Would you as a business owner or sales professional find value in having a personal motivator/accountability coach?
The coach calls you first thing in the morning to review your daily business and personal priorities, and then follows up with you to make sure that these priorities are carried out. The service would also allow for night sessions to review the whole day, time for unique business consultations, strategy sessions etc. I feel like I need that push as a business owner to not "react" all day to problems that just come up. Thanks for your advice!
Expert Answers
Sort by Date
Sort by Votes
Jul 27, 2015
As a business mentor and coach I think this is perhaps one of the most dangerous propositions to a business owner. It strikes me this is a method of insinuating yourself in to a business when you should be making the client independent.
How many answers in this discussion have identified the biggest fear for potential clients is that they do not get tangible results?
The difficulty of course is when properly mentoring and coaching you are not doing the business for the client, you are facilitating and enabling the organisations people to achieve it for themselves, so ultimately quantifying this as the work of a mentor is often very difficult. Add to this that a service can only be properly judged on results by which time the client has possibly spent lots of money.
So in my opinion the goal of a general business mentor or a generalist coach is to eventually make themselves redundant within the organisation and this should perhaps be made the tangible goal sought and progress towards this the milestones measured.
Of course some coaches will respond with 'things change so additional support needs may emerge '. In principle I agree they do, most industries are dynamic, or the company has an opportunity or change of direction. However, these are most likely be project specific needs, with a typical project life cycle, and very often require specialist coaching skills rather than generalist.
I understand this concept of redundancy as a goal is counter intuitive for a business coach to say, but this is perhaps the most tangible result as the business owner develops the personal skills, engages a well skilled team and the organisation achieves stability.
In my work with clients where I consult on how to set up effective mentoring/coaching programmes using both internal and external coaches and mentors. I often come across toxic coach/client relationships that need to be addressed.
Jul 25, 2015
This is a crutch and not a sustainable business. Would it not be better to help get someone on the right track by giving them the tools necessary. You can add accountability to your coaching program. I don't believe a professional needs to be motivated by a phone call every day. Those that are truly successful hire assistance to take the noise out of their lives so that they can focus on what is most important. Those who are on the path to success, need to learn how to motivate themselves or get out of self-employment.
Jul 25, 2015
I am a coach of business owners. I became a coach since during my career, despite my drive, capability, and big success, I had a coach to assist as I started a business leadership role. Despite the value of just having someone "outside" to provide perspective and input, the accountability part of it was surprisingly powerful. Again, since I had seen that, is why I decided to later become a coach to assist independent business owners.
Having said that, I think daily coaching is totally impractical. Despite its value, spending that much time on it is not appropriate when you are going to be so busy ...unless there is some MAJOR short term objective. Plus, so much of the time, you will not have been able to get the daily work done for quite valid reasons and that is ok. So the questions becomes, what IS the right amount of time. Quite honestly, I think an hour a week is quite adequate. It might be 2 hours if you are just starting up or have something specific needing assistance, but an hour a week typically is sufficient.
I hope this was helpful.
Jul 24, 2015
Coach or mentor both a little different, both possibly needed however, I suggest starting with a Mentor 1st...Get to know your own strengths and weaknesses, go from there, a coach and mentor are very similar in many ways...
Jul 24, 2015
As a sales professional if I am not motivated I shouldn't be in sales. I set for my self daily,, weekly and monthly goals. So a person like that is waste of my money and time.
Jul 24, 2015
Accountability is really the key. Everyone needs it, but to a different degree. In one of my businesses I need more of it, so I have a daily check in. In another one of my businesses, it flows smoothly - so only monthly checkins are required. My last one is so automated that I only check in quarterly. Look up http://scrumtrainingseries.com and look at the length of a "sprint" - you can choose to have weekly / bi-weekly / monthly quarterly "big updates" and a bunch of 5 minute daily updates to keep you on track.
It's the same as having a "gym buddy". You should find one that matches your capability and requirements.
I think everyone could use a coach at one point or another because as someone most eloquently put it - "you can't see yourself swing".
Also if you're asking if you need a coach, perhaps you've already answered your question if you're trying to get backing for your idea.
I know of a few good ones - but I don't know if they do the daily business call thing. It's good to shop around and see which one fits you best as everyone's different.
Good luck finding your dream coach :)
@JC Quek
I like your formula.
Simple formula: value increase > cost of engaging a coach.
Jul 24, 2015
As the sole owner of a company, I think it is great to have a professional individual who you can pass ideas by and discuss strategy; however, not necessarily on a daily basis.
Jul 24, 2015
There are people that will benefit from this and people that can do it on their own. With a simple price structure you may get good acceptance. For me not needed, but i know several people that would benefit from something like this.
Jul 24, 2015
Brian: Personally I would not use such a service. The service as described would make me feel micromanaged. I have found that leveraging a monthly Mastermind group where we discuss business challenges and potential solutions is helpful and I feel accountable to my group members when I report progress or lack thereof at these meetings.
Jul 24, 2015
Now you being the business owner – leader the day-to-day functions really are your responsibility. What a coach or advisor should do is teach you to implement a system of checks and balances to get you to the next level. You should not use that person as crutch to manage.
I have had the experience of working with a leadership coach and I will say working with him he showed me that I have what it takes to be a leader in business.
Aug 16, 2015
Neil,
This is someone who supports the owner with accountability towards their goals and tries to inspire and motivate with practical tips. Purely there to push the owner to complete their goals. Not a crutch and it is not about ego from being your own person. These people may try productivity apps but they are responsible for holding themselves accountable. I have two clients so far and one completed 6 out of 6 goals on Day 1 when these goals had all been put off for 3 weeks. I appreciate your further views!
Jul 24, 2015
I personally do not feel I would need such a service. To find out the value for sure I would need to try it so I can see the value increase. Ideally a no-cure-no-pay structure would suit this service well so the business owner holds no risk and the service provider does not risk unsatisfied customers.
The point of this take on the coaching business is that people are very distracted in these times. Phones are buzzing, social media is chiming in, you may have other distractions. This service would not be for everybody but is for people that have a hard time sticking to a plan. It is for business owners who can't make headway in doing the right things daily to improve their business and on their personal side are not doing enough key things to make them happy. The total amount of time the coach would talk to the clients is 14 minutes a day and some may just want the "first thing in the morning" for 7 to 10 minutes. I completely understand about making it a program that will eventually end. I believe some would learn from the process and end their service but others would appreciate the consistent start to the day with defining the "gamechanger" business and personal goals that will be the focal point of the day! Keep the opinions coming! I appreciate the thoughtful responses!