How can small business owners measure the success of their coaching services in a niche market?

I believe there’s many ways small business owners can measure the success of their coaching services in a niche market. Here’s my top three: 1. Gathering feedback: from clients is crucial in understanding their satisfaction. You can use surveys or testimonials to gather this feedback and assess the effectiveness of your coaching. 2. Track your clients progress: If your coaching services are helping them make significant strides towards their desired outcomes, it's a good indicator of success. 3. Referrals: Happy clients are more likely to refer your coaching services to others. This can be a strong indication of your success. For me, measuring success is not just about numbers. It's also about the impact you have on your clients' life.

In my experience small business owners are many times unclear about why they want to achieve certain metrics vs what’s really required to succeed n grow. They also have big egos( I call this self belief and conviction, a strength). It requires lots of patience to slowly get them around to accepting what’s good for the business, I like to ask questions and let them arrive at the answers themselves

One of the things we have found useful when training coaches is understanding what motivates the coach (we use motivational maps for that). Someone driven by meaning and purpose is going to want feedback/testimonials to know they are making an impact. Someone who is driven more commercially will see their own bottom line improve as they deliver higher value interventions. Someone driven by deep learning will want to grow their expertise keep learning and sharing that with their clients… There are nine Motivational Map preferences (clusters of career values) and understanding what drives you helps you and your clients set and achieve aligned goals ??????

It’s important to capture where your business stands at the time you retain a coach. Depending on your coaching goals, you (the client) can rank your level of satisfaction now and then measure it again at various points during the coaching engagement. You can also count things, again by starting with what you’re doing now, and where you want to be. For example, if you’re working with a business coach, you may set financial goals, or want to commit a certain amount of time to dedicate to it per week, or a specific number of marketing calls to make, networking events attended, etc. Coaches can help eliminate time wasters and energy drainers so you have time to execute on what’s important. And, you want to know that your coach is value added!

"Begin with the end in mind"! It is surprising how many clients struggle to answer this question. They quickly slip into descriptions of how things should be or what they are already doing. I stop them and ask them to give a one sentence answer to this question - "What outcome would you be happy to have achieved when we conclude our coaching conversations?" Coaching must be linked to business outcomes, so unless that is crystal clear, we cannot move forward with defining the scope for coaching conversations.

I prefer to conclude each conversation with a quick check on what insights did they glean from that day. And what are actions that he/she is prompted to take based on the insights. I ask them to check and confirm if these insights and actions are likely to propel them to achieve the business outcomes they want to achieve. A series of successful coaching conversations is where there is good bunch of "insight-action" combinations that were elegant and easy to apply. So this is qualitative, but also quantitative.

1. Align your coaching to the specific needs, wants and wishes of your clients FIRST (not your own) - and then define the path that will get them where they want to go IN A WAY THAT WORKS FOR THEM personally and professionally. 2. Price your services high enough that you can go all in on their success. Make your business model one that runs on mutual benefit and shared success. 3. Create room for agility and flow within your process/methods/framework. People are not widgets. 4. Get crystal clear on the profile of your most successful clients and market to them with meticulous specificity.

The outcomes achieved by the client based on "insight/action" from the previous session should lead to cumulative progress on achieving the outcomes set at the start of the coaching engagement or set of conversations. It is key that the outcome is clearly articulated at the start, so that it helps contrast ongoing and eventual progress versus where we started with.

Small business owners (SBOs) are often under immense pressure due to limited resource. Hence data must demonstrate high relevance to motivate change. A popular coaching goal of SBOs is "growth and increase profit". As a small outfit, quality of leadership and team dynamics will have direct impact on this goal. Depending on the size, one may use 360 degrees leadership assessment or Employee Engagement Survey to ascertain perceived leadership and culture, e.g. trust and empowerment; fairness and motivation. Net Promoter Scores (Staff and Customers) may also infer the quality of communication, customer culture and employee happiness. Such data can be compared and benchmarked within industry and suggest potential levers for actions.

It is human nature to focus on imperfection. Typically, we give and receive feedback on gaps and areas of improvements. That said, we are NOT hardwired to receive criticism positively. According to Gallup, "Just 19% of employees strongly agrees that focusing on weaknesses motivates them to do outstanding work". In coaching, we want to spotlight what went well so that clients could continue to do so or do more of. We also encourage clients to acknowledge themselves for their efforts, determination and what they do well. This builds growth mindset and self-efficacy, leading to self-confidence and resilience. Entrepreneurship is a tough journey. Our small business owner clients need to be able to look inward for strength and motivation.

The essence of any coaching engagement is that the coach is helping the client pass through a zone of uncertainty and unfamiliarity, and hence even the smallest of developments need to be celebrated and acknowledged. This causes positive reinforcement in helping the client incorporate smallest of changes that they are making, in working towards the outcomes they have set. This also helps the client want to go out and make changes and achieve the next chunk of the outcome. At the end of the engagement, it is important to offer a glimpse of the movement and growth the coach has witnessed so that the whole journey proves to be a good reminder of their effort and instills belief for them to keep up the momentum after the engagement ends.

Honing on own skills is an ongoing and continuous process. A coach has to constantly look for broadening exposure and gaining diverse experience in sharpening coaching skills. As a business coach for example, it is important to devote time to being up-to-date on current affairs and developments in the world of business.

I used to perform stand up comedy. One day, when I had finished a set on stage, I ran off of stage needing to use the restroom. As I approached the bathroom, I noticed they were blocked off by big burley body guards. Then I heard a laughter, one that I had recognized since childhood - Jerry Seinfeld himself! Long story short - I asked him “what’s one piece of advice you could give me as a starting out comedian?” His words were timeless and priceless across all professions: “Try and try again. Try your joke 1000 times. Each time, if needed, modify it just a little. See what works. See what doesn’t. If it still doesn’t work after the 1000th time, that joke isn’t funny.” The lesson? Evolution and reflection is key.

Your mention of the "repeat and refine" step is spot on. Successful coaches understand the importance of ongoing evaluation and adaptation. The coaching landscape is dynamic, and what works today may not work tomorrow. Embracing this cyclical approach to improvement allows us to stay relevant and effective in our niche markets.

In it's simplest terms the feedback from your clients and those you are coaching is fundamental. If they feel they are progressing, becoming more confident and can articulate they are seeing the results they wanted, then the coaching has been successful.

The best measurement of your coaching service worthy & effectiveness: is the growth and success of your customers. One of the ways to measure it is: + asking your customers on scale 1-10 in term on reaching their coaching goal(s), where they are at the end of coaching engagement. + Likert scale question + Measure how often you got introduced to others because of the effectiveness of your coaching

If the coaching organisation you’ve engaged having aligned with you in advance what the desired outcomes of your investment are, then you shouldn’t gift them any money. If coaching is about improving performance and/or results, this should be clearly part of the collaboration you’re beginning. Honestly, if there’s nothing to assess as you go and you’re trying to post rationalise impact, objectivity or subjectively, you’ve been taken for a ride by coaches who aren’t fit for purpose. They’re a (nice) person to have a chat with, NOT a coach.

Absolutely, small business owners in niche markets can measure coaching success in a few ways. It's great to start with what clients are saying—positive testimonials, an uptick in referrals, and clients sticking around all signal success. Also, look at the coaching relationship itself; if there's strong chemistry, trust, and good communication, that's a win. Plus, don't overlook those lightbulb moments and big strategic wins clients have, those are direct results of effective coaching!

This space is where we can explore additional facets of coaching success. One insight that has been invaluable in my coaching journey is the power of empathy. While we talk about goals, metrics, and data, the human element is equally crucial. Understanding and empathizing with your clients can significantly impact the success of your coaching services. It's about creating a safe and open environment where clients feel heard and supported.