[MarkTaylor68]

Hi guys,

I think I know the answer to this, but can anyone help me articulate the benefits of business coaching. Particularly for entrepreneurs at the business start up phase.

Any thoughts, ideas and suggestions will be appreciated.

Many thanks,

Mark.

[Indizine]

is this a service you offer?

[stephendoyle]

my take would be to protect them from making costly and big financial mistakes and to even fast track them to success.

regards
steve doyle

[suemaddock]

None, unless the participant is totally committed to it! If they are then there are MASSIVE benefits, to name just a few:
1. It challenges your way of thinking to enable you to open up to new ideas and ways of working.
2. It gives you a sounding board for ideas and a forum in which to test them.
3. It gives an neutral, safe environment in which to develop.
4. It gives you confidence and a better understanding of yourself and others.
5. It gives you someone to answer to - making sure you achieve what you said you were going to achieve - and motivates you through the hard times.
6. And most of all it keeps you focussed.

Does this match with your benefits?

Sue

[pvcprinting]

Very good post Sue

i think I need to call upon your services sooner rather than later

[suemaddock]

Originally Posted by pvcprinting

Very good post Sue

i think I need to call upon your services sooner rather than later

You would be very welcome Pete.

Sue

[James Smith]

I think it depends very much on the individual and how good the coach is.

Lots of individuals have their own "coaches" or "mentors" be it colleagues, friends, partners etc with whom they talk about their business a lot and where it is going. I talk to the majority of my clients in this way for example which is useful for clients and really for me is the most interesting bit. It also helps my own business to talk about other peoples. Forums are also very useful on this front I find.

On the other hand lots of individuals keep it all to themselves, and think a lot about matters rather than actually getting on and doing - these are the ones who will generally get the most benefit in my opinion. I.e. with some proper goal setting and knowledge that someone will be asking questions about them in a few weeks time. I have clients like this who really don't move on a lot and I do often suggest they try regular trained coaching as opposed to the odd "devils advocate" session with myself once a in a while. It seems to work too.

[MarkTaylor68]

Many thanks for the replies so far guys.

I like Sue's list of benefits but I think there are at least three challenges in building commitment in clients:

1. Lack of clarity around the different roles and benefits of coaching, counselling, advising, mentoring, etc...
2. Significant variation in abilities and effectiveness of coaching perhaps reflecting the lack of a clear accreditation system.
3. A widespread reluctance to acknowledge the need for help.

With entrepreneurs and managers I think there is also a need to relate the benefits of coaching to bottom line benefits - like most intangible services it is important to demonstrate the return on investment. I'd be interested to hear peoples suggestions on this.

Thanks again,

Mark.

[admagic]

Originally Posted by MarkTaylor68

Many thanks for the replies so far guys.

I like Sue's list of benefits but I think there are at least three challenges in building commitment in clients:

1. Lack of clarity around the different roles and benefits of coaching, counselling, advising, mentoring, etc...
2. Significant variation in abilities and effectiveness of coaching perhaps reflecting the lack of a clear accreditation system.
3. A widespread reluctance to acknowledge the need for help.

With entrepreneurs and managers I think there is also a need to relate the benefits of coaching to bottom line benefits - like most intangible services it is important to demonstrate the return on investment. I'd be interested to hear peoples suggestions on this.

Thanks again,

Mark.

To me the accreditation system is simple... it is called testimonials
If you can put three names and addresses that say

XYZ increased our profits by 22% in 2 months flat, we would never have believed it, till we saw it - If you are sceptical dont be! - we wasted too long before taking on help. So if you can get him, chain him to the desk, he is far too valuable to let go! He helps you focus on what really matters.

You have won...on the accreditiona front.

Accreditions such as MBA Fellow Inst Coachers (whatever that is) FCA LLB - just all basically say you charge a lot, with no guarantee of results -

On the benefits front you simply want a promise on increasing profits on timeframe, with a moneyback guarantee. After all, if you cant add to the bottom line, the coaching is too intangible to be useful. And that makes the coach focus on what is important too!

Most copywriters (indeed as do I on the rare occasions I take paid assignments) give a return guarantee...it either makes you 3 times more than you paid or your moneyback! - some give a ten times.

[suemaddock]

I agree with admagic that ultimately you are looking to put money on the bottom line. However, this is not always the purpose of coaching. I have a number of clients who pull me in to determine if a member of staff is capable of taking on, say, a directorship, or if they should leave them in their current management position. Ultimately the result of this would increase their profits as they will get the right person for the job, but how do you measure this? I am a mathematician (M.Sc.) but with all of my years in business I realise that everything does not come down to numbers - it's perception that matters, not reality.

In these cases the way I do it is to set out with the client what they want out of the coaching and measure this against the improvement perceived by the important decision makers and the participant themselves.

The other problem for the coach is that the financial measures within a business are massive lag measurements. The customer perception, although still a lag measurement is not quite so "out-of-date". When you add in to this the time it takes a person to change the fundamentals of themselves then the whole process of measuring the added value to the bottom line becomes very complex.

If the client is not totally satisfied that you are delivering value for money according to the outcomes that they are looking for then I agree totally with a money back guarantee.

Sue