Organizations and entrepreneurs are more successful when utilizing experienced support. In a Metrix Global Study, research showed “Coaching produced a 529% return on investment and significant intangible benefits to the business.” Drawing on the skills of a business coach or business consultant at any stage of the game can improve clarity, increase accountability, and help you accomplish exciting goals faster.
Unless you’re going off a trusted colleague’s referral it can be like a pig in a poke. And even then, what worked for them isn’t an automatic guarantee that it’ll work for your business. Over the past 30 years of being in the business world, I’ve heard far too many complaints from business owners disappointed in their high-ticket hire. Many times, if the professional’s specific role was clarified, mismatched connections could’ve been avoided. Obviously, when you are investing thousands of dollars for professional services it must be the perfect fit. Knowing the key differences between a business coach and a business consultant will help you make an informed decision and avoid potential income loss with a mis-hire.
The Business Coach
Generally, a business coach is someone, who has experience building and growing a successful business and utilizes their expertise to help you create a profitable venture. Business coaching stems from right-brained qualities such as curiosity, synergy, opportunity, evolution, and is future-focused. A business coach has a big picture perspective and helps you explore additional possibilities, illuminates bottlenecks or roadblocks within the organization, and focuses on expanding your potential.
A business coach helps you:
- Define your mission, vision, and goals
- Stay in alignment with your core values and brand message
- Hold yourself accountable
An expert business coach has great questions that lead you to discover your own answers, points out patterns, and provides resources for a new way of navigating. Think of a business coach as a trusted ally who helps you create an exciting and aligned plan of action supporting you to increase self-reliance and personal power.
A coach focuses on the client and helps foster leadership. Small businesses that have their basic structure in place and usually a team (or at least a virtual assistant) benefit the most from a business coach who can focus on scaling and increasing impact.
The Business Consultant
A consultant is an expert who provides professional advice. They have a wide range of knowledge in a particular field and a toolbox of resources. Business consulting stems from left-brain qualities that are linear, follow a specific process to solve problems, tests/measures data to make informed decisions, and are present-oriented.
A business consultant helps you:
- Determine your pricing and packages
- Develop a marketing strategy
- Design course curriculum
A business consultant can be thought of as an advisor — someone who counsels and/or trains. They often have the technical side of business dialed in for things such as lead generation, sales funnels, advertising, measuring analytics, management, and human resources. They are valued for being analytical, problem-solving, and critical thinkers.
A consultant focuses on a problem that needs to be solved and offers security by providing guidance and know-how. Their client is typically one that requires concise answers based on experience or data and/or a step-by-step road map to address an issue or challenge. In my experience, all stages of business can benefit from utilizing a business consultant.
“Think of the challenges in your business like driving down a road with a deep ditch running parallel. You can seek advice on how to avoid the ditch or you can seek advice on how to get out of the ditch” – Bobby Darnell
Goal and Roles
Say your income goal is to hit $20K/month consistently in your business working 30 hours or less per week. The business coach would help you clarify your target audience, guide you to create feasible micro-goals, provide accountability, inspire and motivate you to consistently and confidently take action, ask thought-provoking questions allowing you to formulate the best plan, and hold the space for your success. A business consultant would create the business blueprint to follow. They would look at your packages, advertising, and team support to ensure that you are positioned to accomplish your goals. As well as, provide feedback and training based on relevant data and their experience along the way.
Bottom-line, a Business Coach helps you increase your personal capacity for long-term success, providing guidance and support so that you can optimize your life and business. A Business Consultant helps you tackle the tasks on hand providing immediate relief for your present needs. Knowing the difference between a business coach and a business consultant will help you make informed decisions and prevent frustration and potential income loss when it comes to hiring the right professionals. In many cases employing both at some stage of your journey will give you the specific expert support needed to be a wildly successful entrepreneur.
Kc Rossi is a Business Coach/Consultant hybrid who helps female entrepreneurs scale a profitable and soul-aligned business. An entrepreneur since 1991, Kc has experience building six- and seven-figure businesses. If you’re ready to holistically level-up, request her free mini-training; The Emerging Leaders Quickstart Guide. kc@kcrossi.com, www.kcrossi.com.
Business coach stock photo by fizkes/Shutterstock
