Is it time for a Business Coach?
It’s time to make changes in your business. Possibly, you’re aware that things are not running as effectively as they could be. Possibly, you have challenges that are making you crazy and keeping you up at night. You have tried everything you can to get things working but still deal with these problems each day. Regardless of what your struggle is, how long it’s been going on, or what you’ve already tried to fix, it’s time to get some professional help. You might have heard of business coaches and how they have helped other businesses you know. Now you’re curious and asking, “what do business coaches do?”
What do Business Coaches do?
A business coach can provide experience, knowledge, and a third-party perspective on the challenges you run into on a day-to-day basis. It’s hard to see what to do next as a business owner when you’re working in it every day. You are busy enough with all the things you do. The thought to consider is that you’re too close to the problem to see what’s really happening. That’s the bold truth. A business coach will help you step back and discover what’s really going on in your business. They’ll be watching for the hot spots, the areas that will create the biggest change, fast, so that growth becomes the new normal in your business. You may not be able to see it, but a coach can. They’ll see the growth path for your company, and we have a vision for how you can achieve it.
10 areas a business coach work with
There are lots of dynamics that affect every seemingly simple problem in a business. But most business challenges are interconnected. Therefore, your business coach will examine a lot of different areas of your business. Here’s an example of some of the things they’ll be looking at:
- Financial health check: They review and confirm that your company financials are setting you up for success & your cash flow won’t stunt future growth.
- Leadership & management style: Leadership affects your team’s performance, so they’ll look at how your personal style influences your team.
- Team dynamics & communication: Strong, healthy team communication allows your team to produce more than individuals can contribute on their own. They’ll look at what’s working or not working. Then you can drive performance properly without investing more time or money.
- Business systems: They look at everything you do to see if your systems are working effectively & supporting your growth. If not, they’ll recommend the changes needed.
- Organizational structure: This isn’t just about your organizational chart. They’ll look at the roles and responsibilities of your team & identify gaps in the roles so you can clearly understand your next staffing move.
- Individual performance: Everybody adapts to change differently. Your coach will look at your individual team members’ personalities and work styles, so they understand how they work best. Then they’ll educate your leadership on how to lead & manage that type of person.
- Team training: Your coach will look at team member skillset, and competency & deciding whether they need sales or leadership training. Then, they’ll deliver the necessary training to your team.
- Marketing: Is your marketing dollar working for you? Your coach will look at what you’re doing, what’s working, what’s not & how you can improve it.
- Sales: They’ll look at how advanced your sales system currently is & find sales friction points that could be keeping your pipeline stuck. Then give you a unique sales approach that makes your sales easier to manage & stay on track.
- Business Systems: How well do you deliver your products or services? Your coach will provide recommendations on ways to improve your business systems so that your client experience is effortless.
Business coaches make action happen
Strong business coaches will use your day-to-day experiences to create changes that actually help your business grow. Everything they do with you should create change in your business.
It’s a snowball effect. It builds clarity & momentum in a fast-paced business environment so that when things get hard, you know which direction to go.
Let me give an example of how this looks in reality.
We have had clients call us looking for business coaching. We discuss what they are looking for, what challenges they are facing, and what they think the problem is. From there, we start to develop a plan to help this new client. Part of our plan includes a practical investigation. This is when we get the client to start working on the first step of our plan. During this process we ask questions, notice what is happening or not, and gather other information that shows up. Often, we discover that the problem that was first talked about was a symptom of a bigger issue. Then the coaching plan needs to be revised to address the core issue that was uncovered as we began to make changes. That is why a business owner may not be able to solve the problem themselves. They’re so close to the day-to-day operation of the company they can’t step back to see the big picture. Occasionally they had correctly identified the challenge but didn’t have the knowledge to deal with it effectively. This is easy for us to help with. We’ll help get the information, training, and product or service, they need to solve the problem.
Not all business coaches will give you this wide variety of things they can help you with. But a strong coach can. It’s important to find the coach you need for the challenge you want to overcome.
Your coach should be able to give you everything you need to make strong, confident decisions that move your business forward… even if that feels challenging right now. That way you are able to run your business more profitably and with less stress. It’s your business. You’re the boss. You’ll find no one-size-fits-all approaches here. Pick the coach that will give you what you need now and, in the future, and help you get what you need to move forward.