More importantly, can you afford not to have a coach for your business?
Can you remember the goals and dreams you had the day you opened your own business? How close have you come to them? Or have you while busy building your business and struggling to get it off the ground lost sight of them? Maybe you have achieved your initial goals and forgot to set new ones?
“A good coach will make his players see what they can be rather than what they are.” (Ara Parasheghian)
Explained in its simplest form, a business coach helps you get back on track to achieve those initial goals and even bigger ones. A coach will not do the work, they are not lecturers either, however they generally have a considerably vast understanding of the “game” they are coaching, be that Golf or Business.
Wikipedia defines as follows: “Business coaching is the practice of providing support and occasional advice to an individual or group in order to help them recognize ways in which they can improve the effectiveness of their business. It can be provided in a number of ways, including one-on-one tuition, group coaching sessions and large scale seminars. Business coaches are often called in when a business is perceived to be performing badly, however many businesses recognize the benefits of business coaching even when the organization is successful.”
Having a coach means having an ally in your corner who wants to see you win, and win big. A trainer whom you’re accountable to, who constantly pushes you and asks the best of you, who will not accept excuses but always remind you of the goals you’ve set out to achieve.
Phil Dixon, a Canadian basketball coach, said: “Probably my best quality as a coach is that I ask a lot of challenging questions and let the person come up with the answer.” This is especially true in business coaching. Expect your coach to always ask you questions, and more questions. He or she will dig deeper and deeper until you yourself find the right answers and get to the core issues.
Before a business owner starts working with a SalesPartners coach they will work through a Business Performance Review. The SalesPartner will ask 150 tough questions ranging over 10 different topics. In the second session the answers are debriefed and goals formulated, it is in essence a first coaching session. This BPR is then done in regular intervals, that way results can be measured effectively.
When is it time to afford a business coach? When you’ve started talking to the wall in the hope of finding a strategic plan up there; when the voices in your head aren’t just talking but screaming; when you’ve got the feeling your business should be called Titanic; when you know you should expand but can’t find the time, the right team or the right approach; when everything is going well but you want to make sure everything stays on course.
A SalesPartners coach will work with you on your strategic plan, help you find and train a championship team that wins, hold you accountable, keep you motivated and much more depending on your situation. Coaching is highly individualized that’s why it is so effective, so much so that SalesPartners offers a performance guarantee, working for free if the targeted results haven’t been achieved in the agreed timeline until the business gets the results.
For more information about having a SalesPartner work with you in your business or about becoming a SalesPartner contact Bettina Horvath, regional developer SalesPartners Cape, 082 99 26 007, BettinaH@sp-ww.com
