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Do You Know the Top 7 Question to Ask When Hiring a Business Coach?

Guest post by: Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Article Overview: Hiring a business coach is your most recent decision. What questions should be part of that interview process?

Do You Know the Top 7 Question to Ask When Hiring a Business Coach?

As a small business owner, agent, sales professional or C-Level executive, you have made the decision to hire a business coach or executive coach for you or your company as you seek transformational change. Congratulations! That is a good decision given the documented positive return on investment that this business strategy delivers.

However, you have met several coaches at various networking events or you may know one or two within some civic or professional organizations. Yet, you still are unsure as to who is the best fit for you or your people. These seven questions may help you as you proceed through that decision making process.

Question #1: Do you use a proven performance improvement process?
If so, please explain it to me. Sustainable success happens when a proven process is incorporated into the effort to improve performance. If the answer is no, the do not bother asking any more questions. This is not a results driven business coach.

Question #2: How to you measure success for your clients?
Numbers mean everything. Effective business coaching can be measured just like effective learning or training.

Question #3: Can you readily share the results from past or existing clients?
When the business coach can easily discuss the results from her or his clients, this highlights an understanding of some of the issues faced by the client. Again, all results should be quantified and not just qualified. See question number two.

Question #4: Do you provide referrals that are willing to speak with me?
If prompted, can the business coach or executive coach give you at least two phone numbers that will attest to the experience of the coach.

Question #5: Can you describe how you work with your clients?
Even though this sounds like question number one, the wording of this question allows for more specifics.

Question #6: Have you ever turned down a potential client? Why or why not?
If the coach recognizes his or her strengths and has a specific potential client in mind, the answer to this question allows an opportunity from your perspective to see if you are a good fit.

Question #7: What do you believe is the number one reason that people or businesses are not successful?
This is the lynch pin question. Here is where the experience and insight of the coach should shine.

One question that I deliberately left out was: Did the coach offer a free coaching session? This question does not truly reveal the critical issues that need to be addressed from the buyer’s perspective.

Yes, you need to feel comfortable with the coach, but the bottom line should be about the ability of the coach to deliver the results. No ifs, no ands, no buts.

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Article Tags: best fit, business coach, business coaching, business strategy, c level, decision making process, effective learning, executive coach, level executive, measure success, networking events, performance improvement, professional organizations, question number, referrals, return on investment, sales professional, small business owner, specifics, sustainable success



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