Today’s economy is in dire straights. Because of this, there is an ever growing demand for business coaches. Consumers are reducing their spending and some businesses are finding it difficult to stay afloat or going under. These are usually small to medium sized businesses, but large businesses are not immune. The small and medium business industry needs professional like you, so you are at an advantage. That being said, you still need to know and understand the ever changing marketing trends and these basic business principals in dealing with people. What are they and how can you implement them? Here they are and it may be a lot easier than you might think to practice them.
Be polite. When working as a business coach, you must first analyze a business. You examine their profits to see how short they are falling short. Look at their marketing practices to see what they are doing wrong, and so forth. Your job is to take the bad, educate a business owner or operating manager, and transform it into good. Unfortunately, that means criticizing. Yes, it is your job, but remember that we are all naturally offended. Insult a business owner and they will get upset. It is all about delivery, be polite.
Be positive. As previously stated, your job is to take the bad and transform it into good. You do so by providing suggestions, showing by example, and by offering feedback. No business owner is so bad that they never do anything wrong. Their doors would have closed by this point if that were the case. You need to focus on the bad, but also focus on the good. For example, if a retail manager has a well-organized office, but a poor organized sales floor, commend them for their effort. Let them know they did a good job in their office, but that they should have extended the organization to the sales floor. You let them know there is a problem, but still provided positive feedback. Your client will be more receptive.
Offer praise and encouragement. As a business coach, it is your responsibility to teach business owners and operating managers how to run a successful business. The keyword is teach. You do not do the work. You can display a few examples, but let your clients do the brunt of the work. Like a sports coach, sit back and watch. Analyze the situation and provide feedback. Throughout the task, offer praise and encouragement. It sounds silly, but some people just need a positive push in the right direction. In addition, since you are treating your client like a human being, you score extra points.
Offer to work with the entire staff. When providing business coaching services, business coaches usually work directly with the company owner or manager. There are others on site though. These staff members, their actions, their results, and their productivity are important to the company’s success. You can educate your client and they can retrain their staff members, or you can offer to do it. You should charge extra for this service, but offer a low rate or discount and you should get some takers.
Offer to come back and help. As a business coach, you can spend one day working one-on-one with a client or one week. No matter what steps you take to educate them on the importance of all business components, your advice may be ignored. So, always offer to comeback for a review or to answer a few simple questions. Let them know that advice is free, but retraining will cost extra.
It’s these basic people handling principals that should both surround and be engrained in how you deal with all of your clients. As long as you take the approach of treating people the way you would want to be treated you will be OK. Like all humans we are vulnerable to mistakes and should a situation arrive where you say the wrong thing, remember the customer is always right, assess the situation, apologize if needed, and think of some alternative methods you could have used. As you gain experience you should be able to easily recognize ways on handling clients. Have at it!
Chris W. Kilber is an avid supporter of small business in America. He is an entrepreneur, small business owner, small business coach, SEO expert, and a past systems engineer. His business works with individuals and business start-ups to establish and increase revenues using online and offline marketing methods. Chris specializes in small business coaching, marketing, and leadership. He blogs at http://smallbusinesscoaching.info and can be reached at 1-888-518-1776
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