As I travel across Australia, New Zealand and North America providing advice to Small to Medium sized businesses or indeed providing advice to coaches and consultants who are providing advice to businesses, every now and again a wary business person will make comment about the value of business coaching and/or consulting.

However, more often than not their understanding of this fairly new industry is less than complete.

So, by way of education, my intent in the next several weeks is to run a series of articles that will address some of the common issues, myths and misconceptions so that as situations arise in your business, you can make an informed choice about the value of having a business coach and/or consultant work with you to achieve your commercial objectives.

Is that fair enough?

Let’s begin …

Misconception # 1:  All business coaches/consultants are a waste of time and charge fees that are not justifiable

Lamentably, as with any industry or profession, there are “cowboys” or rogues around who are more interested in making a fast buck out of you than in helping you achieve sustainable results. Yet that is not the case with everyone. Look for a business coach or consultant, (more about the difference AND there IS a BIG difference later), who is clearly interested in getting to know and build a long term relationship with you and your business. As for fees – well there are many ways to structure a transaction so that it meets with the cash flow needs of the business. 

The key point here is that using the right business coach or consultant will never be a cash drain on your business. Rather it will be an investment in which you will gain a return on your investment many times over. In fact, with your application of the principles, systems etc that your Business Coach will provide you, typically the whole arrangement will be paying for itself well and truly inside 90 days.  That’s right, like I said, having a good business coach on your team is an investment not an overhead.

Yes, in some cases you may be able to eventually do it yourself or find the information for free, but think about the opportunity cost of your time. Should you not focus on what you are good at and outsource the rest?

Misconception # 2: How could you (Mr Business Coach) help me, afterall I’ve been in this game for “x” years?

Yes it’s true, no-one will know your business like you (or at least like you should). For instance, often I ask business owners about the key numbers in their business – numbers like average dollar sale value; number of transactions in an average week; the typical demographic and psychographic profiles of their typical (or better) preferred customer; what measures are in place to attract, retain and incentivise your internal and external customers? 

Internal customers …hmmm …what’s that you say?  Ahhh, well, they are your staff. Yes indeed, if more business people treated their staff in a manner that was congruent with the mission and values statements that are espoused by the organisation then I dare say they would have far less problems attracting and retaining quality staff.

And if you don’t have a formal mission and values statement – this still applies to you.  Take a good long look in the mirror and look at your attitude and actions towards your staff.  Since you are the boss they will follow your lead. If you are miserable, grumpy, anxious and just plain (not) good fun to be around – your staff will be less energised, less happy, less productive and it will show through to your external customers.

Is this a light bulb moment for you? If it is what are you going to do about it? How are you going to change the culture, ethics, processes and procedures of your business? Who will be responsible and when?

Anyway I digress. You see, if you are in the picture it’s hard for you to see the frame.

And a good business coach can help you maintain your focus or indeed help you get rid of the clutter so you can establish what your proper focus should be!

And finally, while I would expect that you will be an expert in your industry, a good business coach will be an expert in business improvement.  And in the current challenging economic times the “smart money” understands and appreciates the need for high quality, expert assistance and this includes having a business coach.

Do you have one?

If not, who is responsible for this?

What are you going to do about it and when?

Next week we continue with Part 2 and more common misconceptions.

Join Our Team – calling for Expressions of Interest

We are continuing to expand and are looking for quality people to join our team.

You can work from home or existing commercial space (your choice).

A range of opportunities exist to suit different people and their circumstances. Some require little or no investment while others require an investment.

If you:

• Are looking for a change of career (by choice or as a result of redundancy)
• Feel tired of others looking at you as if you have reached your use by date
• Wish to make a worthwhile contribution to the SME business community in Australia, New Zealand or North America
• Have middle to senior management experience and want to leverage the skills you already have (and learn new ones)
• Are a young person with big dreams/aspirations and want a vehicle that can help you reach them AND you are willing to learn new skills
• Are a person of unquestioned integrity and ethics (we will do background checks)
• Are accustomed to earning between $100,000 p.a. through to $300,000 p.a. (and more) or believe you are worth this and are willing to prove it!

Then drop me a line with your name, contact details and your resume in the first instance and I will be in touch for an initial confidential chat.