If you’re unsure of whether you need a consultant or a business coach, the first step is to understand the differences between them.
In broad strokes, you hire a consultant to do the work to fix a specific business challenge, and you hire a business coach to help make you better at running your business.
If you’ve looked into the services provided by small business consulting firms, odds are you’re in need of help with your business. Even if you’re certain that you require assistance, you might still be unclear on what kind of help you actually need. The top consulting companies available to you can offer a great deal, but can they provide the kind of coaching that allows you to get on track and stay there? Should you be looking for a coach instead of a business consultant, or maybe some combination of the two?
What Does a Small Business Consultant Typically Do?
Small business consulting firms work with you to address your challenges, usually by installing processes and procedures that can resolve issues. There is a collaborative element as you team up with consultants to help your company reach its full potential, and this can occur at any of your operations.
Clients for consulting firms typically have good revenue already, before opting for the services, which can be an obstacle for newer enterprises. Generally speaking, businesses that are struggling and not enjoying a profitable bottom line might not be the best fit for a consultant. For one thing, there is no promise that their investment will bring enough of a payoff to be worth it. For another, businesses in this kind of predicament need more than just a consultant. If this sounds like you, then what you need is a coach.
What Differentiates Consultants from Business Coaching Companies?
A business consultant will take on the challenges you face as an entrepreneur, which often involves coming up with a solution and then putting it into practice. On the other hand, a business coach doesn’t necessarily carry out the tasks for you. Instead of a narrower focus and a more hands on approach to your business, a coach would instead look into the various actions you should take and offer guidance on how best to proceed.
If there are new processes you should be working on, or different methods worth looking into, a qualified business coach will offer insight and help you decide on what’s best for the vision you have for your company. While a consultant will fixate on the specific problems you may have within your business, a coach will look at every potential hurdle you might end up facing and will help you take the necessary steps to avoid them. Business coaching comes with a focus on the sources of problems, not merely the problems themselves.
Why Settle for One? The Alexander Group Offers the Best of Both Worlds
At The Alexander Group, you don’t have to choose one or the other. If you’re in need of coaching, as well as small business consulting services, we can address the particulars of your situation as a part of our coaching process. Once we move forward together with you and discover areas in need of improvement, such as sales training, we would then take steps to resolve them.
For instance, for sales training shortcomings we might decide to assemble a program with which you can train your salespeople over the course of several months. This qualifies as consulting work, but it can become available to you once you’ve become a client for the business coaching services we offer.
As your coach, there aren’t many parts of your business we won’t touch. The small business consulting services we provide to our clients also include assembling peer advisory boards, creating employee handbooks, and putting together advisor network groups to ensure you surround yourself with the right people. This, of course, is in addition to the business coaching that allows us to work with you in developing your vision, both for your business as well as for your personal life. For everything from formulating a strategy for the future to financial benchmarking to show you your progress towards the goals you have, The Alexander Group is the answer.
Not Sure Where to Get Started? For Small Business Consulting and Coaching, Get in Touch with Us
Whether your problem is unique to you, or something that’s afflicted many businesses, we can help you reach the solutions you seek. At The Alexander Group we are dependable and reliable, with experience stemming from over thirty years of business ownership and a decade of coaching. We’ll help you work through whatever issues you have, at every level of your business, and together we can help you achieve the vision you had when you first set out. To get started, or to learn more about small business consulting, contact us online or call us at 636.352.3835.