Achieve Your Dreams, Perth’s pre-eminent business coaching service, specialising in lead generation strategies to increase sales, customers and clients and give you, the business owner, greater success and control over your business, presents another insight into Coaching.

Coaching – who uses coaches and why

Rarely will you see an elite athlete without a coach, and sometimes even a whole bevy of assistants. Nor will you see a sport team without a coach; even the juniors have coaches. Why would you think that may be?

In the case of an individual athlete, the coach assists with scheduling the required training, which events to enter, tactics for each event they enter, becomes their confidante, helps motivate them to get the best out of themselves and their talents. Without a coach, they still possess the talent, but it’s undeveloped and without a dedicated coach they may not attain the fame and fortune they otherwise could. Often parents start this process – they engage a coach for their prodigy, and that sets the scene for later in their career

In the case of a sporting team, it’s because a coach is separate to the team, the coach can assess each player, assess their strengths and weaknesses and place them in the position that is most suited to their talents. They organise the training, develop team tactics and strategies, become the person of trust within the team, motivate, advise and assist each member get the best results for themselves and the team. Who’s the first person to have the finger pointed when the team begins to lose matches – the Coach!

So why is it so different with non sports people? If you are feeling sick, you seek out a medical expert, if you have a problem with your teeth you seek out a dentist, if your car won’t start, you get a mechanic, if you need an extension on your house, you seek out a builder and so on – it appears natural. So why is it so difficult to seek out a coach to assist you in whatever area you require assistance? I belong to a coaching organisation and they publish leads from those who find the site – a common problem is finding a job, a better job, a better fitting job, using the qualifications gained years ago and so on. Many of these people wake up to the fact they are in a ‘dead end’ job and after trying for months or years ask for assistance – imagine if they sought assistance when they first encounter the problem? Another common problem is starting, improving, expanding or taking a business to the next level. Again many of these people state they have been struggling along for years and now seek assistance. Again imagine if they sought assistance when they first realised there was a problem – imagine where the business would be now?

Most of these people are from the USA and Canada, with quite a few from India and the Middle East, but very few from Australia. In fact in the 5 years I’ve been with this organisation I have seen less than 10 from Australia? Why is this? Maybe Coaching is accepted much more in North America, maybe lots of advertising has been done there, maybe seeking assistance in more acceptable in these countries. I don’t know for sure, but I think it’s got a lot to do with understanding the benefits of coaching, so I will explain a few below and then back up what I say with articles from other people.

Benefits of Business Coaching:

1. Make more Sales

Once you engage a business coach they will sit down with you and your team and work out a strategy that aligns with what you want to achieve in a given time period. Often this is a 5, 3, and 1 year plan, and your business coach with assist you make it SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely)

 

Most of these objectives will include increasing your sales, customer base, and market share, and your business coach will assist you in developing the right strategy for you and your business. Increased sales can come from existing customers, new customers, new offerings, or new markets to trade in.

 

Naturally the final decision will be yours, but your business coach will assist you with ideas and the implementation of your plans to increase your sales.

2. Clarify your Goals

Most business owners have lots of conflicting thoughts inside their head and often many aspirations and plans. Many of these need to be clarified and prioritised and a coach can assist greatly in this area. They can listen, assess and classify these plans and break them down into smaller goals to reach the overall plan. This frees up your mind to concentrate on the important day to day things you have to accomplish

3. Get the best out of you and your teams

Stressed and overworked people aren’t the best communicators, and business owners are no exception. A business coach can listen to your communications and advise on how to get the best from your team. This alone can help you retain your best staff members, and even if you have no staff, you will still communicate better with customers, suppliers, family, friends, acquaintances, and business associates. Just making slight changes to your communication style can make a huge improvement in your business.

4. Provide you with the means to achieve your goals

There is an old saying that two heads are better than one, and it’s almost always true. A business coach can assist you with solid plans to achieve even the most detailed plans and without too much disruption to your established business. A skilled business coach can assist you foresee roadblocks and find a way around them.

5. Give you an honest appraisal

As business owners it’s hard to get an honest, unbiased appraisal of your performance. Those close to you don’t want to hurt you, those dependent on you don’t want to upset you, but your business coach has a responsibility to be truthful with you and challenge your thinking at all times, whilst keeping all conversations confidential

By taking advantage of this alone the whole investment you make is really worthwhile

6. Break cycles of Negative or Limiting behaviours

When faced with a complicated problem everyone is hesitant to begin, and this is especially so if you have an emotional response or a limiting belief concerning the area of the problem. In fact this is almost always the case, which is why the problem appeared in the first place. A skilled business coach can assist you immensely with this task, because it’s doubtful the coach will have the same beliefs, and so, not only will your problem dissipate, but you, the business owner, will have overcome your limiting belief and become more self aware.

7. Gain Control over what you want to achieve

Most people have some sort of forward plan, and business owners are no exception. The trouble is many of these plans are but a haze in the back of your mind, and often a distraction. Sometimes you sit and daydream, but nothing else happens.

A business coach is worth every cent of your investment in this area; they will not only assist you to discuss your future plans but also give you control over them by making them into smaller, more manageable parts. This is less distracting and allows you to fully focus on your task of operating the business successfully

8. Provides a confidante for you to discuss your business plans

It’s rare in life to have a true confidante – our parents often filled that role, and sometimes we meet a mentor, who takes that role, and our partner can also fulfil that role, but sometimes this can cause friction.

Your business coach is dedicated to this role and so you can share all your business aspirations safe in the knowledge you are being assisted with your plans and everything is kept confidential.

9. Help keep you motivated in moving in the right direction

Have you ever made a New Year’s Resolution, only to have reverted to your old habits by the end of January or February? Something happened to your new plans and you were discouraged, or got distracted in some way. Very few people have the strength to do new things totally on their own, that’s why there are so many support groups.

Your business coach will keep you accountable, motivated and encourage you to continue with your plans until you achieve success.

10. Encourage you to balance your life

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” or so says the proverb. It can also make you ill, stressed, irritable and can cause relationship breakdown and ‘burnout’. Many is the business owner who lost loved ones in their quest for money, only to find it wasn’t really worth the loss.

Your business coach will help guide you in this area and help prevent you being a ‘slave’ to your business, and instead encourage you take control of both your life and your business and balance them to get the most out of each segment of your life.

11. Gain Self Confidence

As the relationship grows with your business coach, so will your confidence in yourself and your abilities. This is natural and coaches assist athletes to win events. In any sport, it’s often your mental ‘toughness’ that determines your success – you have to believe you can win in the competition you are entered, and that is confidence.

12. Add value to your business

So to sum up:

• Your business coach will assist you to make more sales making your business more valuable to a future buyer
• Your business coach will assist you to clarify your goals ensuring greater personal and business success
• Your business coach will assist you to get the best out of yourself and your teams ensuring success and harmony in your business and personal life
• Assist you achieving your goals ensuring greater personal power and success
• Your business coach will assist you with an honest appraisal giving you access to information few others will ever receive and making you more self aware and able to take control of more and more situations
• Your business coach will assist you to breaks cycles of negative and limiting behaviours, ensuring character building and greater personal and business success
• Your business coach will assist you to gain control of what you want to achieve ensuring that your plans will be completed and your achievements many
• Your business coach will provide you with a valuable confidante to share your hopes and dreams in a safe and confidential environment, thereby ensuring greater success
• Your business coach will assist you to keep moving in the right direction, thereby reducing the time to make your great achievements
• Your business coach will assist you to balance your life, ensuring less stress, a happier family and personal life and assist you get your priorities in the order you want. Often by appointing a manager to your business it becomes more valuable to a future buyer
• Your business coach will assist you to gain self confidence, which will impact every area of your life, leading to greater happiness, achievements, and successes and attract other successful people towards you. This alone is priceless!

And so these are some of the benefits of hiring a business coach – there are others, the value is in what the business owner wants to achieve. Don’t take my word, below are 4 articles that reiterate what I have described above

I would welcome approaches from other business bloggers to write a guest post, or be invited to write a guest post.

9 Benefits of Business Coaching

By YEC | In: Company Culture, Starting a Business, Your Career

It’s important to have business mentors you can trust and turn to for advice. But is investing in a business coach worth the cost? To find out, we asked nine entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question:

1. “What is one benefit to business coaching that’s well worth the price tag?”

 

1. Building Confidence

Confidence in business is invaluable. Being supported by a great coach and giving yourself the space to work out challenges enhances your confidence when going into major situations, dealing with crises, or handling conflict. A professional bounce board keeps you sharp and playing your best game. As a founder your time is incredibly valuable. A coach can help you make the best of it. – Corey Blake, Round Table Companies

2. Understanding How to Work With Many Different Types of People

Business coaching typically includes exercises around personality and leadership style, and empowers you to better understand yourself. Along the way though, you’ll be introduced to many different personality types and leadership characteristics, so business coaching is a great way to better hone how to work with diverse types of people, too. – Doreen Bloch, Poshly Inc.

3. Helping You See the Forest for the Trees

Sometimes, when you are too close to something, you can develop blind spots. A good business coach will have an objective point of view, and the ability to quickly identify problem areas that maybe you could not see. They may also be able to offer solutions or strategies you might not have considered, or push you out of your comfort zone so you can take your business to the next level. – Nicole Munoz, Start Ranking Now

3. Combating Unconscious Incompetence

Donald Rumsfeld wisely summed this up when he said, “There are things we don’t know we don’t know.” A coach provides another set of eyes that can draw on experiences with other clients in order to reveal and mitigate blind spots in your business. – Dan Pickett, Launch Academy

4. Asking the Right Questions

A business coach asks great questions that challenge you to think critically about your business. When you have a coach from a different industry, they bring a new perspective and ask higher level questions. This is especially helpful after you have been working on your startup for a couple of years and get caught up in the daily grind. – Randy Rayess, VenturePact

5. Prioritizing Risks

Feel like you’re constantly stressing about a million different problems? Coaches are great at helping you triage these issues and decide which challenges are worth fighting today and which ones are not worth worrying about until later. –Neil Thanedar, LabDoor

6. Employee Retention

Often more important than money, employees want to feel progress towards a goal and growth within an organization. By making businesscoaching available to all of our employees, we sent the message that we want to empower them to grow their leadership skills, and that there is no ceiling within the organization. Employee retention has made the coaching well worth the price tag. – Joel Holland, Video Blocks

7. Experienced Financial Planning

It is extremely difficult to plan out a budget when your head is wrapped around your business plan, marketing plan, potential growth, and so much more. A business coach is experienced in working with companies large and small to help them plan their finances in a smart and beneficial manner. They have seen the good and the bad and can help to make the best financial decisions for your company. – Miles Jennings, Recruiter.com

8. Building a Great Team

As an entrepreneur, there’s a strong temptation at the beginning to do everything yourself. A business coach can help you target your weaknesses and help you make sure the hires you make are the right solution to compensate. Then, they’ll encourage you to focus on your strengths so that your business operates efficiently. A business coach is a huge asset in building a great business team. – Dave Nevogt, Hubstaff.com

10 Reasons to Hire a Business Coach Now

Focus. Perspective. Skills. And those are just a few of the benefits.

1. You’ll go outside your comfort zone.

Especially for introverted entrepreneurs who run online businesses, like myself, it’s easy to become enmeshed in my own business world. My business coach has helped give me the push to step outside my comfort zone, meet new people and try new things in my business. Even extroverted entrepreneurs can get caught in ruts — a business coach will push you out of them.–Dave Nevogt, Hubstaff.com

2. You’ll get personal attention from someone who knows your business inside and out.

I’ve had a business coach for more than five years. The one aspect that a coach brings, that group sessions or mentors do not, is a keen awareness of your entire business and way of being. There are few times when someone is going to focus just on you for an entire hour, probing you about something that happened last quarter, an employee issue you had three weeks ago or your style of leadership.–Beck Bamberger, BAM Communications

3. You’ll finally have someone who isn’t afraid of correcting you.

Every great team has a coach. Think of the best NFL and NBA teams, which all have coaches. A coach is someone who’s not afraid to confront you and tell you when you’re doing something incorrectly. They have a proven method to success and can help you take your business to the next level.–Marc Devisse, Tri-Town Construction

4. You’ll learn how to make your ideas a reality.

Business coaches have one goal: to make your ideas into a reality. Although you may have many brilliant ideas for your company, sometimes it’s hard to know where to start and what to tackle first. Business coaches will evaluate your plans, assess if they are realistic or will be successful and set out a way that you can implement them correctly.–Miles Jennings, Recruiter.com

5. You’ll gain a needed confidante.

When you run your own company, it’s often hard to talk to people about your true concerns. Life partners, employees, peers and friends don’t get it for different reasons. At the same time, there’s a lot of noise in your head and around you. A business coach can provide that confidential, quiet space to focus, be a soundboard and problem-solve the priorities and challenges you face.–Charlie Gilkey, Productive Flourishing

6. Your networking opportunities will skyrocket.

The more you are involved with successful people, the more you will succeed. Aside from the other great points in this article, networking opportunities skyrocket when your business coach is out being an advocate for you. They know you and how you react in many situations. You will be top of mind in many cases when your coach is out meeting new people.–Drew Gurley, Redbird Advisors

7. You’ll make more money.

Simply, a good business coach will help you make more money. Every good coach, whether it be sports or business, has a process. Phil Jackson ran the Triangle Offense and won six NBA championships with Michael Jordan. Vince Lombardi won five Super Bowls creating what he called an Execution Strategy, combining spiritual and military discipline. Find your coach. Find your strategy. Then cash in.–Derek Hunter, William Roam

8. You’ll develop self-confidence.

The biggest “pro” is confidence. I attribute this to experience. My coach is 67 years old. He’s lived quite a life, from owning and selling businesses to failed partnerships, lawsuits and billion-dollar acquisitions. You name it, he’s done it. I leverage his failures and successes. He’s helping me achieve my goals, but also making sure I’m prepared for any situation that comes my way.–Jon Tsourakis, Revital Agency, LLC

9. You’ll be held accountable for what really matters.

A business coach can do wonders for busy entrepreneurs. As you run a growing organization, everything gets complex; you get busy and sometimes push off things you know are important. This is where a business coach comes in. You can discuss the vital things you need to accomplish in order to achieve your goals, and your coach will hold you accountable. That alone will make you more effective.–Jeff Cayley, Worldwide Cyclery

10. You’ll hear unbiased opinions.

One great thing about having a business coach is that he or she knows more about you than your business and will likely have no biases without your industry or company. This provides a great forum for unbiased advice based on your concerns as a leader. Good business coaches can lead founders to “aha!” moments and uncover solutions that people close to the business may overlook.–Brittany Hodak, ZinePak

 

https://www.inc.com/young-entrepreneur-council/10-reasons-to-hire-a-business-coach-now.html

The Benefits of Business Coaching

By Jeffrey E. Auerbach, Ph.D.

Business coaching is an expanding industry—58% of organizations say they have increased their use of coaching in the past year.

In the United Kingdom, four years ago just four percent of small businesses used coaches, and now 20% of small business enterprises are using coaching as part of their growth strategy. In another international study, 79% of medium and large businesses in the United Kingdom reported using coaching. In the US, in a sample of 101 companies using coaching, 58% of the companies were small or medium sized, government agencies and non-profits.

Coaching utilization is increasing because it is a cost effective means of achieving phenomenal results for teams and businesses. Organizations are asking can we afford not to use coaches?

There is increasing evidence that coaching is one of the most powerful ways of developing people and adding to bottom line business performance. A study of Fortune 1000 companies using coaching showed these percentages of executives reported the following benefits from the coaching they received:

• An increase in productivity (by 53%)
• Increased customer service (by 39%)
• Increased retention of senior people (by 32%)
• Reduction in costs (by 23%)
• Increased bottom line profitability (by 22%)

The same survey reported that the individuals who received coaching saw improvement in:

• Working relationships with their direct reports
• Working relationships with their manager
• Team-building
• Reduction in conflict
• Business Relationships with clients

Some leaders try to save money by limiting their expenditures on training because they don’t feel training generates immediate bottom line results. However, coaching can turn an investment in training into dramatic positive results. Here are two studies that support this statement:

• The Xerox Corporation found that the impact of using follow-up coaching after formal training gave a massive 87% increase in the effectiveness of training when compared to training alone.
• The International Personal Management Association supported this data. Their investigation showed that training improved the performance of their teams by 22%. When coaching was added to the training program, improvement in day to day work performance increased by 88%.

The Industrial Society asked companies what were the top three benefits of providing coaching to the workforce. The companies reported direct results from coaching in the following key performance areas (similar findings were reported in 2005 from the 2005 State of the Coaching Industry Report):

• Productivity
• Quality
• Organizational strength
• Customer service
• Reducing customer complaints
• Retaining executives
• Cost reductions
• Bottom-line profitability

Coaching is increasingly being utilized because:

• Small businesses can result in isolated managers who welcome support and challenge from someone outside their immediate work environment—especially if coaching and leadership development is not available in-house.
• Attendance at whole-day, or multi-day leadership development courses can seem impossible in an already busy schedule—and involve significant travel expenses. Sessions with business coaches, often conducted over the telephone, can fit around other commitments.
• As organizations operate with a “lean” staff—a shortage of time and increased pressure to perform is always present—and coaching provides “just in time” assistance and individual learning and support.
• Coaching provides for an individual “thought partner” to help the executive or manager confidentially think through important decisions in an enhanced manner.

The investment for business coaching can pay off many times over—increasing your bottom line, helping you work with renewed passion, getting more done in the same time period by working smarter, and reclaiming your life by adding more work-life balance. What will be your next step to start working with a coach or bringing coaching to your organization?

https://www.executivecoachcollege.com/research-and-publications/benefits-of-business-coaching.php

Why Every Small Business Needs A Small Business Coach

by Lorraine Brooks | Articles, Business Coaching, Business Planning

When we begin our first entrepreneurial journey most of us have never considered the need for external help that a business coach can provide. We embark on this journey with big dreams and small budgets. The only thing driving us is our desire to succeed in this incredibly competitive world and our only source of strength is the amount of hard work put in by the close knit team driving this dream. When we begin this journey most of have never considered the need for external help that a business coach can provide.

Why Should Every Small Business Invest In A Small Business Coach?

Since the core team that is responsible for managing the entire operations of this small business is not a large one, the success or failure of the venture invariably depends on these members. But the daily pressures of getting the work done, coping with the deluge of things to do and managing everything among a few members can take a toll on efficiency. Not to mention there is barely any time to assess strengths and weaknesses to improve performance. That is the reason every small business must invest in a business coach – a person who will take a close look at your operations, your targets and then set out a plan to achieve that. The first thing a business coach does is to establish long term goals for the business. These are then broken down into attainable targets, which will keep you focused on the task.

The coach then proceeds to assess the positives and negatives of the business – operations, employee performance, sales – there is no sector hidden from this expert. He or she will figure out what is hindering the best performance in every aspect of the business and help you overcome that challenge, leading to a maximization of profits.

This kind of expert advice can mean the difference between success and failure for small businesses, which is why business coaches have become so popular in Melbourne and around the world. One of the most visible effects of hiring a business coach is an improvement in efficiency at all levels. In bigger organizations, there are various levels of management that guide the operations, a luxury small business cannot afford.

But they can have a business coach to help them streamline their operations, get rid of unnecessary diversions, keep up with latest developments in the industry and manage time – all of which can work wonders in improving the working of any business. Another major advantage is that business owners get a realistic assessment of their business. The coaches are renowned for their straight talk that keeps the entrepreneurs feet on the ground and their mind focused on the goals.

A Business Coach Helps A Business Owner By Providing The Clarity Confidence And Certainty In Their Decision Making Process.

The work load can feel overwhelming, especially in a small business that is growing rapidly when a small number of people have to shoulder all the responsibility. A business coach is crucial at this stage as well as to deal with the changes brought about by bigger operating scales. The expert helps in assessing opportunities and expanding the mindsets of owners to open them up to new ideas to take their business to the next level.

Business is generally simple, but not easy.  For many business owners having a Business Marketing Coach to focus on understanding the specific needs of your business is a great help. Strategic Business and Marketing Solutions with over four decades of commercial and business experience, is renowned for its quality of service, practical, effective growth strategies and a history of success stories. The lessons learnt at this stage will persist even when the business has grown multifold – all you need to do is invest in a business coach now and reap its benefits for the rest of your journey.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to hear more about how a Business coach can help please contact us.

https://www.strategicbusinesscoaching.net.au/small-business-small-business-coach/