3 reasons why coaches fail

I was surprised to find out at a recent meeting with my students from ICA Balkans (International Coach Academy) that many people who are interested in coaching still don’t understand the market. Little do they know about finding their ideal clients and the abilities this kind of profession requires.

More than eight years ago I was a consultant with a small business, targeting a profitable niche. From a financial standpoint, this allowed me to begin my journey in the world of coaching, which was hardly accessible at that time due to high prices and efforts one needed to make. For example, I had to enroll in a foreign school and go to classes abroad, because there was no such program in the country that would offer accreditation.

In the first series of students at ICA Balkans, which started in the spring of 2012, I attracted entrepreneurs who have strong businesses, managers with important roles in Human Resources and marketing, experienced trainers and coaches who want level up.

The situation on the coaching market has changed a lot since 2005. Right now there are a few hundred practitioners, out of which more than 20 also have ICF (international Coach Federation) accreditation — the “gold” standard in this profession. My perception is that many of them still want to advance with their competences, accessing programs that allow them to specialize.

Yet, some people ask: “who needs more Professional Certified Coaches (PCC) on a market that’s already small?”

So I suddenly remembered about Stephen Covey’s quote about the cake slice. It depends how you perceive it. For me, the bigger the cake, the greater the number of people who have the chance to take a bite.

#1 REASON: misunderstanding the market and the fact that it cannot grow if there are only a few individuals, no matter how extraordinary they may be.

Another profound misunderstanding is tight to approaching the clients. In the initiation journey of a coach you first have to understand the abilities in order to build up a conversation. You learn to respect your client’s desires and at the same time to practice the coach’s working behaviors.

You first work around yourself and solve your own drawbacks, before starting to offer your services to external clients.

Many schools advise their students to self-proclaim themselves coaches from the very first day they enter classes and target their message to a single category of clients.

But the truth is that each client is UNIQUE and it is practically impossible to reduce everything to a formula like “follow these four steps”. In “Outliers: The Story of Success”, Malcolm Gladwell writes about the equation of 10.000 hours that lead to mastery. Any quick fix promise is just a flim-flam.

From personal experience I say that you start practicing coaching by exercising it during the school, with colleagues and giving away hours free of charge, learning about modesty. This way you will slowly but firmly move towards the clients you deserve. One of the biggest obstacles you have as a coach is asking for money. You first have to find out their worth.

So the REASON #2 is a precocious and flawed positioning, which often leads to failure and frustration.

As for the last reason, it refers to the particularities of the profession. We sure do appreciate intimate, face-to-face conversations. Maybe a tea or a coffee on the table, too.

Yet, the coaching conversation is preceded by another. Which is sales-oriented. Many coaches would want things to be different, to skip this step, but I believe you cannot succeed (no matter your job) without a few sales abilities.

Therefor REASON # 3 is the confusion around this preliminary conversation and the wrong expectations.

I am prepared to offer everything I learned to those who want to take a different path. And I make a promise to my students that they will end up with all the 3 elements (read “3 reasons”) clarified, so that they can contribute to their development and that of their clients.

Enter ICA Balkans.