Why Hire a Coach

A Business Coach Perspective

Focus – Focus - Focus

Do you have a passion for success? Will you be diligent, trying all the suggestions that come up, implement all the strategies you say you will, and accept change? A Coach will hold you accountable! Business Coaches want to work with people who are serious about getting ahead.

A Business Coach helps business owners and individuals assess their strengths so they can develop them to the fullest. Coaches are used by people who know that by hiring them, they’ll get assistance in turning their business into an even greater success.

Whether you need advice on:

	building a better management team,
	finding ways to make your business more profitable,
	creating a marketing plan
	regaining focus on your priorities,
	a business coach will bring a fresh perspective to the table.

A Coach is an objective “outsider” who can see, without emotional ties, the gaps between what is and what should be; A Coach will tell it like it is; A Coach will give you pointers; A Coach will LISTEN and be your mentor.

Your Business Coach will:

	help you clarify both *personal and business goals* making sure they are in perfect alignment,
	help you know exactly where your business is now,
	help you get clarity around where you are going,
	show you how to be productive, efficient, profitable, and have enough information to make good decisions,
	assist you in creating an action plan for moving forward.

Here’s a “Quick Tip” for setting clear, meaningful, business goals: start first by writing your Vision – this is the overall goal you want to achieve in business, next write your Mission – how to reach your visions, then write down three to five Core Values . In essence, the process looks like this:

Ø Vision – the overall objective of what you want to achieve in business

Ø Mission – how you reach your Vision

o What Business are you in?

o Who are your customers?

o What makes you unique?

Ø Culture – what are your Core Values? What are the values that are important to the success of the business?

One of the major focal points a Business Coach will help you with is the structure of your organization – be it large or small, having the right people in the right job is a key to growth and sustainability. A quick look at this process is below.

Ø Structure – getting the right people in the right job/position, with the right plan moves your business in the right direction.

o Getting the right people in the right job/position starts with knowing what the right jobs/positions are.

o Giving people a clear picture of their role/responsibilities helps them to achieve more.

o It’s vital for people to know how they should perform their responsibilities.

o Measure what works/doesn’t work and closing the gap helps to manage processes.

Ø Management

o Managing is all about planning and budgeting.

o Managing people is all about time and skill management.

A common tool used by Business Coaches to help their clients is called a SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). This is a powerful technique for understanding the Strengths and Weaknesses of your business and for looking at the Opportunities and Threats you face. This tool can help you uncover opportunities that you may be in a position to act on. And, by understanding your business weaknesses you can potentially manage and eliminate threats. Done in a grid format, it looks like this:

Strengths What do you do well? What unique resources can you draw on? What do others see as your strengths?	Weaknesses What could you improve? Where do you have fewer resources than others? What are others likely to see as weaknesses?
Opportunities What good opportunities are open to you? What rends could you take advantage of? How can you turn your strengths into opportunities?	Threats What trends could harm you? What is your competition doing? What threats do your weaknesses expose you to?

Once you decide to hire a Business Coach, the first meeting is an in depth evaluation of your business and personal goals, the reasons you went into business in the first place, the sales, marketing, and business strategies you’ve used and what results you’ve achieved. In the end, the Coach will help you create a basic road map for the future of your business by helping you identify untapped potential.

To sum up, if you’re going to work with a Business Coach, here are some of the things you can work on:

	Focus 100% of the RIGHT goals
	Build confidence, handle stress and managing time
	Learn to communicate in a powerful way
	Delegate more
	Create a new vision
	Establish new business standards
	Grow your business in the right direction
	Improve your leadership skills
	Build a team
	Improve Customer Service
	Smooth out your processes
	Understand your business limits and them improve your production capacity
	Create a marketing and referral network that works
	Design an exit strategy
	Work a future business plan that INCLUDES having a life outside of work.

Many executives and business owners have quietly hired business coaches to help them maximize their potential. Consider hiring a business coach to act as your own mentor and advisor.

Christopher Boutros, NYC: “The first coach I hired dealt more with building my mental attitude or business survival tactics, so that I’d continue to stay positive and not succumb to the stress that’ more or less hardwired into our business. Over several months, I worked on staying focused and aware of potentially self-defeating habits. The second coach reviewed my business practices to help me develop better marketing strategies. In addition, I was given tools to move my business away from the transactional and into the fee-based. I even recall the coach assigning me a mantra so that I’d consistently seek out clients compatible with my personal mission statement.”

“These problems have been nagging me for a long time. I learned more about my business in two hours that I have in a year! I can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel.” Independent Business Owner

Click here to print in Adobe Acrobat

781.982.8812 email: jacollins@pfpconsult.com

Member, South Shore Chamber of Commerce

© Partnering for Performance 2005