How Long Before I Should Expect Results?

(reading time 5 mins)

Three months. I hope you’ve enjoyed this article.

No, that was a joke. Obviously the answer to the question of when you can expect to see results from business coaching depends on many widely varying factors:

• What results are you after?
• Where are you at right now (ie how big is the gap between where you are now and where you want to be?)
• The quality of your coach
• The intensity/frequency of the coaching program you select
• And perhaps most importantly, your willingness and commitment to the effort and learning involved in achieving your desired results

So instead of trying to come up with a definitive answer to the question in terms of timescales, let’s look at what questions you should be considering when interviewing prospective coaches, and questions you can be asking them directly.

The first question I would always recommend asking a coach – and this is covered more extensively in a different article – is “How long before I see a return on investment (ROI) in coaching?” In other words, by when will I be making more money as a direct result of coaching, than the “cost” of the coaching itself? Your coach should be looking with you at the potential for your business to generate enough additional profit to see an ROI, through various sales and marketing strategies, or operational efficiencies and improvements, and should agree with you a plan of action over the first few months of coaching in order to achieve a specific profit target. Certainly I look to achieve an ROI for any new client within the first four months of coaching.

In terms of other results you want to see from coaching, whether they are in the general categories of “Time, Team or Money,” it is vastly important to set clear goals and targets, with timescales, so that you and your coach have a clear understanding of the success criteria, and are able to sit down and write a clear, focused action plan to achieve those goals.

I usually get my clients to set a combination of short and long-term goals at the start of coaching. What are some quick wins in the first ninety days so that we can see “evidence of progress?” Evidence of progress is very important, because you will need to see quite quickly some proof that the work you are doing with the help of your coach is actually working. If you see that evidence in the early days, you will feel more confident and be more inclined to continue the efforts towards your longer term goals.

There are some short-term time management results that can often be seen very quickly, sometimes within just a couple of weeks. For example, a good coach can help you delegate or offload a number of regular tasks that you currently perform in the business, thereby freeing up a few hours a week of your own time. That alone can make a massive difference, because you can then replace that newly found time with more high-value “business owner” work, accelerating you even faster towards your bigger goals.

You can also expect to see some “team” results very quickly, assuming you and your coach identify some clear goals and an action plan to achieve them. For example, simply by improving your communication rhythm with key team members, and improving the quality of your communication and meetings, team members should feel greater clarity of their own roles and expected outcomes, ultimately becoming more productive in their work.

And of course there are always short-term money wins to be realised. Re-engaging with past customers and prospects, creating a clear sales process and training your sales team, and seeking ways to create more profitable repeat business with your current customer base, can all generate increased sales and profits within a few short weeks and months.

To see more profound, long-term and sustainable results, however, takes more time. You can only achieve so much through, what we call in the coaching community, “transactional coaching.” Transactional coaching is where the coach teaches you some strategies and gets you to implement them in your business. Long-term results come more from “transformational coaching.” This is where your coach helps you grow and develop as a business leader, so that you are thinking differently, making better and faster decisions, and leading your team with greater confidence and pace. I usually tell my new clients that, even though we can see some great short-term results and an ROI in coaching within three or four months, you will see greater, long-term results after around twelve months.

Again, the important thing is to be absolutely clear on what your 12-month and beyond goals are, and to have a clear action plan on getting there. Over time working with your coach, not only should more profound changes be seen in the business, but in you as well.

A business is a reflection of its leadership. For the business to continue growing and getting better, the business owner must grow and get better. And that takes time; in fact, it’s a never-ending process.

In summary, be sure to set some short-term goals and targets for your coach – in other words, some “success criteria” so your coach knows what success looks like. And also set some long-term goals, which you may or may not know exactly how you’re going to achieve right now. Your coach should help you learn the skills necessary to achieve bigger and better things over a longer period of time.

Find out more about what ActionCOACH can do for your business. Or if you simply have a question about something you’ve read here, don’t hesitate to get in touch. Email me at andrewgoldberg@actioncoach.com.