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The offer promises to give you “everything you need” to succeed as a business coach: a system, training, marketing and ongoing support. And best of all? “Absolutely no coaching experience is necessary.”
So goes an online pitch for potential investors offered by The Growth Coach, a business coaching franchise that has plans to expand from 155 cities to 400 in the next four years. The company requires its franchisees to attend a five day training course before beginning work: “You need NO coaching and NO business ownership experience. Because of our proven and unique coaching system, only minimal business experience is necessary. Everything your clients will need is embedded in our proven, refined coaching process.”
For potential franchisees, the startup costs can be considerable. A franchise coaching company called Focal Point requires an upfront investment of at least $50,000. In return, investors get a week’s worth of company training and materials, and access to the Focal Point “brand.” Coaching experience, training or certification is not a qualification for being granted a franchise.
“At FocalPoint we’re careful to award franchises to people who not only have the right skills and character, but who fit with our organizational culture,” says Steve Thompson, Focal Point’s president. “If you’ve ever considered being an executive consultant, executive consulting, or an executive mentor, business mentor, corporate consultant, or mentorship in general, FocalPoint Business Coaching is worth considering.”
Watch CoachReporter Mark Joyella’s story:
CoachReporter: Franchise Coaching from Mark Joyella on Vimeo.
Among the people taking their name recognition to the world of franchise coaching: John Gray, the author of 1990′s bestseller “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus.” Gray’s started a company called Mars Venus Coaching, which has operations in Australia, Slovenia, Malaysia, India, Italy and the U.S.
What does a relationship book have to do with executive and life coaching? According to a Mars Venus franchise pitch, “At Mars Venus Coaching, we believe that problematic relationships are at the heart of most professional, business or personal issues. And since gender differences can have a significant impact on communications–with business partners, executive teams, employees, co-workers and spouse/significant other–we believe in order to be successful, it is essential to not only understand these differences, but to know how to effectively manage them.”
Coaching franchise companies argue that buying into their business model makes sense and makes for the foundation of a strong coaching business. What do you think? Is it good business, good coaching, both… or neither?
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There are 3 Responses so far...
As a person who paid huge money, some years ago, to invest with one of the franchises you mentioned (as a Master Franchisee) my advice is to approach all coaching franchises with caution. I did my money (six figures plus) in 8 months.
The benefit of a worthwhile coaching franchise is a PROVEN business system that generates an income level significantly higher than if you paid for ‘normal’ coach school training/certification and then invested in a proven business coach to work with one-on-one.
I would recommend talking to at least 12 current and past franchisees to find out the reality of the Franchisor’s record of delivery on their promises, as distinct from what the glossy promo material spouts.
Thanks for highlighting the coaching industry. We all benefit. However, the sad secret is that most coaches and consultants have a big flaw in their business model…NO leverage. They perform one-on-one services and are merely swapping time for money. The Growth Coach invented a much better way to help clients help themselves. We pioneered and perfected a group-coaching process over 15 years ago and we provide a money-back guarantee on all such coaching services. Our unique group-coaching process is affordable to our small business clients (we serve several thousand clients each and every year) and highly profitable to our franchise owners because of LEVERAGE…coaching multiple clients at the same time over multiple years. Why coach one-on-one when you can coach a roomful? Also, the clients benefit from each other with a mastermind group, best practices, camaraderie, etc. Our Growth Coach franchise owners facilitate our proven coaching process in a quarterly workshop setting and empower our clients to discover the best answers & solutions for their specific situation and circumstances. We get clients to face reality about their business, gain clarity of direction, develop and continually update a 90-day road map to get there, and receive on-going accountability to stay on track. We don’t tell clients what to do and how to do it, that’s arrogant and there is no buy-in…besides, they know their specific business and industry better than anyone else. They simply need help getting unstuck, burning off fog, and properly assessing their situation. As such, we have a unique group-coaching process that provides them with the proper structure, discipline and on-going process to solve their own challenges and seize their own opportunities. We empower clients with our unique, proven and guaranteed group-coaching process, The Strategic Mindset Process. http://www.TheGrowthCoach.com
Hi Daniel,
Thanks for coming and joining the conversation. I think coaches will appreciate your insight, and they very well may have questions for you about your model and how it compares to others.
Mark