The Coaching Market

The market for coaching - why people hire a coach
When times are hard during a recession people often turn to others for help. That help is often a coach. If my personal experience is repeated around the country there is an increase in work for coaches, my personal work is up significantly more than the last couple of years. It is growing for a very good reason: good coaching gets great results.

If we accept that there is an expanding market for coaches and that there are many different areas in which you can practise, there is almost certainly going to be scope for you to make a reasonable living in this field. Most coaches are self-employed in a private practice either full or part-time. Some work within an organisation either as a full time paid coach or as part of their work developing or managing staff on a retainer.

Typical coaching arenas:

• Life Coach/Personal Coach: Working with your private clients on any aspect of their private/work life

• Niche Coach: Again, with a private practice but specialising in a particular field such as: confidence coach, parenting coach, driving test nerves coach, etc. This can be very rewarding financially and satisfaction wise. Niche coaching can be very profitable and rewarding.

• Small/medium Business Coach, (Existing and Set-up): Working with entrepreneurs and business owners to achieve business success, through clarity of aims and outcomes. SOHO’s, (small office/home office), are a very profitable area at the moment as are therapists.

• Corporate Coach: Working in or with businesses to achieve performance or staffing outcomes ranging from sales performance, succession management, change management, etc. This can be full-time paid or on a ‘bought in’ basis.

Within corporate coaching there is a sub-area: Executive Coach: Working with senior managers/executives on their personal performance and leadership skills; Team Coach: You may well be asked to coach whole teams or departments.

These are just a few of the many ways to become a successful coach. Qualify, get out there and make a difference.

Why people hire coaches
There are two basic markets for coaches Life/Personal Coaching and Business Coaching as described above.

Businesses understand about coaching and will use it to develop their managers and other staff. The requirements of each business will vary so they will find the right coach for their particular needs.

In the world of life/personal coaching people know they want to change but usually do not know that a coach could help.

People hire a coach for one thing: positive change.

• People want change for the better in their life

• They may need to focus on building a career or changing to one that really interests them

• People may need motivation to lose weight or get fit

• They may have relationship issues and desire to change how or what they feel they want to be happy, satisfied and loved

• Some people have social problems and lack confidence around others

This list is a minor scratch on the surface of life, there are so many other situations in which coaching can positively change lives.

Within a business situation there are just as many reasons for change:

• Increasing profitability or market share
• Reducing staff turbulance, grooming staff for promotion or management
• Developing leadership or team management skills
• Change management, new skills development using them in practice
• Team building and motivation or increasing individual performance within a group
• Sales, customer service, operations and logistic, human resources, etc

When it comes down to the 'nitty-gritty' people do not want the coaching itself. They need the results; the incredibly positive results that the coaching process achieves.