15 expert areas a business coach brings to the table

Whether it’s identifying your customer, formulating your business plan or plotting your exit strategy, here are the top 15 areas where a business coach is the go-to pro to furnish you with a second set of eyes, provide a solid sounding board and proffer the best advice.

• Setting goals – Good business is built on creating and achieving goals. A coach can help you quickly establish your priorities and provide the methods to meet your goals.
• Business planning – Every business needs a plan and this living document will be updated regularly throughout your time in business. Whether you’re starting out, expanding or exiting, a business plan should be comprehensive and current and a coach can help you tick all the boxes required.
• Growing profits/revenue – There are a host of reasons why even the best businesses may be underperforming, and there’s nothing like a trained set of eyes to help identity why.
  
• Time management – Time is money, so what is yours worth and how well do you use it? Time management strategies free you up for a better work/life balance or unleash a whole new dimension of productivity.
  
• Identifying your customer – You think you know them right, they’re the ones walking through the door? Well what about all those who aren’t? Knowing your customer involves identifying their preferences, priorities, income and life view, and it can unlock a whole world of potential clients and better ways to target them.
• Establishing your vision and mission – Identifying who you are, what you stand for and where you want to go gives your business direction and credibility, and allows your customer to comprehend what you offer. It also gets your staff in on the action, giving them standards to meet, goals to attain and a brighter future to work towards.
• Leadership training – For some, leadership comes naturally but even they enjoy a little help from time to time honing their skills and techniques. Great leadership allows your team to shine and your employees to thrive.
• Meeting your targets – Like goals, business is all about targets – sales targets, safety targets, growth targets… a coach can provide the strategies to set and meet them.
• Refining your product/services – You know your product range well but is there a line that is underperforming or with better potential. A coach can help you sort the stones from the jewels in your business crown.
• Modifying your business model – A business changes and grows over time and what worked when you started may not now. Now could be the time to revise your business model.
• Enhancing productivity – You might be busy, but are you productive? If you’re in need of some tools to set, measure and achieve tasks, cutting the wood from the chafe, then a coach is the perfect person to assist.
• Employee management – How are those policies and procedures looking? When did you last evaluate your staff or consider their roles? A well-oiled team that plays to its strengths, knows the role of each and every individual and the vision of a business as a whole is most likely to achieve success. 
• Honing your sales technique – Make no mistake, every business is in sales and identifying your best sales technique sets you on the right path to achieving your goals.
• Succession planning – If you’re looking to spend less time in your business or build it and pass it on, then you need a solid succession plan, and you’ll require it long before retirement date.
• Readying your business for sale – There’s a lot to selling a business and realising its worth in a monetary form. From creating a business plan to highlighting its future potential, a business coach can offer insight, advice and real strategies that make your business that much more appealing to a buyer.

The final word

A business coach is an investment that pays off in a multitude of ways. From confidante to critic, advisor to devil’s advocate, they are the person in your corner whose business is to see you succeed.