Leadership Development and Business Coaching with Brian Wood

As a business coach, your area of expertise is educating business owners.  You share tips on how to operate a successful and profitable business.  You do so though with one-on-one explanations, training exercises, and written materials that can be referenced at anytime.  Most business coaches have a special step-by-step program that they use.  You should be no different.  Whether your current program has you working one-on-one with your client or with your client and their employees, leadership training is vital.

In small businesses, there is usually one or two leaders.  With medium-sized business, there are more, but usually less than twenty.  Leadership training should involve each member of management or those on their way up the company ladder.  Be sure your client knows this.  Yes, you can educate them on leadership development and they can later train their staff with this knowledge, but there are a number of benefits to doing it yourself.  After all, you are a trained and experienced expert on the subject.

In terms of leadership training, get started with your client.  This is the business owner or operating manager.  Monitor a few hours of their day.  How do they manage their time?  How do they interact with clients and employees?  Is their time well-managed?  Take notes throughout the day.  Commend your client for taking positive steps, but make suggestions where improvements are needed.  Finally, discuss with them what you will use to train their employees, particularly those in or on the way to management positions.

Speaking of which, what will you do?  Since medium-sized businesses typically have less than twenty in management positions, you are at an advantage.  You should have a relatively small group to work with.  This gives you an edge.  You do not have to entertain or hold the attention of a room of 50.  A small group also makes interactive exercises easy.

To get started, ask each team member to describe his or her day from start to finish.  Ask them to include the little things, such as bathroom breaks, smoke breaks, socializing with coworkers, and checking email.  You will collect these notes and read them aloud.  Ask the audience member to vote on which manager is making the best use of their time.  Conclude the exercise by highlighting the importance of time management in the workplace.  Then, share tips on how to improve the use of time.  This includes waiting until scheduled breaks to go to the bathroom, smoke, and socialize with coworkers.

Another ideal exercise focuses on conflict resolution.  Those in management positions deal with many conflicts.  Other employees approach them with complaints.  These complaints may be about the poor work environment or coworker troubles.  Managers also deal with customer complaints.  In these situations, the wrong action can lead to conflict.  Use role-playing to highlight your point.  Ask two managers to role-play.  Have one be a customer with a valid complaint.  See how the two handle the situation on their own in front of the group.  Then, analyze.  Show for the room what the two volunteers did right, what they did wrong, and offer tips to reduce and resolve workplace conflict.

In addition to time management and conflict resolution, good communication skills are a must for those in management.  As previously stated, managers need to communicate their bosses, coworkers, and clients.  They will provide direction and solve complications as they arise.  To do this, good communication skills are vital.  Directions must be easy to comprehend, detailed, and clear.  Buy a cheap plastic shelf from a discount store.  Choose two volunteers from the group.  The first provides direction, in their own words, on how to assemble.  The second volunteer does the assembly.  Were clear instructions given?  If the volunteer rambled or gave confusion suggestions, show how it influenced the second volunteer’s ability to do the task.  Stress the importance of clear communication and tips for making it happen.

Time management, conflict resolution, and communication are just three aspects of leadership development that you should cover as a business coach.  Businesses generate income by selling a product or a service.  Yes, you want to focus on sales and marketing, but start at the base of the business.  Once that is functioning smoothly, the rest will start to fall into place.

Let me known your thoughts,

B Wood

Home Based Businesses and Business Coaching by Brian Wood

When it comes to business coaching, many coaches specialize in small to medium-sized companies.  Those with experience in executive settings, assist large corporations.  Regardless of the specialty, there is money to be made.  But, many business coaches are failing to change with the times.  Many do not realize the potential of home-based businesses, but you can and should.

As you know, home-based businesses come in a number of formats.  For example, a mom may run a daycare out of her home, a dad may make handmade toys to sell from home, or a cosmetologist may run an in-home salon out of the garage or basement.  In terms of home-based businesses, the options are endless.  They also vary in size.  Most are self-employed; working for themselves and by themselves.  Some hire outside help.

Anyone can start a home based business.  Someone who has a dream or a passion or wants to leave the dog-eat-dog corporate world behind can start a business and right from their own home.  There is a growing trend though.  That trend is parents who want to work from home.  Some want a work-at-home job, meaning they are employed by a company, but perform their tasks at home.  Others, want to capitalize on a talent or hobby and start their own business.  For parents, starting a home-based business provides them with unlimited flexibility and control.

Do you need proof that people want to start their own business?  If so, perform a standard internet search with the phrases “work-from-home,” and “home-based businesses.”  You will get thousands of results.  There is a lot of information available online to assist these people, but they need more.  Just because a parent has a good product or service and a website, it does not mean that they will make money.  That is why they can benefit from using your services as a business coach.

The first step in working as a home based business coach is to find clients.  If you have a website, include home-based business coaching as one of your services.  Then, seek out these individuals.  As previously stated, a lot of information can be found online.  Most websites are informational sites, but some are online communities, like message boards.  Join; insert yourself into the community.  Add a link to your business website in your profile and signature.  Join in on the discussions.  If someone asks for tips, provide them with a few.  Never give out too much information.  Members will wonder how you know so much and who you are, so they should click on your links.  If they want or need your service, they will use it.

Once you acquire a client, it is time to get to work.  Home based business coaches tend to have more responsibility and tasks.  This is because many home-based business owners set up shop on a whim.  They realized they could make money doing something they love and ran with it.  Some did not even have a plan in place.  If your client does not have a business plan, coach them through creating one.  This plan should include what they sell, who their targeted market is, how they intend to generate income, and how to market their product to the public.

Business coaching involves encouragement.  You need to encourage home-based business owners to take a step in the right direction.  Show them their potential.  If they truly have a great product, show them exactly how solid marketing can increase sales.  Even if their marketing plan results in five new customers a week, calculate for them the additional yearly profit.  Also, given them ideas to run with.  Do more than just say “you need to market your business.”  Give them specific examples, watch implement, and offer feedback.

I look forward to your comments,

B Wood

Brian Wood talks about Business Coaching Success

If you want to start a career as a business coach, you are in luck.  Unfortunately, today’s economy is in trouble.  Consumers are reducing their spending and some businesses are finding it difficult to stay afloat.  These are usually small to medium-sized businesses.  Since the industry needs a professional like you, you are already at an advantage.  There are, however, ways that you can improve your chances of success.  What are they?  A lot easier than you might think.

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 onsite 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.

Brian Wood - Business Coaching From Home

If you want to start a career as a business coach, you need to make an important decision.  That decision is how you want to operate your business.  Business coaches educate and train operating managers and business owners on the key components of running a successful and profitable business.  These components are all the same, but there are many ways to teach them.  What are your two best options?

1 – One-on-One Training

One-on-one training is when you work directly with your client.  You consult with them via email, through the phone, or meet with them in person at their office.  When working with small to medium sized business owners, your involvement starts at the top.  You will then later want to work with all staff members.  Remember, a good manager is important to a business, but that well-performing manager means nothing if their staff does not back them up with good results and speedy productivity.

One-on-one training has many benefits.  For starters, you usually visit your client at their place of business.  This gives you a lot of insight.  Not all business suffer from the same problems.  Some have a poor marketing plan, some have poor leadership, and others have organizational problems.  Visiting your client in their place of business enables you to examine the situation.  You can determine exactly what is going wrong.  For example, a business with poor office organization, but a strong marketing plan, does not need marketing help. They need organizational help.

One-on-one training also allows you to show by example.  In keeping with the above mentioned example of an unorganized office or sales floor, you can physically walk to the problem and point it out.  Show the store manager that because a large display is in the middle of the aisle, it is difficult for customers to get a shopping cart through.  You get better results when you show business owners and operating mangers how to make changes, not just tell them.

2 – Hosting Seminars

As a business coach, you also have the option to host seminars.  This is when you choose a specific location, like a hotel conference room, take paying reservations, and hold a class.  During this class, you will go over the key components of running a successful and profitable business.  These components include marketing sales, time management, no workplace conflict, organization, and teamwork.

Hosting seminars is nice because it expands your profits.  When working one-on-one, you work with one paying client at a time.  When hosting a training seminar, the room can be filled with a hundred business owners.  They all paid.  In about the same amount of time or even less, you make more money!  Unfortunately, those same business owners will take your class once and they will not need it again.  To work in this aspect full-time, you will need to travel to teach seminars, targeting new business owners and managers each time.

As you can see, both one-on-one training and hosting seminars have their pros and cons.  Which option should you choose?  It depends on your personal preferences.  Moreover, you do not need to choose.  Why not offer them both as an option?  On your website, list your ability to meet with clients one-on-one.  Then, mention you occasionally host seminars.  Host two or three a year.  List these seminars on your website and cross promote.

Always love to hear your comments,

B Wood