With the soft economy putting greater strain on businesses, an emerging breed of consultants known as business coaches say theyre seeing increased demand for their services, especially from small-business owners who want to become more efficient so they can weather the difficult business climate.


One such coach, Kevin Weir, a Spokane Valley franchisee of Australia-based ActionCOACH, says the tough economy has boosted his client load significantly, spurring revenue growth of 54 percent over the past year.


Weir says his newest clients are telling him, I really need to drill down if Im going to survive tough times.


Rick Thorpe, a business adviser at the Small-Business Development Center (SBDC) in Spokane, which offers similar services for free to small businesses here, says he also has seen more clients in recent months.


Because of the economy, more businesses are struggling, Thorpe says. The SBDC offers what it calls business advising, including teaching business owners how to read their financial statements and doing other one-on-one consulting with them.


Bob Petet, president of Sales Creators Inc., a Spokane-based consulting company, says that though the terminology business coaching is fairly new, the role isnt.


Its the new buzzword that goes around, Petet says, adding that it describes a facet of the consulting industry his company has been providing to small-business clients here since 1980.


He says coaching differs from consulting simply in that coaching typically is tailored to smaller companies, while consulting generally is a term used to describe providing such services to larger companies.


Petet says smaller businesses are less likely to have written procedures and policies in place than bigger companies and thus need more hands-on coaching when changes are required, while larger companies likely have their own human resources personnel and extensive policies and procedures in place, and just need advice on how to make tweaks they can make on their own.


With small businesses, Were able to go in, identify problems, and teach the management team how to address the problems, Petet says.


Personnel problems are among the top three problems local business coaches say business owners typically identify, along with time management and a desire to increase their businesss customer base.


Chris Anderson, owner of North Star Enterprises Inc., in Spokane Valley, says she hired business coach Lynn Sebert, a franchisee here for Growth Coach, because she was overwhelmed by her business.


I started the company in 1984, and I was still working six days a week, Anderson says. She says her office staff often worked overtime, and if someone was out sick, she was the only person who could fulfill their duties.


Anderson says Sebert helped her put together a procedures manual and to streamline responsibilities, so the company could operate more efficiently. Though her employees were resistant to the changes at first, Anderson says within a year she was able to reduce her own hours to four days a week and to eliminate one of nine staff positions, saving the company money.


Now, the companys administrative work gets done in an eight-hour business day, and the employees are much happier, she says.


Petet says most of the small businesses that seek his services lack a marketing plan and need help to learn how to develop one.


Theyre flying by the seat of their pants, he says.


Weir says a lot of his clients come to him because they hope to sell their businesses eventually, and realize they cant do so until they can get the business to a stage at which it can be operated without them.


If all the processes are in the owners head, they cant do that, Weir says.


Anderson says that having North Stars policies and procedures written down will help her to sell her business and retire in a few years, when her youngest son graduates from high school.


Coaches here say they typically consult with a client for anywhere from several months to two years or more, but say the relationship continues as long as the clients feel they are helping.


Some coaches, like Weir and Sebert, offer a continuum of services that can include group workshops focused on teaching clients to build quarterly plans that both coaches say help make it more manageable for their clients to achieve goals.


Weir says the cost for services from his ActionCOACH office range from $300 for a planning workshop to $4,000 a month for intense coaching. He says clients usually work with him for an average of a year and a half.


Petet says that the cost of coaching services can vary widely depending on client needs. For example, setting up a health program for a clients employees might cost between $1,000 and $3,000, he says.


Petet, who says he has worked in sales and marketing his entire career, says that Sales Creators works for large and small companies in a variety of industries, both here and around the country.


By contrast, Weir says about half of his clients are in the residential building industry, and nearly all are in Eastern Washington. Weir has a masters in business administration, and has been a business coach since 2002.


He says a lot of small-business owners in the housing industryincluding glass installers, contractors, HVAC installers, and a range of other vendorsstarted their businesses because they are good at their particular craft and have a lot of knowledge in their specialty.


He says, however, that many lack a business background, and therefore struggle, often putting in long hours doing tasks that could be handled more efficiently.


Sebert worked as a manager in physicians offices for 15 years and now tends to specialize in that industry as a coach, she says.


She says she spends a lot of time in her clients offices, learning their businesses inside and out so she can help them streamline their processes.


Relatively new term


Petet says that although hes been offering coaching-like consulting services for many years, he started using the business coach term about four years ago, after it began to turn up in California marketing circles.


Weir says business coaching also has its roots in Australia, where ActionCOACH is based. That franchiser currently has more than 1,000 franchises in 26 countries.


Business coaching isnt regulated, so anyone can call themselves a business coach, though most franchises provide training for franchisees, and several small national and international coaching organizations also offer training.


Weir currently has a staff of four, and expects to hire an additional coach about every six months through next year. At any given time, the company has between 30 and 40 active clients, and clients often stay with them for two years or more, he says.


Sebert, who maintains an office in her home and does most of her coaching work on-site with her clients, recently hired an employee whom she says soon will obtain the Growth Coach credentials and do one-on-one coaching as well as facilitate some of the quarterly workshops the company offers at office space it rents downtown for that purpose.


Weir says ActionCOACH requires its franchisees to attend training and to take a personality test before it will allow them a franchise license. He says he believes a standardization of the practice will happen as more people enter the field, and that the industry will continue to grow here.


Business owners are looking for a competitive edge, he says.


The North Idaho College Small-Business Development Center, which offers business coaching and business and leadership training, says businesses that receive services from the center grow an average of 1,000 percent faster than the average business in Idaho.


Contact Jeanne Gustafson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at jeanneg@spokanejournal.com.