A Coach's Greatest Competition
By Sherry Buffington, PhD
Your greatest competition is not another great coach, but an ineffective one. Why? Because the news of bad experiences travels a lot faster than the news of good ones, and the coaching industry, still in its infancy, needs all the good publicity it can get.
The problem is NOT too many coaches, it is too few great ones. Great coaches truly change people’s lives and outcomes in substantial and very positive ways. They are so good at moving people forward that their clients go out and brag about the effect their coach has had on them.
Whenever people who have never had the privilege of experiencing what a great coach can do hear about a great coaching experience from someone else, they become more interested in seeking out a coach for themselves.
Unfortunately, bad coaching experiences travel farther and faster than good ones. They negatively impact the coaching profession and almost every coach within it. Whenever someone has a bad coaching experience, they not only tell the people they know, they also make it a point to tell complete strangers should they overhear them mention that they are thinking of getting a coach. The result is that coaching in general gets a bad reputation and good coaches have to work harder to build trust and sell their services to potential clients.
The primary challenge for all coaches today is not competition from too many coaches, it is building positive awareness around the coaching industry so people began to seek out coaches the way they now seek out other professionals. It is estimated that there are approximately 37,000 coaches worldwide today. That may seem like a lot until you realize that most coaches see less than a hundred clients per year and there are billions of people that would benefit from a good coach. The reality is that the need for coaches is so great that all the coaches on earth today could never even come close to satisfying it even if they worked 18 hours a day, seven days a week. We need all the really good coaches we can get.
Ineffective coaches are bad news for everyone. Great ones help us all. Do whatever it takes to ensure that you are a great coach. Get to know other great coaches too and form healthy alliances so you can help one another grow your businesses and enhance the coaching profession overall.
Great coaches all have something of value to share, not just with their clients, but with one another too. The next time you hear about a great coach, instead of thinking "Oh dear, competition," think "Fantastic! Another wonderful role model to advance the profession I have chosen to call my own." Then contact that coach and congratulate them. Don't ask for pointers. Instead, find out what you can do to help him or her grow their business or reach their goals. Coaches are almost always on the giving end of things. They give wisdom and insights to others all day long, but rarely have the privilege of receiving them from others. If you are the one from whom they do receive wisdom and insights, you become a valuable resource and, as such, are the natural choice when great coaches consider forming strong, meaningful alliances. We can all go farther, faster with the help of other capable people. Start seeing great coaches, not as your competition, but as wonderful assets.
As more and more great coaches band together, the power of coaching will become more obvious and the world will begin to take notice. When the general population knows the value of a good coach such that they seek a coach out when their life, relationships or outcomes are out of balance as readily as they now seek out a medical doctor when they are physically ill, every coach’s job will be easier and the coaching profession will gain the attention, respect and prestige it deserves. When that happens, everyone wins!
Dr. Sherry Buffington is the originator and co-developer of the CORE Multidimensional Awareness Profile (CORE MAP), a powerfully effective coaching tool for establishing an authentic coaching baseline that gets results fast! It is unrivaled in the coaching industry for helping coaches get exceptional results with their clients. Learn more at www.coremap.com.
Sherry is also the developer of the block busting Rapidly Accelerated Mind Patterning process (RAMP) that is revolutionizing coaching results.
