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How a Business Coach helps Increase Business

Today, very few venture into the arena of Business Coaching. The question most people leave unasked is - Who is a business coach ? How can he help me in my business ? Today, I will try to share my thoughts on the above. Henceforth, we shall just use the words "Coach" or "Coaching" instead of "Business Coach" and "Business Coaching".

Let us realize that Coaching is a crucial relationship - between Coach and Company. Coach is a person who you go to for guidance and support. A few bold companies approach the Coach to get them to raise the bar. These could be new ways of doing business, new technologies that can be harnessed, challenging the existing style or working (and even leadership, at times). It could even include disruptive moves, which would benefit in the long run. Coaches then become, a trusted guide and friend, who also has a road-map of how to get there. Coaching is not Consulting. It is definitely not a Prescriptive Therapy. We can consider Coaching as lying somewhere in-between. 

A good Coach is trusted, has the insight and acumen to diagnose and  the patience to wait for the solution to be generated and delivered. He does not jump in and give you the solution. He questions but he does not provide the answers. He waits for you to take action. From a certain Point of View, he seems like your friend but he truly speaking a true friend of your Business. 

Business Coaches not only help to increase the top-line and the bottom-line and all things in between, they can also contribute to getting back lost business. This is an area very few companies focus on or are comfortable focusing on.

My feeling is that the Coach helps you to change your mindset, by making you to think about what could be the reasons the customer has moved away. It could be the result of several factors. One of them, and a crucial one, could be something that we did (and very often something that we did not do) that made the customer go away.

Quite a few companies, that I have worked with, refuse to listen to this possibility. Most believe, it is a case of some external factor and not an internal factor. How naive !!

Assuming that the Coach has been able to create this mindset, of looking inwards, for any lost customers, where else can he help the business to grow ?

Coaches can help business owners to analyze where their business stands and more importantly help them to figure out how to get it where they want it to be, in the shortest time and with the entire team being engaged in the effort.



 Some obvious areas are 
  • Getting Things Done (Productivity & Time Management)
  • Helping build the right Business Model
  • Reaching the Right Markets, at the Right Time, in the Right Way, with the Right Products / Services
  • Raise Profitability (both Top-line and Bottom-line)
  • Create the Right Culture for the Team the survive and thrive)
  • Raise benchmarks of Customer Service and Relationship (to reach the level of "Raving Fans")

The possibilities are (almost) endless.

Let us look at one possibility - Cashflow Management Coaching, especially for the SMBs.

Let us keep these assumptions, as the basis for the outcome that the Coach is working for - 
  • To Push & Guide the Manager beyond what he / she thought is possible
  •  Ensure that the Manager is working at his / her optimal level. Not in terms of what he feels is optimal but in terms of fully bringing out his / her potential
  • Supporting to attain the specified outcome (in this case, good Cashflow Management)
Let us examine the outcomes of bad cashflow management. Since, company is unable to buy with cash, the company spends more on every purchase. This leads to lowering of profitability. Not having cash to pay employees, leads to badwill (if there is any such word, meaning the opposite of goodwill). There is also the cost of time (which he could have used more effectively) that the Manager has to devote to temporarily solve this problem. Remember the keyword is "temporarily".

We all know the type of cashflow problems we face, so I will not talk about it here. In case any one wants to discuss this, please email me.

One of the biggest contributions that the Coach can make here is to ensure there is enough cash for business expansion. Most of the cashflow problems are operational, but expansion is strategic. Expansion can get stunted if there is not enough cash available as and when wanted.

Where the Coach contributes is
  • helping to identify the problem and its depth
  • guide (by asking right questions) and support the Manager to identify solutions and choose the best according to him
  • support and guide in the implementation process
  • help the manager to realize why it worked or did not work and identify changes to implement
  • streamline the cashflow in shortest possible time
  • help create a process which will prevent future cashflow problems
The true value of the Coach can be seen in the results that he gets, which come from using minimum efforts, yet giving maximum impact. All this, while creating the feeling that it was driven by the Manager.

Now, the Coach become a truly trusted partner to business owner. 

 To know more, please get in touch with Dr. Sunil Pevekar (+91 7983826309) 
or write to marketing@drsunilpevekar.com


Comments

  1. Rahul7 September 2017 at 08:39

    Excellent Article Doc it inspired me more to chase my dreams and certainly it will inspire all who read it if they have a "DREAM"

    ReplyDelete

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