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Have you ever heard someone say that business coaching is a scam? Maybe you have even said it yourself once or twice.
In general, business coaching is not a scam. Business coaching is an effective tool for businesses to use to improve performance. However, hiring the wrong coach can harm your business since they might not provide the relevant insights into how to solve the problems you're facing.
Let's look a little deeper into business coaching to see why it can be so powerful when used correctly.
What Is Business Coaching?
Business coaching is the process of hiring a third-party expert to help your business reach its goals or improve at a certain skill. For example, if your business is struggling with sales you could hire a coach that has experience with sales to help your employees learn how to close deals.
In the same way, a personal coach helps an individual perform better, an expert in business coaching can help any size company from small businesses to multi-million dollar corporations maximize its potential.
Here’s a video that explains what business coaches do:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU0biZc8m_s
That said, while business coaching is still a relatively new industry several companies have already found success with it.
Here are some examples of well-known businesses that have used business coaching to improve their operations:
Microsoft: Uses business coaching to create a culture of innovation and high-performance
IBM: Uses business coaching to create a changing culture
Herman Miller: Uses business coaching to create a learning culture
The Benefits of Business Coaching for Your Company
As I mentioned, business coaching can help your organization improve its performance.
Here's a rundown of some of the benefits of business coaching:
Improves Sales
One of the biggest benefits of business coaching is improving your sales. If your employees have been struggling to reach their quotas consistently, a business coach can give them new strategies and tools to help close more deals.
Some of the ways a business coach can help your sales team are by teaching them how to better communicate with the customer, give a better presentation, or help them understand what motivates a customer.
Improves Employee Motivation and Engagement
Another way business coaching can help an organization's performance is by motivating employees and improving their engagement in the company.
Employees who feel like they are not growing and developing as individuals often become unmotivated and unproductive for the company.
By working with a business coach, employees can learn new skills to help them grow in their current position or open up opportunities that they didn't see before. This can leave employees feeling more engaged and motivated to do their best at work.
Reduces Employee Turnover
High turnover rates can be a huge detriment to a business's performance. By hiring an outside business coach to help your employees develop, you can have a dramatic impact on employee turnover rates.
When employees are given training and development opportunities, they feel like their company is invested in them as an individual.
Not only can this lead to employees staying with your business longer, but it can also leave the impression that others would benefit from working for your organization.
Improves Productivity and Efficiency
Hiring a business coach may help your business become more productive and efficient on several fronts. First of all, by giving employees new tools and knowledge they can be more effective on the job right away.
At the same time, if one employee is struggling with an area of their job, a business coach can provide them with personalized attention and training to improve their performance.
Helps Businesses Manage Change and Challenges
Business coaching is a great way for businesses to help employees adjust to new policies, procedures, and challenges like merger and acquisition deals, downsizing, or even the loss of a key team member.
A business coach can also help businesses adjust to changes in the market, industry, or economy.
For example, if your business is seeing a significant decrease in sales you can hire a business coach that specializes in turning around struggling companies to give you their insights on how to improve performance.
5 Signs That a Coach Is a Scam
With so many business coaches available today, it's important to do your homework before hiring a professional.
Here are some signs that a coach may not be the real deal:
They Won't Give You References or Proof of Success
A reputable business coach should have references and happy customers they can provide you with to prove they're worth your time. If they can't, this could be a sign that their coaching techniques are ineffective or that they have little experience in the field.
The Business Coach Is Simply a Recruiter or Networker
Some "business coaches" actually just have ties to other businesses and may not be able to provide any real coaching for your business. Some of these coaches think that they can teach people how to coach others, but this is a difficult skill that requires significant training and experience.
The Business Coach Is Too Aggressive or Pressuring
If you feel like the business coach is asking too much of your time, pressuring you to sign on immediately, or doesn't give you space to think about it - this could be a sign that they're not right for your business.
You should feel comfortable with your business coach and trust that they have your best interests at heart.
The Coaching Session Feels Forced or Boring
If an outside business coach isn't able to engage you in the session, it's unlikely that they're going to be effective at helping you increase engagement with your employees.
Avoid coaches who are not curious about what is important to you and whose questions feel scripted or generic.
The Business Coach is Unqualified
A business coach qualified to work with your company should have extensive experience helping businesses like yours. They should also be knowledgeable about important trends, issues, and challenges within your industry.
How To Find the Right Coach for You
When looking for a business coach, there are several factors that you should consider. Here is some advice on how to find the right coach for your business:
Experience Matters
Look for coaches that have experience working with businesses in your industry or size. For example, if you own an eCommerce company it might not be best to hire a business coach who specializes in coaching small mom and pop shops.
Coach for Your Growth Stage
Make sure that you find a business coach that understands your company's growth stage. For example, if your organization is still working on getting its footing, you probably want to hire a coach that can help you develop the foundation for success.
If your business has outgrown its early stages and has become more established, then a business coach that helps companies grow and scale would be a better fit.
Choose Between Lifestyle vs. Performance Coaching
One other factor to consider is whether you want a lifestyle or performance coach. Lifestyle coaches help their clients better balance their personal and professional lives. Performance coaches focus more on increasing a client's productivity, sales, and revenue growth.
Before hiring a business coach, it's important to find one that focuses on the area where you need the most help. That way, you can get the greatest value for your investment in their services.
Key Takeaway: Before signing with any agency or hiring anyone to help your company, it's critical to do your homework. Look for coaches that have experience working in your industry, understand how to work with companies at your growth stage, and who is a good fit for the coaching you want.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that business coaching isn’t a scam. It is a worthwhile approach for businesses looking to improve performance and get ahead of the competition.
However, if you hire the wrong coach for your company, they may do more harm than good. If you need more details on picking the right coach, contact our team at VINK Marketing Studio today!
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