Brought to by you by: Contemporary VA - Run your business instead of running in circles.

@ContemporaryVA on Twitter.  Follow the team to stay updated on business resources we deliver that cover strategies and tips, social media and more!

Similar Posts:

• Online Tools for Professional Coaches
• No More Mr. Nice Guy (or Ms. Nice Girl)
• Getting Referrals
• Executive Coaches – Are they just for the drowning?
• A Place for Professional Coaches

We’re not here to make a decision for you. Instead, this information is presented to help you make up your own mind. These pros and cons contain observations we’ve made in our years of coaching.

Virtual Coaching
This is where you meet a potential client through a communication channel (perhaps an online medium or simply over the phone).

Pros:
* You can meet with anyone, no matter where they are.
* The tools today are inexpensive (i.e. Webex) or even free (i.e. Skype).
* Many people coach virtually so it’s not an unusual proposition.
* We’ve found that people are generally on-time for virtual coaching more often than they are with face-to-face coaching.
* You can stack your meetings one after the other.

Cons:
* Some would say that you cannot make a true connection with someone without meeting them face to face.
* Potential technological malfunctions can disrupt the coaching time.

Face-to-Face Coaching
This is where you and your client meet in person.

Pros:
* You can build rapport a little more quickly and use visual cues (such as body language) to help you understand your client.
* You always choose to continue alternate your coaching between in-person and virtual.

Cons:
* You are limited to a market who can travel to see you (or whom you travel to see).
* You may be required to have your own office if that’s where people meet.
* Your marketing may need to include local channels (which can cost more).
* We’ve found that people are generally on-time for virtual coaching more often than they are with face-to-face coaching.
* There is sometimes travel time in between each meeting.

I’m sure we’ve missed some important points. So please feel free to add your own ideas in the comments section. And tell us, do you prefer one over the other?

Brought to by you by: Contemporary VA - Run your business instead of running in circles.

@ContemporaryVA on Twitter.  Follow the team to stay updated on business resources we deliver that cover strategies and tips, social media and more!

Similar Posts:

• 6 Tips for Telephone Coaching
• Online Tools for Professional Coaches
• Personal Coaching
• Three Skills Everyone Should Have
• It’s Not Me, It’s You

But there’s a problem with these helping professions that doesn’t get enough attention. The problem is this: They are businesses but it is almost taboo to call them businesses. Businesses generate leads and convert prospects into customers and they earn revenue and try to earn a profit. Helping professions, though, don’t like to be associated with those business / sales / marketing terms because it seems less helpful. In this blog, we refer to these business terms without apology because we believe that helping professions and business are NOT diametrically opposed.

With that in mind, we now turn our attention to an important business topic that is bypassed in the coaching profession: metrics.

Metrics are measurements. In other businesses, there might be a metric measuring inventory turnover or profitability or prospect-to-customer conversion rate. But these are rarely measured in coaching because of the anti-business taboo. Yet, your job could be so much easier if you spend some time thinking about your metrics.

With so little attention focused on metric in coaching, it is hard to determine what to measure. After all, how do you measure a customer’s success at overcoming their fears or dealing with their obstacles?

You may not be able to measure those but you can measure other things:

• You can measure the number of leads you get from your website

• You can measure the number of people who agree to a free initial consultation

• You can measure the number of people who have a free initial consultation who go on to sign up for a series of sessions with you.

• You can measure what is the number of sessions people have with you

• You can measure how much revenue you earn per person over their lifetimeYou can measure your profitability each month

• You can measure your profitability each month

What is your first reaction at reading this? Does the thought of measuring these things repel you? It’s possible that some coaches might even be offended by the thought.

On the other hand, the coaching profession is like every other business – it needs to earn a profit to stay in business and by paying attention to these numbers, you can help more people and increase your likelihood of staying in business. You don’t have to focus on the numbers or obsess about how to earn more per-client profitability, but thinking about the metrics listed above can help to know how your business is running.

Contemporary VA

@contemporaryva on Twitter.  Follow us to stay updated with our many resources that include business, accounting and bookkeeping, social media, and much more!

Similar Posts:

• Something We Can All Use a Little More Of
• Gaining a Reputation
• Putting Stress into the Proper Perspective
• Coaching Success: Time Lags
• Marketing Your Coaching Business

If the topic really interests you, I suggest you check out the article. It is not available to read on the magazine’s website, but subscriptions are inexpensive. For a one year subscription to the hard copy of the magazine, the cost is $39.95. If you wish to receive an electronic version, the cost is $19.95 for a one year subscription.  Of course, the longer you subscribe, the less you cost per year will be. The magazine releases issues quarterly.

Of course, whether to use individual, group, or team coaching is dependent entirely upon the type of coaching you do and the context. Each of the three types will be successful in any arena, if done properly.

There are coaches who prefer individual coaching regardless of the situation, and there are coaches who prefer the opposite.  It is best to take into consideration what may be best for the client, rather than what we personally prefer.

Either way, Choice Magazine is a good resource for coaches and worth taking a peek at.

Lisa on behalf of Contemporary VA

Similar Posts:

• It’s That Time of Year Again
• Lower Your Cost Per Client
• Time Management Tools
• My Evolution in Learning
• Personal Coaching

1. Life gives us "gifts" in the form of opportunities to have experiences.
2. Coaching provides the opportunity to get feedback from these experiences – this is achieved by questioning and clarifying.
3. Further probing and questioning creates insights and common themes which lead to the learner reflecting on the experiences, the action that was taken and the consequences of this action.
4. From these insights and personal discoveries, conclusions are drawn that, if sufficiently powerful, can relate back to other current or past situations.
5. The valuable lessons learned from this exercise are then applied to future situations in the form of experiments.
6. From these experiments, experiences are provided as well as further opportunities to learn more and the cycle goes around again.

Being a Coach you will find, Kolb’s learning cycle becomes so much more effective when approached from a coaching perspective. Are you a ‘Coach’? Are you a business personal or professional coach? we would like to hear from you, write us at admin [at] contemporaryva [dot] com Professional-Coaches.com

Similar Posts:

• Personal Coaching
• Skills Coaching
• Life Coaching
• What’s Your Coaching Style?
• Business Coaching

Similar Posts:

• Business Coaching
• What is coaching and how does it work?
• Three Skills Everyone Should Have
• Personal Coaching
• Choice Magazine

Professional-Coaches.com

Similar Posts:

• Executive Coaches – Are they just for the drowning?
• Marketing Isn’t Enough
• Gaining a Reputation
• 4 Things that High School Taught Me About Coaching
• Personal Coaching

Professional Coaching:

1. Business Coaching,
2. Executive Coaching,
3. Performance Coaching, and
4. Skills Coaching.

Personal Coaching:

1. Life Coaching,
2. Mom Coaching, and
3. Family Coaching.

We will define each and every category in our next articles; Today we are only going to discuss Business Coaching.

Organizational development and changes brought about by mergers and acquisitions as well as the need to provide key employees with support through a change of role or career are often catalysts, which inspire companies to seek coaching.

There was a time, when coaching was reserved only for senior managers and company directors, now it is available to all as a professional or personal development tool. Coaching is also closely linked with organizational change initiatives in order to help staff to accept and adapt to changes in a manner consistent with their personal values and goals.

Coaching focuses on the individuals, can enhance morale, motivation, productivity and reduce staff turnover as individuals feel valued and connected with both small and large organizational changes. This role may be provided by internal coaches and, increasingly, by professional coaching agencies.

Coaching programs generally are proven to be popular amongst employees as coaching achieves a balance between fulfilling organizational goals and objectives whilst taking into account the personal development needs of individual employees. It is a two-way relationship with both the organization and the employee gaining significant benefits.

There is also an increasing trend for individuals to take greater responsibility for their personal & professional development and even those who are employed in large organizations are no longer relying on employers to provide them with all or their career development needs. There has been an increase in the number of individuals contracting coaches on a private basis. Some are looking for a career change, but many are also seeking to maximize their potential with an existing employer or achieve greater balance with their work and home lives.

Think about the above, is coaching right for you or your business? We feature various coaches from time to time in our blog and in our blog roll on the right hand side – feel free to check them out.

Until Next Time,
Professional-Coaches.comSimilar Posts:

• Skills Coaching
• Personal Coaching
• Finding New Clients from Businesses
• Succeeding With Two Tools You Were Born With
• What is coaching and how does it work?

I will start with the basics, coaching, and will then move on to business coaching, professional coaching, a few tips and expert reviews.

What is coaching? Coaching is “a process that enables learning and development to occur and thus performance to improve. To be a successful a Coach requires a knowledge and understanding of process as well as the variety of styles, skills and techniques that are appropriate to the context in which the coaching takes place“

Above definition is taken from “The Manager as Coach and Mentor (1999) page 8″, The book is written by Eric Parsloe who is a respected author and Director of OCM In light of the above definition, let’s continue.

Coaching is a process or combination of processes that enables clients to achieve their full potential. Coaching services may be offered paid or free depending upon the business, profession or coach; however regardless of whether the coaching session is at cost or free, coaching sessions will share one or more of the following characteristics:

• Facilitate the exploration of needs, motivations, desires, skills and thought processes to assist the individual in making real, lasting change.
• Use questioning techniques to facilitate client’s own thought processes in order to identify solutions and actions rather than takes a wholly directive approach.
• Support the client in setting appropriate goals and methods of assessing progress in relation to these goals
• Observe, listen and ask questions to understand the client’s situation
• creatively apply tools and techniques which may include one-to-one training, facilitating, counseling & networking.
• Encourage a commitment to action and the development of lasting personal growth & change.
• Maintain unconditional positive regard for the client, which means that the coach is at all times supportive and non-judgmental of the client, their views, lifestyle and aspirations.
• Ensure that clients develop personal competencies and do not develop unhealthy dependencies on the coaching relationship.
• Evaluate outcomes of processes, using objective measures wherever possible to ensure the relationship is successful and the client is achieving their personal goals.
• Encourage clients to continually improve competencies and to develop new developmental alliances where necessary to achieve their goals.
• Work within their area of personal competence.
• Possess qualifications and experience in the areas that skills-transfer coaching is offered.
• Manage the relationship to ensure the client receives the appropriate level of service and that programs are neither too short, nor too long.

Think about the above, is coaching right for you?

We feature various coaches from time to time in our blog and in our blog roll on the right hand side – feel free to check them out.

Until Next Time,

Professional-Coaches.com

Similar Posts:

• Life Coaching
• Generate More Coaching Business
• 7 Things that Will Make You a Better Coach
• Personal Coaching
• Business Coaching