What To Look For in a Business Coach: Experience

Scaling up your business and taking it to the next level is challenging. It’s rewarding, but there is a lot more involved than simply getting bigger—or even getting better. The key to dramatic and sustained growth is transforming the way your business thinks and acts. To do that, many growing businesses enlist the help of a business coach to provide professional, objective, outside insight and training. Here’s what should you look for in a business coach: experience.

What Is a Business Coach?

Before we even get into what you should look for in a business coach, it’s important to understand just what a business or executive coach does. Some business people confuse executive coaches with consultants. They’re not the same thing. Generally speaking, a consultant will come into your business and consult with you about a single issue where he or she has a certain level of expertise. That can be very helpful. But that’s not what a business coach does.

A business coach looks at your whole organization. He or she “gets under the hood”to see how things run. After a significant amount of observation, a coach will suggest specific steps to take; provide you with the tools you need to make necessary changes, and then actually help you (coach you) in the implementation of those actions. And a great coach will also hold you accountable for what you commit to.

I frequently remind my clients that if they are expecting the see dramatic changes in the way they operate, they can’t simply conduct business as usual. They need to identify their goals, and then create a strategy for achieving those goals. Then that’s exactly what we do. I have the tools and the experience to help them formulate and achieve specific, realistic goals.

>>>   Click here  <<<  to schedule a complimentary phone meeting   

Why Is Experience So Important When Choosing a Business Coach?

There’s more to successful coaching than simply passing on helpful information. There are plenty of books, seminars, and workshops that offer insights for businesses. But if you’re looking for someone to train you to transform your business, you’ll want to choose someone who has actually taken businesses through the process successfully.

Today’s business climate is characterized by disruption and change. You’ll want a coach who has helped other businesses work through the changes that businesses face today.

You’ll also want a coach who knows that—even though there are some basic principles that hold true across the board—every business is unique. It takes experience to recognize that and know when to hold the course, and when to make changes. And frankly, there is no better teacher than experience. Experience is what enables a coach to discern the difference between business fads and genuine business trends that can impact success.

So What Kind of Coaching Experience Really Matters?

To be honest, numbers only tell part of the story, but they can be a strong indicator of what you’re getting when you look for a business coach. Here are some of the numbers that I think are significant when you’re evaluating a coach.

• 36: That’s how many years of experience I have working with high-growth businesses
• 1,000+: That is how many companies I’ve coached over my career
• 100+:This represents the number of recognized client achievements (theirs—not mine)
• 25,000+:This is how many hours I’ve invested in coaching teams and individuals
• 1,000+:This represents the number of times I’ve spoken at business events
• 400+:That’s how many blog posts about business transformation and growth I’ve posted (so far)

 

Here’s one more thing about experience that really can’t be represented with a number. I’m part of the Gazelles Growth Institute faculty. Like the other members of the faculty, I have to know business growth inside and out. We’re the ones who train the trainers.

What’s Your Next Step If You’re Serious About Business Coaching?

If you’re serious about transforming your business so that you’ll be ready to scale up and take your business to a whole different level, we should chat to see if my coaching experience and skills would be a good fit for your organization. Click here to schedule a complimentary phone meeting where we can talk about a few key items that will help us decide if we would be a good fit for each other.