What is a business coach and should you get one for your business?
When people think of the word "coach", they typically think of sports teams and athletes. But, nowadays you can have a coach for just about everything. Because of that, it sometimes feels like every man, woman, and their aunty is a coach of some kind!
A coach typically exists to help someone get the best from their performance:
Definition:
Coach
Verb
to give instruction or advice to in the capacity of a coach; instruct:
So, when it comes to your business's performance, would it be helpful for you to have a coach?
Well, let's explore some of the frequently asked questions about business coaching and see if one would be helpful for you...
What is business coaching?
A Business Coach is an experienced professional who works with you to help you reach your business goals.
However, business coaching a very broad category!
Some business coaches promise to transform your mindset or boost your sales confidence, while others offer specialised coaching in marketing, pricing, or productivity.
While some business coaches are more "generalists", most business coaches will have one or more areas of speciality.
So, before you hire a business coach, it's very important that you're clear in where you are trying to head in your business, and what type of coach will be most helpful to get you there. Otherwise it can be easy to pick the wrong type of coach, and end up going in a different direction than you intended.
What are the benefits to hiring a business coach?
There are many ways a business coach can help develop your skillset and grow your business.
Here are 8 ways a business coach can help you in addition to providing advice:
1. Hone your focus:
Sometimes we can become so overwhelmed with everything on our plate and all the ideas we have that we can’t see the wood for the trees. A coach can help you cut to the chase and identify your primary goals and vision for your business.
2. Increase confidence –
Whether they are helping you with your mindset or giving you the security of an experienced bounce-board for your ideas, having a coach in your corner can help you make important decisions confidently, turning doubt and hesitation into action.
3. Provide accountability –
It’s all too easy for us to wriggle out of promises or commitments we make to ourselves, but being accountable to a business coach is a whole other ballgame! Having someone who expects you to follow through and keeps you on track, can be the motivation you need to take your business to the next level.
4. Support personal growth by helping you learn new skills –
Business coaches can help you learn new, more efficient ways of doing things. These short cuts lead into the 5th benefit...
5. Save you time and money -
Due to all the reasons listed above, a great coach can help you save both time and money, from heading down the wrong path or taking “long cuts”.
Who needs long cuts when you can take short cuts right?
How much does it cost to hire a business coach?
Even though this is the first question on many people's lips, this is not a question with only one answer.
This is because the cost of hiring a business coach depends on so many different variables such as:
- How you choose to work with them
- The type of business coach they are
- Their skills an experience
- Whether you pay for a package or an hourly rate
Many business coaches, including me, will no longer work on an hourly rate. Which I appreciate makes it difficult for people to understand if they're getting a good deal or not.
But, people get better results when they're taken through a process or framework with specific goals and milestones.
So, in most cases, it does clients a disservice to offer one-off, or a select number of sessions, when you know they really need to do specific things to achieve the results they're looking for.
Whether you are paying by the hour, or for a package price, you should always therefore have a very clear understanding of the outcome you'll get from the coaching, and the value that will bring to your business.
What different ways can a business coach work with you?
As we explored, it's hard to give an estimate of how much to pay for a coach. The way you work with a business coach will affect the price.
Let's look at the difference between the different ways a business coach can work with you:
1. One-to-one
This is where a coach works directly with you to provide personalised advice tailored to you and your business. The cost is higher than group coaching, but the benefits also tend to be more significant.
The advice is specific to you and your business. You tend to have a stronger relationship from working one to one, and you can fit the sessions around both of your schedules.
Your business coach might work with you one-to-one over Zoom or in-person.
Some coaches may offer one-off one-on-one sessions starting from a few hundred dollars, allow you to book them one-on-one for a day, or offer specific one-on-one packages.
2. Group coaching
Group coaching usually follows more of a set curriculum than personalised advice, although your coach may provide a combination of methods.
This is a great affordable way to benefit from business coaching. You get the support of other business people on similar journeys and benefit from their shared wisdom and resources.
Just like one-to-one coaching, group coaching might take place in person, or online via Zoom.
The price of group coaching varies hugely depending on what is included in the package, and how big the group is, so how much individual attention you'll get from the coach.
Usually memberships start at a few hundred dollars per month and may run into the tens of thousands, depending on who the coach is.
What different types of business coaching can you get?
During your business journey, you might benefit from a different type of business advisor, depending on the stage your business is at, and your business goals.
That's why it's important to be clear in what type you'd most benefit from, before you go out and hire one.
Here are 7 different types of business coaching:
1. General business strategy or advice
Sometimes you just don't know what you need, but you know you need help. That's where it can be helpful to have a "generalist" as a business coach, or a business strategist.
A generalist business coach or strategist is usually one who can look at the big picture of your business, assess all the moving parts, and suggest which area you should focus on improving first.
Then, when you've had your business assessed, and have identified the areas which most need help, it might be necessary to hire someone with specialised skills in that area.
I always recommend that if people aren't sure, they start here. And that's also why I created my In-Flight Profit Detector®. So that it's not so expensive to get a business coach to identify areas for improvement.
2. Profitability coaching
Struggling to make your business profitable and want to level up your profitability? You need a profitability coach. Their sole focus is on getting your accounts in order and helping you build strategies that prioritise profit-building.
It's important to make sure that you have your profitability sorted before you moving on to the other types of coaching. Otherwise you might potentially run out of fuel trying to achieve your business goals.
This is why I created my 5 step Profit Formula Course. Because I recognised that businesses needed this step sorted, before they moved on to working on the other areas of their business. But, there wasn't really an affordable or easy way for them to do that before.
3. Pricing coaching
Setting the right prices for your business and services, without the expertise of a coach, can be daunting. You want to provide a competitive offer but still be profitable. A pricing coach knows exactly how to assess the marketplace and implement the right pricing strategies for your business.
Many profitability coaches, will also help you with pricing. Because your pricing is one of the major contributors to your profitability. That's why pricing calculators are one of the things I also provide inside The Profit Formula course or inside my 8 week 1:1 Profit Accelerator Service.
4. Mindset coaching
Mindset coaching specifically works with your attitudes, beliefs, thoughts and behaviours. It can help you identify where you are self-sabotaging or holding yourself back, and provide positive ways to develop that winning entrepreneurial mindset.
Your mindset is such an important aspect of your business success - one we typically don't give enough credit to. Because, as Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't – you're right,”
That's why, whether you choose to work with a Mindset Coach, read a mindset book, or take a mindset course, it's worth making sure your mindset is setting you up for success!
5. Sales coaching
Not all business owners are born salespeople. In fact, many find this the most challenging or distasteful part of running a business! However, sales are integral to success.
Sales coaching can help you overcome any blocks and teach you effective sales techniques to grow your business.
One sales coach that I've worked with and recommend, is Natalie Tolhopf.
6. Marketing coaching
Marketing is another vital component of running a business, but not everyone has the time to get a marketing degree or the budget to hire a marketing guru. A marketing coach can help you get to grips with this crucial area and lead your business in the right direction.
Marketing is an area that I specialise in as a coach. At The Helpful Academy we have a lot of affordable marketing courses. But I also offer 1:1 and group marketing coaching through my Flight Club program.
But, marketing is also another broad term. So there are also marketing coaches who specialise in specific areas. For example:
- LinkedIn Coaches
- Tik Tok Coaches
- Pinterest Coaches
Etc.
7. Productivity coaching
Procrastination, poor planning, overwhelm, and inefficient work practices - we all experience the frustration of low productivity. But it can be difficult to ditch those bad habits!
A productivity coach offers you the tools and support to work smarter, not harder. They will help you prioritise, plan, and set up systems and processes to make your life easier.
What are the pitfalls when hiring a business coach?
As we've explored, there are many benefits to hiring a business coach. But, there are some pitfalls to be wary off too, so that you don't waste your precious time and money hiring the wrong person.
Here are some pitfalls to watch out for:
Hiring the wrong type of coach:
The main pitfall I find that people fall into, is hiring the wrong type of coach. As we've explored above, there are lot of different types of coaches out there. Just like you'd never hire an assistant who could do absolutely everything in your business, a business coach will have their strengths and areas of speciality too.
You can avoid this pitfall by first getting clear in what your business needs, and hiring a coach who will help you with that area.
Not setting clear goals, time frames and expectations:
I work with a lot of clients who have been frustrated or "burnt" by experiences with other coaches. Many times they've expressed to me that they felt the difference between my coaching and their coach was that we set very clear goals and timeframes.
Be wary of a coach who isn't taking you through a Framework or process, because these are usually the most efficient way to see success.
In Summary
Working with a business coach can be helpful when it comes to improving your business's performance.
There are multiple ways to work with a coach, and there are also lots of different types of business coaches. So, making sure you work with the right type of coach for your business, is really important to avoid disappointment.
There are also lots of ways we can help you at The Helpful Academy. Reach out and have a chat if you'd like to discuss which ways would suit you best.
About the author:
Kat Soper is the Founder and Head Trainer of The Helpful Academy Online Business School.
Kat is passionate about helping start-ups and small businesses succeed and achieve their business goals so that they can achieve the lifestyle they desire (and deserve).
It's great that you talked about coaching and how it helps improve performance levels. In my opinion, any business could benefit from a coach's guidance. If I were to run a company, I'd like to improve my employee's efficiency and motivate them to reach new goals. Thanks for the advice on coaching services and how they help a company.