Looking for a business coach is a process that no entrepreneur or manager should take lightly. Choosing the right coach can mean a significant difference in the company’s bottom line as well as the business owner’s satisfaction with his or her company. Selecting the wrong coach can lead to wasting money on advice that isn’t particularly helpful. Sales coaches, business coaches, and executive coaches all are people who can assist business owners, but each has pros and cons that should be considered carefully.
Looking for a business coach is a process that no entrepreneur or manager should take lightly. Choosing the right coach can mean a significant difference in the company’s bottom line as well as the business owner’s satisfaction with his or her company. Selecting the wrong coach can lead to wasting money on advice that isn’t particularly helpful. Sales coaches, business coaches, and executive coaches all are people who can assist business owners, but each has pros and cons that should be considered carefully.
Sales Coaches
A sales coach’s job is to help people learn to sell. Often business owners believe very much in their company’s mission and product or service but are unable to determine the best way to convince others to make the purchase. A good sales coach is someone with a background in sales and marketing and the ability to teach others how to work on their pitch and how to deal with clients. The downside of working with a sales coach is they are focused solely on how to make a sale and cannot provide information about other aspects of business. Someone who is not entirely sales-focused may not be a good fit for a sales coach.
Business Coaches
A business coach can aid business owners in making their business ideas work. An entrepreneur who is having trouble putting together a solid business plan or executing ideas can use a business coach to flesh out those issues. The primary benefit of a business coach is as a sounding board. Business coaches can help to put an idea into motion. The downside of using a business coach is that many of these coaches dictate the way that a person starts his or her business. If a business coach is not intimately familiar with the industry in which an entrepreneur’s idea is situated, he or she may give advice that is not beneficial to that person. A medical supply company has significantly different needs from a software company, for example, and the wrong business coach could lead to poor advice for the business owner.
Executive Coaches
The executive coach is in many ways the “advanced” level coach for business owners. Once a company is up and running, the needs of the company change. The business owner, whose true interest likely lies with the company’s initial mission, has to switch gears to working on staffing, networking, and maintaining the company’s assets. An executive coach is able to work with business owners to help them transition their thinking to these issues and understand how best to organize the company in order to succeed. Executive coaches work only for people who want to adopt a specific management style. People who are still evolving their companies would not do well with an executive coach because the goal is to learn to manage a business, not to build it.
Conclusion
Before committing to a specific type of coaching for business owners, be sure to consider exactly what your needs are and then how each type of coach can provide help for you as you grow your business.
Peter Marino, is a business consultant for SocialMediaMarketing.co, a full service creative coaching and social media training company based in NYC.
