One of the client engagements I value highly is when another business coach engages me to be their coach to help them create the business to which they aspire.

I recently took on as client a person who is transitioning from a long & successful career in business to becoming a business coach.

Our conversation in the past week centred on what was holding him back from creating clients for his fledging coaching business.  What quickly became clear was that his focus was on developing the perfect proposition for who he was as a business coach and why people should engage with him as a coach.

I challenged him about this approach by saying he had forgotten what had brought him success over 40 years in taking small businesses to become big businesses.  One of the keys to this was that he had evolved into being a great salesman.  However, he was not using the tools he had developed over that time selling his coaching business.

Upon reflection the business owner agreed he was not using the selling skills he had developed to sell his coaching business.  As result, he challenged himself that in every conversation he will not mention he is a business coach but instead focus on how he can help business owners become great salespeople.

To borrow a quote from Mahatma Gandhi:

“The sign of a great salesman is not how many sales they make but on how many great salesmen they create”