5 minute read
Tom Brady has one. So does Tiger Woods. Likewise, with Michael Bublé, Michael Phelps and Michael Keaton. In every performance business, the best, most successful professionals employ the services of a coach.
If using a coach is so important in the performance world, why wouldn’t it make sense for you and your business? In the restoration industry, most owners are incredibly involved in their business and do great things every day. That said, when are they taking the time to reflect on their performance and learn newer, better ways of conducting business?
You see, disaster business is, in a way, a performance business. Our reputation and credibility lie in the minds of our clients. If they feel we treated their homes or buildings with care, respect, and professionalism, then our reputation will be high and well-deserved, resulting in more work. Just like an athlete or actor, we need to make others feel great about what we do in order to do more of it.
A disaster business coach can make the difference in your performance. Like other coaches, these professional consultants have the ability to look at you, your company, and your performance in a way that objectively critiques them, finds areas that need work, and focus on greater, more successful results.
Good coaches will always look at your strengths and make them the centerpiece of your performance. Think about a football coach: he assesses the abilities of each member of the team, from the star to the last guy on the bench. He develops plays or game concepts (processes) that maximize the abilities of the team by working to the positives of the team members. If the QB has a great arm, there will be more long passes; if the running backs and line are powerful, we might see more conservative running plays.
Restoration business coaches will do the same with your business. The best coaches know what works in Topeka may not work in Tampa, and they will be able to design a business plan that fits your company’s specific needs. Coaches work with you and your team to get the most out of every member, and will coordinate the efforts of the marketing, administrative and production divisions into a seamless “teamwork” approach. Please don’t accept a coach that wants to force you into their “cookie-cutter” processes. Every company will require a unique exclusive approach.
Coaches provide two important values to your disaster business. First, they give you the knowledge and experience they have gathered from their work with other companies to make your company better. Chances are, this is the first restoration company that you have owned, so you are doing all of this for the first time. Your coach will have worked with hundreds of companies before coming to help you, so their breadth of knowledge and experience is something that you could never match. Use that to your advantage!
Second, coaches provide you with the opportunity to be checked. A great coach will establish criteria that you have to meet in a given period of time. This accountability will force you to perform and to meet your own expectations and plans. Think back to your Little League or high school athletic experience. Many times, fear of disappointing your coach can be a great motivator to success.
How can you find a good disaster business coach? The best place to find one is by reaching out to other restoration professionals that you know and trust. They may have utilized a coach in the past, and if they are successful, it’s a good chance that the coach had a lot to do with it. Get a reference from them and call their coach right away. Great restoration coaches are in high demand, but they are also very accommodating with their time. Just be sure you don’t hire one that is the “most recognized” based on their advertising (30 years of holding seminars doesn’t alone qualify them).
You’ll want to hire a coach that is working in the trenches – out in the “field” every day. If they feel your need, and your sincere desire to get better, they will bend over backwards to make time for your company. The passion of a good coach is always, first and foremost, to help good companies get better and to improve the overall quality of the industry.
The disaster business graveyard is full of companies whose owners never reached out for help. Their final words usually went something like this: “I thought I knew it all.” Don’t let your ego lead you down this road. Instead, follow the model of the best in the world – put your trust in a qualified coach and let them guide your career.
By: Bill Giannone, Co-Founder The CREST Network, LLC.
Nationally recognized coach, consultant, trainer, and speaker
25-year Wall Street veteran and business consultant