but are extremely valuable resources.
The Down Sides To Having A Business Coach
Having a business coach is like having a coach in any other aspect of your life, quality does matter. There are brilliant business coaches that can help you get results fast and then there are not-so-brilliant coaches that may just end up wasting your valuable money.
Since there are no certifications or regulations for becoming a business coach, anyone can become one. It's your responsibility to determine if you have found one worth hiring. Typically, business coaches have background in business either in a business management capacity or they have or do own their own business.
With the internet and modern technology, it has become exponentially easier for the everyday person to become a business coach. Coaching is also one of the fastest growing industries in North America. Many people are currently leaving their jobs to dabble in business coaching because it's an easy business to start up. The costs and overhead are extremely low compared to other businesses.
The biggest downside to having a business coach is that they are not there to do the work for you. Similar to a personal trainer, they can't do your work out for you. If you hire a business coach, be prepared to put in the time, effort and resources to execute on the strategies and tactics you discuss with your business coach. If this doesn't sound like something you want to do, you can always hire a consultant to do some of the heavy lifting for you. However, the biggest drawback to hiring a consultant is that most consultants have skills in one particular area so you will end up hiring a number of different consultants rather than having one business coach that you build a more strategic and long-term relationship with.
Does Hiring A Business Coach Make Sense?
Hiring a business coach is a personal preference. If you have the right coach, you can save yourself a lot of time, money, resources and headaches by getting guidance from a professional. Also, if you're feeling stuck, it makes sense to have a third-party give you insight on solutions to get your business going in the direction you want it to. Business coaches come in all shapes and sizes so be prepared to do some research to find the right one for you if this is what you choose to do. Remember, a business coach is only a "coach" that will guide you. You will need to do the majority of the lifting yourself.
If you find the right coach, you will be extremely impressed. If you find the wrong one, you may be extremely depressed. So do your homework.
For more on ways to improve your business, listen to the Perpetual Profits podcast www.ProfitsPodcast.com
