Encouragement is easy to find when you run a business. What’s harder to find is someone who will ask the question you’ve been avoiding… and then help you act on the answer.
“Business coach” isn’t a regulated title, so the people using it range from former executives to someone with a weekend certificate. Knowing what a good coach does, and when you need a different kind of help, makes the hiring decision a lot easier.
What does a business coach for small businesses do?
A good coach helps you think clearly and follow through on what you decide. In practice, that comes down to three jobs:
- Focus: picking the one or two priorities that matter this quarter and dropping the rest.
- Challenge: questioning your assumptions, which almost nobody inside your own business will do.
- Accountability: checking every week that you did what you said you would.
A coach usually won’t run your marketing, build your systems or do the work for you. That’s a consultant’s or an operator’s job, and knowing it up front saves a lot of frustration. I compare all three in the C-words: coach, consultant and CMO.
Business coach vs business marketing coach: what’s the difference?
A general business coach looks at the whole business: leadership, operations, hiring, money and your own habits. That suits you when the business feels scattered and you want someone to think with.
A business marketing coach focuses on customer acquisition and retention: your positioning, your messaging, your channel mix, and whether any of it produces revenue. It’s the better choice when the business works but growth has stalled, or when marketing feels like money going in and nothing coming out.
Most problems sit on one side or the other. Overwhelm, slow decisions and trouble delegating are inside the business, and that’s where a business coach helps. Weak leads, low conversion and losing deals on price are customer problems, and a small business marketing coach is the better place to start. And if you’d rather have someone senior take those problems on with you, that’s what a fractional CMO does.
What is a marketing coach?
A marketing coach is an advisor who helps you make stronger marketing decisions in-house. Sessions focus on your strategy, budget and channel choices, and you leave with a plan your team can carry out. The execution stays with you. If you need an experienced marketer to build the plan and manage it with you, look at a marketing consultant or a fractional CMO.
Is your small business ready for a business coach?
Coaching works best once the basics are in place. You’re probably ready if:
- you have paying customers and some steady revenue
- you can set aside a few hours a month for the work between sessions
- you’re open to hearing that part of the problem might be you
- you have a goal you can name and measure
If you’re still working out whether anyone wants what you sell, a coach may be too early. A short workshop or a free masterclass is usually a better first step at that stage.
When a fractional CMO is a better solution
Some problems need hands-on marketing leadership more than coaching. Watch for these:
- your website, message or offer has been unclear for a while
- you’re spending on marketing but can’t connect it to sales
- you need someone to build the plan with you, as well as talk it through
If two or more sound familiar, a marketing coach for small business may not be enough. A fractional CMO works with you part time, manages the marketing budget and makes the marketing decisions from experience.
7 questions to ask before you hire a business coach
Take these to any discovery call, and listen for specific answers.
- What businesses like mine have you worked with, and what changed for them? Ask for real examples.
- Have you built or run a business yourself? First-hand experience shows when the advice gets practical.
- How will we measure progress? A good coach agrees one or two numbers with you at the start.
- What happens between sessions? Find out what access you get and what work you’re expected to do.
- What will I walk away with? Frameworks, plans, templates or conversation. Any of these can be right, as long as you know which one you’re paying for.
- When would you tell me I don’t need a coach? A coach who can’t answer this may keep you on a retainer for years.
- What does it cost, and what’s included? My post on how much a business coach costs covers the averages.
Be careful if you hear guaranteed results, feel pressure to sign on the first call, see a long contract with no way out, or can’t get a clear answer on how progress will be measured.
What does a good first 90 days look like?
The first 90 days should follow a rough pattern:
- Weeks 1 to 2, diagnose: your coach learns the business, your numbers and your goals, and you agree on the one result that matters most.
- Weeks 3 to 6, prioritize: together you pick the two or three initiatives most likely to hit your target, agree the KPIs that will track them, and put everything else on hold.
- Weeks 7 to 12, do: you run the plan while your coach keeps you to it and adjusts with you.
By day 90 you should be able to point at a number that moved. If you can’t, have an honest talk about whether to keep going.
A good engagement leaves you with clear priorities and the data to back them, so you know which channels drive revenue and where your budget is being wasted.
Why I judge everything by profit
My tagline is “Stop Marketing. Start Profiting.” for a reason. I’ve spent more than 25 years in global marketing, with brands like Purina, Nestle and Microsoft, and worked with more than 300 businesses as a consultant, coach or fractional CMO. In that time, I’ve watched too many owners pour money into marketing that never showed up in revenue.
As a fractional CMO, I bring every decision back to one question… is this making you money? Whoever you hire, whether that’s a business coach for small businesses, a consultant or someone like me, hold them to that question too.
Frequently asked questions
What does a small business coach do?
They help the owner focus on the right priorities, question their thinking and hold them accountable. They guide your decisions but usually don’t do the work for you.
What is a marketing coach?
A marketing coach is an advisor who helps business owners make better marketing decisions, from positioning and messaging to budget and channel choices. They guide the strategy, and your team handles the execution.
How do I choose a business coach for my small business?
Ask for specific results with businesses like yours, agree how progress will be measured and get clear on what’s included. Be wary of anyone who guarantees results or pushes you to sign on the first call.
Your next step
Not sure which kind of help you need? Join my free Marketing Waste Audit masterclass and find out where your marketing budget is going before you hire anyone.
-JL
Stop Marketing. Start Profiting.