We live in the best time ever to be in business. The options are endless. For professional, certified business coaches, this means opportunity in all markets, in all fields, and in complex industries. World leaders, top executives, and sports superstars have always had trusted advisors for guidance, perspective, and mentorship. Business coaching can be applied to almost any business, yet only qualified coaches can facilitate it properly and successfully.
A professional business coach is a relatively unique individual. The best business coaches have a strong business background, are committed to their own ongoing education, and are also strong, confident, amiable personalities who genuinely enjoy helping others.
What Is Business Coaching?
Business coaching is not consulting, where consultants often appear to be armed with all the answers. On the flip side, business coaches have all the questions. This is an important distinction. A professional and certified business coach is trained to get the best out of the people they work with.
As you might imagine, leading an already successful business owner or executive takes a structured, strategic, and respectful approach. Business coaching is a process based on making small, tactical, consistent changes over time with the goal of driving long-term results. It is also specifically designed to educate the business owner so that they continue to use what they learn, even when the business coach is no longer there.
Types of Coaches
If you were looking for a Business Coach, would you want to know about their system for coaching? Would you also want to know how that system was created? And where it was tested? Before engaging a business coach, be sure to ask these questions.
It is all too easy for a consultant or an unemployed executive to print out a card that says “business coach.” Your local print shop won’t ask for proof of certification. The business coaching market is growing rapidly. As with any high-growth industry, individuals and companies rush in with a loose operating idea and a short-term strategy.
Those organizations with a long-term strategy and a focus on proven client results, however, will emerge as the long-term winners. Temporary business coaches are those who ‘try business coaching’ while searching for employment or longer contracts. As such, these are often consultants or displaced executives who do not have professional coaching certification.
Independent coaches may enjoy a certain amount of limited local success. They face the challenge of having to prove their homegrown system, develop all their marketing material, collateral, and support documents. Often, they have a background in accounting or marketing and have added the title of “business coach” to re-brand their services. Business owners and executives, however, are looking for leading-edge strategies and established models, which are out of reach for the independent business coach.
Compared to independent consultants, professional business coaches that follow a system are a favorite of corporations seeking to leverage the efforts of their people. Top decision-makers such as presidents, CEOs, executive boards, and HR departments of larger corporations are not willing to have unproven mavericks advising and working closely with their top executives.
What will they be working on? Whose agenda will they be following? How will the company be able to measure the benefit? Are the successes reputable nationally or globally? Larger corporations can gain the control they seek by having a master copy of the coaching content and a solid understanding of the order of operations that will be followed. This is a model of an executive coach.
The franchised coach has proven to be the most successful model for delivering consistent, high-quality results to the market both for the client and the coach. By its nature, the franchise model attracts those who are interested in business ownership. As business owners, these coaches are peers with their clients, so their coaching is more relevant.
Franchising is a very specific business model. It relies on the premise that systems can help a business grow faster and stronger than going it on your own. People who use the franchised business model to grow their business, whatever it might be, are able to focus on the profitable activities of finding clients and working with them. The market has responded very well to franchised business coaches. They prefer a recognized brand and programs with systemized, proven results.
Why Is a Certified, Professional Business Coach Important?
A professional coach is a full-time business coach who is committed to their own success and to lifelong learning. They are completely dedicated to this exciting field. A certified business coach relies on having a system, and systemization is one of the first things a professional business coach will work on with a business owner or executive.
They can work with any number of businesses. It is often said that as business coaches, we’re “in the business OF business.” As such, we deal with generalized business principles. The coach works closely with the business owner to bring these principles to life – specific to their situation and their industry and based on their needs.
These are just a select few of the industries that benefit from coaching:
Professional Services
Personal Services
Manufacturing
Banking and Finance
Food
Healthcare (doctors and dentists)
Service-Based Industries
Construction and Trades
Retailers (B2B and B2C)
Blue-Collar Industries
White-Collar Industries
One demographic that may surprise you is other franchises! This is a massive potential market. Franchisors have a network of outlets throughout the country that operate on a system. Each franchise is essentially its own small- to medium-sized business. Business coaches work at both the franchisor and the franchisee level to drive results and bottom-line success for the franchises. Business coaching continues to grow in this market.
The Importance and Relevance of a Brand
Is a brand important? In a word: absolutely. A strong brand overcomes our basic human need for validation. Not every customer will know of a coaching brand. Each vertical market or industry has its own brand leader.
Consider the banking industry – who is the brand leader in teller software? In the restaurant industry, who is the brand leader in industrial cleaners? The point of a brand is to rapidly educate potential buyers and give them confidence in your product or service.
Is Business Coaching Right for You?
The ability to leverage your past career experience makes coaching a natural choice for many
professionals. Business coaching is an intellectual property business, which means that age and physical ability are not barriers to entry.
A professional, certified business coach is typically an experienced executive, an entrepreneur, or a sales professional. They might also be a retired or former business owner
themselves. As the focus of business coaching is helping others, leadership characteristics and outgoing personalities add another dimension to this unique individual.
Business coaching has the advantage of a low fixed-cost base. This is an ideal work-from-home business with flexible working hours. Business coaching is mainly done at the clients’ offices or at a coffee shop over a latte. There is no inventory to purchase or keep track of. The trade-off is that a successful Business Coach must constantly focus on improving their own knowledge.
The Future of Business Coaching
Fluctuations in the economy affect all businesses. For business coaches, the marketing targets change. When one industry is up, others are down. For consultants, there is a lot of downside risk, but for business coaches who work as business generalists, opportunities always abound. Business coaching has a long future. Regardless of the status of a business, there is always a need for business coaching.
For over 20 years, FocalPoint Business Coaching has been specializing in the coaching and training of industry leaders and business owners. We train and support professional business coaches worldwide. These coaches are an elite group of business coach specialists, well equipped with unique expertise and proven methodology.
We use world-class techniques and content to teach business owners how to manage and increase key resources – time, teams, and money. We also assist business owners in getting their businesses ready to sell for maximum profit. Our tools and support networks exist so that leaders can amplify and refine their untapped knowledge base.
Interested in Owning a FocalPoint Franchise?
If your interest is piqued, you may be considering whether or not becoming a business coach is right for you. You will have the chance to own your own business while supporting others in growing their companies. With FocalPoint, you will become part of a well-known and well-respected brand that will give your business coaching career a jumpstart right off the bat.
Owning a franchise is an amazing way to build the life you’ve dreamed of and experience the benefits of business ownership. Not sure how to get started? We can help.
FranCoach is a national search firm dedicated to working with individuals who are interested in owning a franchise. We've partnered with over 600 of the top franchisors in the country, spanning nearly 70 industries.
Our number one goal with our clients is to help them find the absolute best franchise for them to own. Reach out to us to learn more about potentially becoming a franchise owner. There’s never any fee for our service, so why not take the first step today toward your better tomorrow?