1. Determine Your Goals

A business or marketing coach can help you with both strategic and tactical goals. The range is almost endless, so you must decide what it is that you and your business need assistance with in order to focus your search. A business and marketing coach can help you to generate leads, improve your overall marketing strategy, define long-term goals or assist you in putting action plans in place  Start with deciding on what you need the most assistance with. Create a list of the top 3 to 5 activities you would like help with from a business or marketing coach.

2. Finding a Business or Marketing Coach

The next step in the process is to find a business or marketing coach.  Depending on the type of coach you are looking for, there are a number of resources available to you:

• Score Chapters
• International Coach Federation
• Recommendations from other business owners
• AMP Marketing Coaches

2. Evaluate a Business or Marketing Coach Carefully

Now that you have determined your goals and found a business or marketing coach, it is time to evaluate and select them.  Not all business and marketing coaches are created equal. When you are looking for someone to support you and your business efforts, you want someone who can ostensibly “be on your team”.  But at the same time, you want someone who can challenge you and and will help you grow in a way that suits your learning and business style. Your business or marketing coach should be someone who is honest, respectable, thoughtful and interested in you and your business success. Additionally, your business coach should be someone that you trust to “give it to you straight” and be willing to tell you the the truth, even when it is not pleasant.  Make sure that you evaluate them on a number of factors:

1. How do they work with clients? — Make sure that you are engaged in the process as a contributing part of the team and not merely being instructed.  Coaching is about co-creating; whereby the client has as much, if not more input than the coach in terms of defining the direction, goals and activities of the session.  Look for situations where you are an active participant of your coaching.
2. What is their experience level? — Age isn’t everything, but experience is.  Make sure that the business and marketing coach you are working with has  experience in your industry or expertise in the specific capability you need.  Read their bios, review their websites, call previous clients, ask about their previous experiences (challenges and successes)
3. Is there a personality fit? — Ensure that you feel comfortable working with this person.  Select a person whom you feel you have a good rapport with, that you trust and can enjoy talking and sharing information with. The more easily you can exchange the good, the bad, and the ugly the easier it is going to be to gain value out of the sessions you have together.  A great coach is someone you trust,you feel listens and understands your perspective, and you feel confident that you will not be judged wrongly, or intimidated into following advice.
4. Do they focus on value? — Do they talk in terms of the outcomes and the value that they will help you to produce, or are they focused on tasks, activities, approaches and methods? You want a coach that will help you to produce the business outcomes you desire and get you the results you want.  Do not be overly persuaded by coaches that rely on specific methodologies, approaches or activities.  What matters is results.  Focus on the benefits you will receive and make sure that the person you work with is there to help you achieve those benefits.

Start your search and evaluation today.  Don’t delay finding and selecting a business or marketing coach that can help you take your business to the next level.

Click here for more information about AMP’s Marketing Coach Programs as well as AMP University; where you can get “hands on” instruction from leading faculty in the field of internet marketing.