Should Certification Be Required To Be A Business Coach
May 19, 2009 by jcasmer
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There are over 200 websites offering business coaching certification, but is it really worth spending the hundreds to thousands of dollars asked by these schools to become a business coach?
If you asked this question two or three years ago you?d get a resounding no from a crowd of successful coaches. Some of the most successful coaches have never taken a business coaching certification program. Yet they still make hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, because most of their clients do not ask for credentials.
What about today, can you set up a successful coaching program without certification?
Yes. However unlike years ago when the subject of credentials was very rarely brought up, today more prospects are researching and becoming consumer savvy.
Still, consumers still don?t ask as often as perhaps they should. Because in all honesty, when a client is willing to spend the hundreds or thousands of dollars asked by coaches they?re more concerned about success rate then they are credentials.
Business coaching certification teaches you tools and techniques to help you become a coach. What they can?t guarantee is success. You may have the knowledge, but you may not be able to draw in clients and it?s not certain that you have innate skills to be an effective coach.
Consumers who are really interested in being coached are looking for more than credentials. They want someone with extensive business experience and a proven track record.
They want someone who meshes well with their learning style and personality. This is a working relationship after all and clients want to work cooperatively with their coach.
Having business coaching certification is good. You definitely have proof that you?ve been trained to help people and it is appeasing for the weary client to know that you are educated in the manner of providing effective business advice. It is less stressing to answer the question, ?can I see your credentials?? when you actually have credentials.
However, don?t be fooled into thinking your business will take off simply because you can prove your credentials. So far there has been little direct correlation between having a business coaching certification and being a successful business coach.
Many coaches today are void of certification and yet they have more clients than those that do. One could say that those with a business coach certification rely too heavily on it.
They assume consumers will be impressed by the fact they took some classes and will sign up for their service. Thus, they may not network or market their business enough.
Investing in an education is ultimately a good idea. You will at least have credentials that prove you are a business coach. However, as we know with any educational investment what you get in return is not always monetary. It is helpful to have business coaching certification but it won’t be the driving factor behind your success.
Hi Jeff,
Good and informative articles on an interesting theme.
When you are a newbie it is not easy to know who is the best mentor or who to ask for advice. As a newbie we do not know who are respected or not, we even don’t know where to find information that is trustworthy. We read views but how can we know that a review is to be trusted. One thing we have learned is that in this business it is a lot of scams.
And after being “on net” and read and learned and got to know different forums and persons we find out that there are a lot of respected, trustworthy, nice and helpful people out there. Then we have a new problem – they have different opinions on the same issue. That is no surprise – we are different people with different opinions. The problem is, who am I going to listen to?
I do not think a Certification will solve this problem.
Anyway, I think I have been lucky to have found “PIPS people”.
Take Care
Mona