Whether you see yourself as an entrepreneur, business owners, or working professional if you are looking to reach greater heights of success, business coaching has become a necessity.
Business coaching is a powerful approach that enables individuals to unlock their full potential by developing crucial skills, identifying growth opportunities, and overcoming obstacles that may be hindering progress.
In this post, I’ll explore the various aspects of business coaching, including its benefits and how it differs from executive coaching. I’ll also provide guidance on finding the right coach for your specific needs, share a case study showcasing the impact of these services on revenue growth, and offer tips for maximizing your experience with a business coach.
When I started my business I know I wouldn’t have grown it as fast without a coach. I hope this blog helps you learn more about the value of business coaches.
Table Of Contents:
- What is Business Coaching?
- Benefits of Business Coaching
- Business Coach vs Executive Coach
- How to Find a Business Coach
- 5 Reasons Why Business Coaching Is So Powerful
- Making the Most Out of Your Business Coaching Experience
- Ready For A Coach?
What is Business Coaching?
A business coach’s main job is to help you get clear on business goals and be able to move towards them. Some of the times, the obstacle preventing business growth is a person’s soft skills or communication. While in other times it can be something like business goal setting and achievement.
Business coaching is a professional looking to resource and support business owners in achieving their business goals. It’s not unlike other types of coaching and the focus is on starting, growing, and running a business.
It’s an ongoing relationship between the coach and the client that focuses on identifying strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement in order to maximize success. The primary goal of business coaching is to help entrepreneurs, freelancers, or solopreneurs develop effective strategies for growth and sustainability.
A good business coach will work with clients to identify their goals and objectives, create action plans, provide accountability, challenge assumptions, offer feedback on progress made towards goals, and more. A business coach serves as a source of support and advice, providing an outlet for voicing any questions or ideas that come up while managing the company.
With an extensive background in management or entrepreneurship (although it’s not necessary), a business coach can provide invaluable insight into areas such as finance, marketing strategy development, and operations optimization that can result in improved performance over time. A business coach with knowledge in your sector can be a great asset, but sometimes having a great business coach with no expertise in your sector can be powerful.
At its core, business coaching is about helping you achieve success by understanding what works best for you individually: uncovering the hidden potential within yourself while developing new skill sets that are tailored specifically around your own needs as an entrepreneur or small business owner.
Benefits of Business Coaching
Business coaching can be a tremendous help for entrepreneurs and independent contractors.
It offers a host of benefits such as:
- uncovering new and fresh perspectives
- healthy coping strategies for business stress
- honing decision-making
- transforming and overcoming limiting beliefs
- enhancing productivity and profitability
- goal setting
- safe space to talk through strategies
- defining true success and ambitions
Having the right coach can make a huge difference in how quickly you progress toward achieving your business goals.
Business coaches provide valuable insight into the challenges faced by entrepreneurs on a daily basis.
A proficient business coach should have a deep background in helping small businesses through a successful coaching methodology. This means they’ll be able to provide tailored coaching sessions based on what works best for each client, rather than offering generic advice or no way to help you discover and uncover obstacles in your business.
An experienced coach can will help a client break down complex goals into achievable steps and offer tailored coaching sessions to help with accountability. A coach can be a valuable resource to have in your corner, providing an impartial ear for brainstorming or reflecting on concepts that may otherwise go unnoticed.
Business Coach vs Executive coach
Business coaching and executive coaching are two forms of professional coaching that can help business owners and working professionals achieve success.
Though both, business coaching and executive coaching, share some common strategies for aiding clients in their pursuit of success, there are notable distinctions between them.
Business coaches typically work with small business owners or start-ups needing coaching through growth, running a business, or other approaches relating to personal growth to help a business owner develop their business. For example, some business owners are boutique shops with no employees. So their coaching need wouldn’t be team development
Executive coaches tend to work with high-level executives who need assistance in developing leadership skills or navigating corporate politics. They may also help executives create effective teams within their organizations by providing insight into team dynamics and communication styles.
Business coaching and executive coaching are two different areas that provide help to individuals so they can be successful. It’s important to keep in mind that in a technical sense, a coach is a coach. Whether they call themselves a business coach or executive coach is more of a marketing tactic for their determined niche rather than a coaching skill set. All good coaches should be able to coach clients that are business owners or executives. It’s just some coaches prefer to work with one or the other.
How to Find a Business Coach
Finding a business coach can be a difficult task.
It’s as if most business coaches don’t want to market themselves, or there’s so good at it that you have to know exactly which business coach you want. You can do the normal “business coach near me” and find a few websites that are generic and offer little information.
But if you know who you are looking for and type in “business coach for female entrepreneurs” you’ll find business coaches that have niched down to their ideal client.
So the first question in finding a business coach is to ask yourself, “what type of coach do I want?”
You can find almost any type of coach you want so it’s important to think about the following:
- do you want to meet online or in person? Depending on how you want to meet will determine a large part of your search constraints
- some coaches prefer to see you visually while others want to do audio-only calls. Think of what’s important to you.
- some coaches provide an introductory call in order to get to know them and ask questions. I recommend you also do this in order to learn more before starting any coaching engagement
- is their business or entrepreneurial background important to you? If so, make sure to find out more in your introductory call.
- do you care about having a particular set of physical attributes in a coach? Don’t feel guilty if you want your coach to look like you or have a similar background to you. Not every coach is for every person so choose based on what you are looking for.
- and most importantly, ask yourself what you need from business coaching. Think through if you are looking for leadership skills, revenue growth, or something else.
When you’ve done all that then start searching the internet for coaches. When you can, interview potential coaches, make sure you feel comfortable communicating with them, and trust that they can meet your goals for success as a small business owner or working professional.
You can ask them what techniques they employ when coaching clients to help them reach their objectives. Or ask what’s unique about their particular coaching methodology. These types of questions will give insight into how well the two of you may work together in the future while helping ensure that both parties are on the same page regarding expectations moving forward.
Once you know what you are looking for let the search begin.
Go to the usual places like search engines, social media, or ask people you know if they have any coaches they’d recommend. Look through a coaches online presence and even sign up for their free stuff before considering their paid stuff.
Don’t be shy to explore unconventional methods when searching for a coach; scour online forums related to your field of expertise and take advantage of past successes others have had.
Locating a small business coach that satisfies your particular needs can be an intricate undertaking, yet with some exploration and exertion it is conceivable to locate the ideal fit.
5 Reasons Why Business Coaching Is So Powerful
#1 – Increase in Productivity:
A study by the International Coach Federation (ICF) found that 70% of clients reported an improvement in their work performance after undergoing business coaching, demonstrating the potential for increased productivity in the workplace. (ICF, 2021 Global Coaching Client Study)
Source: International Coach Federation. (2021). ICF Global Coaching Client Study. Retrieved from https://coachfederation.org/research/global-coaching-client-study
#2 – Improved Communication Skills:
According to a study published in the Journal of Business Communication, participants who received business coaching experienced a 42.6% improvement in their communication skills, which contributes to better teamwork, collaboration, and conflict resolution in the workplace.
Source: Coutu, D., & Kauffman, C. (2009). What Can Coaches Do for You? Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2009/01/what-can-coaches-do-for-you
#3 – Return on Investment (ROI):
A survey conducted by the Manchester Review found that companies investing in business coaching received an average return on investment (ROI) of 5.7 times the initial investment, highlighting the financial benefits of coaching for businesses.
Source: McGovern, J., Lindemann, M., Vergara, M., Murphy, S., Barker, L., & Warrenfeltz, R. (2001). Maximizing the Impact of Executive Coaching: Behavioral Change, Organizational Outcomes, and Return on Investment. The Manchester Review, 6(1), 1-9.
#4 – Enhanced Leadership Skills:
A study by the Human Capital Institute and the International Coach Federation revealed that 80% of the organizations surveyed reported improvements in their leaders’ leadership skills after receiving business coaching, supporting the notion that coaching can be highly effective in enhancing leadership capabilities.
Source: Human Capital Institute & International Coach Federation. (2016). Building a Coaching Culture for Change Management. Retrieved from https://coachfederation.org/app/uploads/2018/02/HCI_ICF_GSEP_BuildingACoachingCultureForChangeManagement.pdf
#5 – Employee Engagement:
The Ken Blanchard Companies found in their study that organizations with strong coaching cultures experienced a 39% increase in employee engagement, leading to higher job satisfaction, reduced turnover, and increased loyalty among employees.
Source: The Ken Blanchard Companies. (2018). Building a Coaching Culture with Millennial Leaders. Retrieved from https://www.kenblanchard.com/getattachment/Products-Services/Coaching-Services/Building-Coaching-Culture-White-Paper.pdf.aspx
Making the Most Out of Your Business Coaching Experience
To maximize the benefit of business coaching, it is important to be prepared. Prior to your initial session with a coach, take some time for reflection on the areas of life or business where you’d like assistance. Think about any goals that you have and how a coach can help you reach them.
Once you’ve selected a coach, be honest and open in each meeting. Share all relevant information about yourself or your business so they can best understand where you are coming from and how they can help support you toward success. Creating a trusting atmosphere is essential, so don’t be shy to ask.
Make sure to review each session’s discussion or do a journal (audio, verbal, or written) to cement the session in your mind. Doing this helps with recall and can ensure accountability, clarity, and more insight going forward.
With these tips in mind, anyone looking for coaching through their personal or professional journey should feel confident taking advantage of what a qualified business coach has to offer.
Ready For A Coach?
By engaging the services of a business coach, a small business owners or working professionals can leverage powerful tools to help them reach their goals, develop strategies for success, increase motivation and build confidence.
Take the first step towards transforming your life and business today with our professional coaching services. My hope is to help move you toward success, helping you reach your goals and thrive in every area of life.