When people ask about business coaching, it becomes apparent that the idea of coaching varies between individuals. The common thread is that everyone comes seeking help with some area of their business, but the starting point is all over the map.
- “I’m having such a hard time with employee turnover. As soon as I get someone trained they move on and we’re right back at square one again…”
- “I don’t have a life outside of work. I don’t have anybody I can delegate to…”
- “It feels like we take two steps forward and one step back on our sales. We’re just not that far ahead of where we were three years ago and the sales team is saying we’re getting everything we can…”
- “I can’t really make heads or tales of our marketing performance. I’m not really sure how to hit the target without spending a fortune…”
- “I might be better off just shrinking the business back to where I was 5 years ago. It would be easier but I’d feel like I failed…”
I’ve also noticed that business owners who come for coaching don’t really know what to expect. There are so many service providers and consultants out there that it’s understandable when they ask, “So, what do you do?” Frankly, the answer depends upon how the client answers the same question.
The elevator pitch is I work with my clients to identify both professional and personal needs and goals as related to their business. Then, I help them develop and execute actionable steps toward those needs and goals.
Sometimes it’s hard to effectively convey the differing ways with which we help our clients in a statement or two. So, with a nod to my college years’ TV entertainment, a top ten list seems suitable to describe some of the common coaching needs and benefits of working on them.
Everyone is different and there are no canned solutions. We learn you and your business, so that our team becomes part of your team, and walks along with you to reach your goals.
10. Vision and Mission Development:
It’s common for business owners to hang out their shingle because they have an entrepreneurial drive and a profitable product or service. Often business owners skip over Vision/Mission Development to get right to the “good stuff” of being an entrepreneur.
Problems often arise after the business has developed into a jack of all trades, master of none. Or, the owner may feel like their culture is not the culture they really want. Vision and Mission provide the keel for the boat that helps you set strategies and plans toward your long-term goals that reflect what you want the business to be.
9. Strategic Planning:
If Vision and Mission form the keel for your business ship, Strategic Planning is the rudder. A business running without a robust planning process will often leave the owner frustrated by how difficult good decisions have become.
Bad plans are built without quality information or without guidance from a thorough Mission and leave the business manager guessing at every turn.
Conversely, a strong Strategic Plan will provide the basis for decision making. Not only will it give you confidence with how to sail toward your goals, but without it, you may feel like your chasing the wind.
8. Building A Team:
Some businesses are fine as an army of one, but most are made up of a group of people.
Recruiting, training, managing, and coaching employees are not always the strong suits of the business founder. However, finding diligent workers and managing them well is critical to a successful business.
Clients often value our help with the rigors of recruiting talent as well as help with staying committed to consistent and effective management practices. As turnover decreases, performance increases.
7. Foundation Building:
Many people come with no systems or established processes in the business. Without solid systems and processes, you may feel you are the only dependable performer.
I’m convinced the cliché “If you want it done right, do it yourself” was coined by a business owner without solid processes or procedures.
Efficient systems, process and procedures help establish the foundation of the business in a way that performance is consistent. We help you identify your foundational needs and put things in place that you can build upon. You can build a sustainable growing business when you have more than a select few employees doing it right.
6. Marketing:
What a messy world marketing can be. What do we even mean by “marketing”? Advertising? Print? Digital? Website? Social Media?
Building a dynamic marketing strategy with a budget that fits the business is critical, so we like to work on marketing strategy and planning quickly and practically.
But, it’s nearly impossible to build a solid marketing strategy if you don’t have a solid brand.
Let’s start by getting crystal clear on what value we provide to our customers, who our customers are, and what makes our business different from everybody else. These foundational elements of your brand are not always obvious.
5. Sales:
Great business ideas can be laid to waste if somebody doesn’t sell something. Building an effective sales function requires experience and vision for what works in a given business and market.
We help our clients with successful experience from a wide array of sales environments. Whether it’s talent acquisition, training, planning, or direct one-on-one coaching, we will create custom action steps to drive sales revenue.
4. Planning:
New client concerns often include how to handle growth without failing, a lack of confidence in repeating past success, or the feeling that they are just doing the same things over and over without new success.
All of these issues can be effectively addressed through a robust planning process. A comprehensive and thorough approach to business planning will highlight problems, promote real solutions, reveal opportunities and end with effective action steps to execute and succeed.
3. Leadership:
Many business owners started their company with little more than a passion for building a business of their design. Often the responsibility of Leadership was an afterthought; cross that bridge when I come to it.
Blend all of the prior subjects together in a pot along with the values you exemplify as a person and you have business Leadership. Working on your leadership can seem daunting but it doesn’t have to be. You should remain you while you incorporate strong leadership habits into your regular routine.
2. Worlds Colliding:
Frequently, people feel like they have distinct personas between their work self and their personal self. Maintaining separate personalities for various environments is stressful and causes unhealthy tension and dissonance.
Your core personal values including faith should be assets that help you succeed, not liabilities to be suppressed. Learning to leverage and align personal values so that you become a whole person both at home and work is a key to loving your business.
1. Wrapping Your Arms All The Way Around:
The most common benefit for our clients seems to be helping them get their arms around their business. Commonly, the business feels like it is running the owner instead of the other way around.
No time, no freedom, always putting out fires are some of the indicators.
There can be many causes for a business owner feeling like the tail is wagging the dog, so working with a coach over time is a great way to understand all the contributing problems. Coaches facilitate the work towards real solutions.
A coach is objective with no agenda other than helping you get your arms all the way around, so you can work on your business more than in your business.
I like that you mentioned how working with a coach over time is a great way to understand all the contributing problems in a business. I was reading a book that teaches people how to start a business earlier and one of its advices was to hire a business coach. Starting a business is no joke, so getting business coaching sounds like a great idea to make sure that your business would start and run properly.