SME survey - do you have a coach for your business?

A coach is someone who tells you what you don’t want to hear, who has you see what you don’t want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be

Tom Landry

Whilst there is a difference, this question could relate to a business adviser or mentor helping you with your business. Being a small business owner is a tough job and the buck ultimately stops with you. It can also be a lonely place to be. So, having an independent ear to bend or shoulder to cry on, can be of huge benefit to anyone trying to succeed in business.

The survey of 90 respondents showed that 55.6% of businesses had some kind of external influence. This is great news that over half see

the advantage of someone to help guide the business forward. This then begged the question: what made you choose them?

Interestingly, as you can see from the bar chart, the top reasons were as follows (respondents could choose more than one option):

■ Personality (64%)

■ Experience (54%)

■ Methodology (32%)

■ Reputation (26%)

Word of mouth played an important part in the initial choice, with 20% of coaches being referred. Surprisingly qualifications (10%) and pricing (8%) overall were less important. It still leaves 44.4% that are flying solo and fighting the good fight on their own. Therefore the next question was to explore what the barrier was for businesses failing to have a coach.

This gave the following insights.

■ I can’t afford one (30%)

■ I may get one in the future (27.5%)

■ Don’t need it for my business (22.5%)

■ Don’t have the time (12.5%)

Whether you have a coach or not, hopefully this survey has helped you get some statistics to consider