Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Coaching as a Tool



I work with many entrepreneurs. Each is unique in their business models, industries and offerings. However, there seems to be one common thread that I find with my clients, they all like to coach their clients. No they are not all coaches.

Mini-Case Study of a Coaching Non-Coach
I work with an accountant who is not satisfied with preparing taxes, he wants to guide his clients to help them make good decisions in their businesses. He coaches his clients so they look ahead and make good decisions that will secure their financial future and insure a sustainable business. The funny thing is that he never realized he was "coaching." It was just part of what he does. So now, when tax season is over, he is not done. He offers a quarterly coaching program. This includes several phone conversation, reviewing of monthly financial statements and a set amount of email communication.

The benefits for his clients: They get on-going support throughout the year. They also do not get surprises at the end of the year. In the last quarter of the year, they are able to make educated decisions in order to ensure they are not hit with a high tax liability. They also get long-term as well as short-term strategies.

The benefits for him - the accountant/coach: He now has a new revenue source/profit center. This is a great source of cash flow that is predictable. This also allows him to continue to grow and develop a long-term relationship with his clients.

When you start to add up all the benefits you see the win-win. The next step is to create a deeper win. As he grows the coaching/retainer accounts, he can create a mastermind group or training for his clients. This will allow him to do some group coaching/training (for a fee) and his clients will be able to network and possible develop some business relationships that had not been possible before. Pretty cool.

So if you think that coaching might be a great profit center to add to your practice, consider going to the following training. I will admit that I am a volunteer helping the facilitator with this event. I cannot imagine a more worthwhile event. To learn more about how you can add coaching to your practice or your business tool bag, check out: The Coaching Super Summit. It is going to be in Baltimore and it will be life and business changing.