If you are thinking of hiring someone to help you in your business then before you rush into making a selection take time to research and find out all you can.
There are many questions which you could ask and you may be asking yourself where to start.
Let’s assume you’ve done research the easy way by searching with Google and you’re about to go and meet the person for the first time.
What are you going to say?
What questions are you going to ask?
Here are five questions which will help you make a wise selection.
- Has the coach actually run a business before?
Our society seems to value knowledge over experience which is why in the past you can go to university and study business with a professor who has never run a business in their life. So make sure your coach has run their own business before. - Where will the coach focus?
Make sure you ask good questions before you ever engage a small business coach and the very best one to ask is:- ‘Where will you focus FIRST in your coaching process?
If this does not meet your most immediate need then you have the wrong person.
So many people who perform small business coaching have a process they’ve learned from a book or course and are not flexible enough to adapt to the individual business needs. - How much will the coach interfere?
Most business owners have a strong need to be in control which is necessary to survive the ups and downs of running a business.
Retired executives who take up small business coaching and have never run a small business before are often living out their dream to own and run a business through someone else’s business.
In these circumstances the coach can actually interfere and cut across the business owner. Make sure that the coach is working for you and supporting what you desire. - How long will the coach be involved?
If you are looking for someone to do a project for you and introduce a new process or procedure into your business then you’re looking for a consultant and not a coach.
Coaching gets most of its benefit over a long period which in small business is generally at least a year. Many coaching programmes are set up on a 12 week cycle because that’s all the small business can afford. Don’t fool yourself.
This is a project so look for the benefit of a project and not the benefit of small business coaching - Can you give me three people who I can talk to about your services?
You may be asking why I’m suggesting you need three testimonials in selecting someone for small business coaching.
Most coaches who’ve been around for a few years have one or two absolute converts to their methods and processes.
However, it is extremely unlikely that three different people will have the same experience with the same coach so by talking to three different people you will get three experiences and three different views on the value of the services and how they might work for you in your business
What is your experience on small business coaching?
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