In the past several years, business coaching has gone beyond a luxury reserved for Corporate America’s executives to an invaluable tool for small business owners. Yet many small business owners are still unclear on the difference between a business coach and a business consultant.
The difference is as simple as the old expression “give a man a fish, he eats for the day, teach him to fish and he feeds himself for life”. That’s not to say that business consultants do not perform a valuable service. Their expertise is used to complete tasks where the business owner is either deficient or does not have the time to complete the task themselves. A business coach teaches the business owner either how to do those tasks or how to find the resources to ensure that the task is completed both in the present and the future. So, what are the main differences between a business coach and business consultant? Here are a few of them:
- A business coach transfers their knowledge to the business owner while the business consultant takes their knowledge with them when their mission is complete.
- With a business coach, plans are driven by the client’s often multi-layer needs; with a consultant, plans are more often driven by a particular deliverable.
- A business coach works in 30/60/90 – day planning cycles; a business consultant’s schedule is typically based on deliverable milestones.
- Business coaches help implement self-sustainable systems, while business consultants set up maintenance contracts for deliverables.
- Business coaches are paid by the program. Business consultants generally get paid by the hour.
In its simplest form, a business coach is a teacher. The business consultant is a doer. Both have a place in the business world. When you own and operate your own business, you get used to calling all the shots, even if some of those shots might be off target. A business coach will not only tell you why you are off target, but also show you how to stay on target – and that’s a service that has real value for the small business owner.
***
TITAN Business Development Group, LLC
coaching | consulting | results!
www.TitanBDG.com
