What does a Business Coach do?

This question is usually addressed with activity type answers.  But those answers are usually vague, and do not address the real question about how coaching will benefit a business owner’s bottom line. 

A more direct answer is - a business coach helps a business owner make their business better by helping the owner obtain better business results.  “Better business results” usually means:

• The business makes more money – so that the business owner makes more money.
• The business runs more efficiently – so that the business produces more profit using fewer resources – like the owner’s time.
• The business Team runs more effectively – so that eventually the business owner can spend less time having to be at work and does not have to feel like he is constantly putting out fires.

How that is done:

There are a few different approaches to delivering those results. They can include 1-2-1 relationships, group coaching relationships, master-mind groups, workshops.  Usually, the more personal the relationship, the more specific the guidance will be to the owner’s own needs, and the sooner the owner will achieve the desired results. 

Every business situation is different, so the actual actions a coach might take will vary from case to case.  Common activities include:

• Determine the Owner’s goals.  What does that owner want from the business that makes it worthwhile to have?  Every activity after that should be focused on achieving those goals.
• Learning:  Many owners have heard a lot about what they “should” do – but often the HOW and WHY are not described in a way that fits their situation.  So, a coach’s job often includes helping the owner learn what should be done, and why, and how. 
• Plan:  Once an owner understands why and how particular activities should be done, then a plan can be created.  There will be long-term plans and short-term plans.  The coach will help with the planning process.
• Implementation:  Learning about a system or process is not enough.  A good coach will stay with and guide the owner through designing, setting up, and implementing each new strategy for their specific needs.
• Accountability.  Coaching is not doing.  The owner is responsible for getting things done in his business.  However, the coach will help track progress along the plan, and guide the person coached to get the right activities done in an effective sequence – and help the individual learn how to measure effectiveness of the way it was done.  There may be times that it is worth doing things over, and over again in order to find more effective ways.  Marketing is a common example.
• Encouragement.  Business ownership can feel like one of the loneliest jobs in the world.  A business coach is a person you can confide in, brainstorm with, test ideas on, and not have to feel judged by.

The skills a coach will help an owner learn more about depend entirely on what the owner’s past experiences include – and don’t include.  A common list of new skills might include:

• How to attract and close more clients and increase the rate of adding new clients.  And make it happen systematically.
• How to retain clients for longer periods or attract them back to buy more later.
• How to read and get the most information about their business from financial reports so they can increase profit. 
• How to delegate tasks to team members effectively and then manage their results to achieve the best performance.
• How to grow and lead a team to accomplish more.
• How to build a leadership team within the company so that others can take over the decision making.
• How to balance the capacity of different parts of their business through growth, such as Marketing vs. Sales vs. Production.
• How to make plans for getting all of those activities done.
• How to look ahead in their industry, so that they can lead in a direction for future growth.

Future Succession Planning:

Another point may be to help an owner plan for their own future after the business.  Most businesses can be built into an on-going entity.  They can be built to have a life of their own – with a team doing all the work.  Which means an owner does not have to be there much at all – and still make money.  Therefore, the business could be sold for a premium – if and when the owner chooses.  A business coach’s job can include guiding an owner in this direction. 

How to select the right business coach:

And that gets us to the real point of what a business coach does.  If the owner was comfortable doing these things already, they would have been done.  So, the real job of a business coach is to help that owner grow into becoming a better business owner so that he can get more comfortable moving on to the next step.  Just like in sports.  Some of these steps involve changes that might be very unfamiliar.  Marketing.  Delegating work to be done by others.  Learning to measure results so that profitability can improve.  Budgeting.  Forecasting.  Balancing resources, etc.  In each step, the coach is there to help the individual go through the transition.  The more personal the coaching relationship – the easier that is.  The more general – the longer it will take.

The length of time it takes the owner to get the results he wants is determined by the time it takes for the owner to grow into each transition.  Selecting the right coach starts with determining that the coach has an effective and proven system to move through, and a personality that you can trust to help you through those transitions.  In that way, most of the owner’s energy can be spent on learning to move through the next step. 

What do you want more of from your business?  If you want significant growth, lets discuss these issues for your specific situation, hit the “Schedule a Call” button.  Let’s talk about what you want from your business experience, and possible paths that can get you there.