Using a coach to improve marketing results

“If you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one" Dolly Parton

Now I’m no great Dolly Parton fan but I gather she’s something of a philosopher in certain circles and I certainly think she has a point here.

Life’s too short – we all need to enjoy and believe in the things we do – and this should be applied to business too.

Many of the business owners and professionals that I talk to in the course of my work are dissatisfied. They’re unhappy with sales performance, feel they are working too hard for little reward or they find customers and clients difficult to deal with. Most of them are of course going through a short lived crisis in their business and soon come out the other side, focused and ready to take on the world. And in any event the fact that they are talking to me indicates that they are ready to start ‘paving another road’.

The nature of the owner managed business or professional services firm is that they don’t always create the opportunity to work out which road they should be taking. Sometimes the most difficult thing for a small business owner to do is take time out from the day to day chaos of running their business and look to the future or initiate change.

That’s where a business partner or external help and support can be invaluable. Working with a business coach, consultant or adviser can provide the focus you need and the space and time to think about the road you want your business to travel on.

But there’s no reason you can’t become your own coach. A useful step on the way is to ask yourself some challenging questions about where your business in heading, and more to the point where you’d like to take it.

So what are the 5 key questions to help you on your way?

What do you want to achieve in your business – what’s your overall vision?
You’ll have heard it before – but if you don’t know where you’re going you’ll never know when you get there. Are you clear on where you are taking your business and what you want to achieve? Your goals maybe financial or more personal, they may be related to growth, or preparing your business for sale or personal retirement.

Without a clear vision of what you want the future to look like you can feel very frustrated by the present and dissatisfied with the results you are achieving. Once you have set goals and objectives you can feel far greater purpose and results start to improve too.

How will you know when you’ve achieved your vision and goals?
This may sound so obvious as to be ridiculous – but we can all get so wrapped up in the day to day challenges that we sometimes fail to recognise the achievements we’ve made. At least if you have set some measurable goals or have a clear vision of what success might look like you can start to see your progress along the new road you’re paving.

What needs to change?
This is sometimes the most difficult thing to acknowledge or own up to – because sometimes we are the thing that needs to change.

In order to get from A to B what are the steps? What needs to be done differently? It might be that you need to be serving new markets, up-date your product or service or maybe you need new people to join the business with different skills or attitudes.

In general people are not good with change. When people are presented with change everyone reacts differently but there are 3 generally recognised stages in terms of change:
• Ridicule – how ridiculous, that’ll never work
• Violent opposition – I’m not trying that approach
• Acceptance as self evident – this is obviously the way to do this (I don’t know why we didn’t think of it sooner!)

So, it isn’t easy – but if you’re going to pave a new road you’ll need to change a few things. Breaking it down into chunks might help. What could you change this week, this month, to move you towards your vision? What are you going to do today?

Who can help you?
Running a business can be lonely. When it comes to making significant changes in your business you can feel even more isolated. So having someone on your side can be vitally important. It might be your accountant or another business adviser, it could be your partner or a trusted member of staff. Find someone you can share your vision with, ideally someone who will support you and challenge you at the same time.

What’s the first step on your journey and when will you take it?
Once you’ve decide the direction you want to take get going. Have a plan, by all means, but take the first action, make the first change. As Nike so famously say – Just do it!

Of course not everything is going to be plain sailing but - to borrow more of Dolly’s wonderful words of wisdom - “If you want the rainbow, you’ve got to put up with the rain.”

Article written by Teresa Harris, Second Opinion Marketing. Teresa is an independent marketing consultant working with partners in professional practices and small businesses owners.

As a marketing and business coach Teresa works with new marketing managers and small business owners to help them pave new roads and keep them focused on the road they’ve chosen.

Contact Teresa on 01789 740396 or by email