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A business coach is a senior figure, usually a successful businessperson themselves, who can teach you new ways to improve your business and advise on decisions. However, there are somewhere near 53,300 business coaches today according to the International coach Federation. At a cost of hundreds an hour, you might wonder whether the cost will be worth it compared to the various management certifications available. For the modern entrepreneur, the world can be a lonely and worrying place without a coach. There are indeed many unqualified and downright bad coaches out there. Fear not though, if you keep an eye these five attributes, you’re sure to find yourself a talented coach.
Are They Asking The Right Questions?
The best business coaches know all the right questions to ask. Unlike self-help books, a business coach can respond to you and proved tailored advice. They have real life experience to know what matters most in business. See if they are asking more questions or doing more of the talking. Talented business coaches ask several questions about your business and how they can help you succeed. It would be a huge benefit to have a coach that is genuinely interested in helping you. Certainly, you can tell if they want to by paying attention to the questions that they ask.
Coaching Or Therapy
Business coaches should not be solely inspirational figures. There is a major difference between business coaching and inspirational speaking. You business coach should be showing you ways to improve your company. Building you up emotionally can be part of that, but many business coaches have let that part of the process take over. If the coach is endlessly talking about your feelings or overcoming the loneliness that many entrepreneurs do experience, then they are probably compensating for a lack of talent in real business.
Check Credentials
The reason people pay money to business coaches for advice is because, theoretically, those coaches are successful business people. However, many coaches can only claim one piece of business experience, being a business coach. You need someone who has real experience and knows how to deal with difficult people or situations. It is therefore essential that you ask for the coach’s credentials, and even confirm them online. Make sure the coach actually knows something about business, beyond how to put together a slick ad.
Accessibility
It’s important that the coach make themselves reasonably available to you. If you send an email asking for advice or try to call them, you should hear back to them within 48 hours. Coaches that don’t aren’t available either because they don’t have interest in your case personally or have so many “students” they are getting bogged down. In either case, you are paying for access so don’t play second fiddle. A coach who is not reasonably available for questions, is not one worth having.
Coach Accountability
Is your coach making you accountable to stop losing money? Are they always pushing you to adopt some new ideas? Are they always asking how some change went over? If the answer to these questions is yes, then this business coaching is helping you grow. The coach should want to see you improve and understand that that will one day lead you to no longer needing coaching. A coach who seems content for things to stay the same is a coach who’s content to take your money forever with nothing to show for it.
Business coaching can be a useful tool for entrepreneurs looking to take their business to the next level. However, there are many business coaches taking advantage of this desire to line their pockets. As a result, you should take some precautions before hiring one, and make sure that even after picking a business coach you are getting improvement from it.
