If you want to set your Executive Coaching practice apart, you should be able to explain exactly the results you get for clients — and those results should be compelling.
What keeps executives up at night? I guarantee you that they are not thinking, “Gee, I wish I had an Executive Coach on my payroll.”
But they are thinking about how to increase cash coming in, decrease cash going out, stand out in a crowded competitive field, and raise the value of their enterprise.
Too many executive coaches get fuzzy when it comes to the results they provide. They focus on things like improving communication and teamwork, building leadership capabilities, introducing new and supposedly more effective behaviors, and serving as a sounding board to help executives test new ideas and feel more confident.
All of these things can be useful, but they are not compelling enough to get you hired. They are not primary benefits.
If you want to make it as an Executive Coach, you need to be able to convey the results you get in terms that matter to busy, bottom-line driven executives. The closer you can come to showing how you increase revenues/cash coming in, decrease costs/cash going out, raise the value of the enterprise (for for-profit executives), or help dominate the competition, the more successful you will be.
Don’t take real money for pretend results.