Dear coacheric,
Thanks very much for your questions!
After endless dead ends, I have finally found some comparatively
?hard? data for you! The International Coach Federation has
actually conducted and published an 80- question survey on many of
the areas you need, called the 2003 Coach Survey. If you want to
skip my instant summary, and go directly to the horse?s mouth, you
can find the survey on the ICF website, at
http://www.coachfederation.org/coaching_survey/ICFSurveySummary.htm
You will find that, although the survey questions are not framed
exactly as you framed yours, the information can be manipulated to
answer some of yours.
First, let me give a caveat to the survey?s findings: Jennifer
Corbin, President of CoachU, referred me to the survey, and says
she thinks the findings are somewhat skewed. As she put it, REALLy
successful coaches will not have time to answer questionnaires, so
this survey may be skewed toward the newer, less-successful, lower
income folks who received it. Nevertheless, the data is based on
2,530 respondents, so it does give you some proportions to work
with when envisioning the world of small business coaching.
Let me respond to your numbered questions:
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1) Number of business coaches who cater to small and medium
business.
I will do a little shaky math for this one. Question #36 of
the survey asks who the primary target of the coaching firm is.
14.1% said small business, mid-sized business, or startup companies
and entrepreneurs.
If you use the Business Wire figure below of 15,000 job coaches in
the US, then 14.1% X 15,000= 2,115 coaches who cater to small and medium business.
Here?s the source I based the 15,000 number on:
?According to a recent report in the Business Wire: "..the number of
US job coaches has grown from 5,300 in 1998 to approximately 15,000
in 2003. Business coaching has become a $500 million industry and shows
no sign of slowing. And it's a worldwide phenomenon."
from: http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:94eNxRBv93cJ:www.1to1coachingschool.com/certification.htm+%22business+coaching+industry%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
As I am writing, the number of coaches is growing. Here are some
estimates as to just how fast:
"Executive and Business coaching is growing by about 40% a year."
-The Economist. Dec. 2002.
"..business coaching, a trend that's exploding among small businesses
and organizations nationwide. It's estimated that up to 20% of
American small businesses are using them, up from 4% just four years
ago.?
http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:94eNxRBv93cJ:www.1to1coachingschool.com/certification.htm+%22business+coaching+industry%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
"Business coaching is a major growth industry. At least
10,000 coaches work for businesses today, up from 2,000
in1996. And that figure is expected to exceed 50,000 in
the next five years. Business coaching is also highly
profitable; employers are now willing to pay fees ranging
from $1,500 to $15,000 a day." -The Economics of Executive
Coaching. Harvard Business School Journal. July 2002
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2) Number of small business coaching firms, broken down by number
of coaches:
Probably would be impossible at this time, but the
ICF survey does a stab at something similar on question #32.
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3) Revenues for small business coaches and firms:
This answer is for all business coaches in the survey, not just small
business coaches. The rule of thumb, though, is that small business
coaches are not going to be charging the whopping rates that corporate
coaches are.
Question #44 of the survey shows that 49.8% of the coaches charged
between $75 and $199 per hour. (Its broken down further there, and
there is another question which details the number of hours coaches
are working.)
Elsewhere on its website, the ICF states it in terms of monthly
revenues.
?Most coaches working with individuals charge between $200 to $500
per month for one half-hour call per week. Executive coaches charge
more and have clients who work with them for an hour or two a week.
Average hourly fees range from $100 to $200 per hour. Corporate
coaching or other coaching related programs are substantially higher.?
Above from the ICF Fact Sheet. Contrast that with what Time
Business News says below:
"Business coaches are in great demand by small, medium and large
businesses alike . Such is the demand Corporate coaches can charge
from $600 to $2,000 a month for three or four 30- to 60-minute
conversations. Some charge as much as $400 an hour. So a lot of
them are earning far more than psychologists or psychiatrists.
- TIME BUSINESS NEWS. Sept.2002
"Business coaching is also highly profitable; employers are now
willing to pay fees ranging from $1,500 to $15,000 a day."
-The Economics of Executive Coaching.
Harvard Business School Journal. July 2002
Question #45 deals with gross revenues of the businesses, but
doesn?t break it down by small business or longevity. The largest
number, 37% are making less than $10,000 in revenues from coaching.
16.8% make $40,000 to $99,000 a year, and 9% make $100,000 to $500,000.
The survey further breaks it down. Remember, Jennifer Corbin believes
these numbers to be skewed low.
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4) Distribution of the longevity of small business coaches- i.e. how long
have they been in the business?
Jennifer Corbin estimates that of successful coaches (those whose
primary income is coaching) most have been in business about 3-4 years.
She says most haven?t been around more than 5 years, since the industry
is so new.
Question number 34 of the survey confirms that. Of the respondents,
just 28.3% had been in the business more than 4 years, and that was the
most experienced category. 44.3% have been in the business 1-4 years.
The survey further breaks it down.
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5) Contact info on the top 10 small business coaching firms.
Finding the top 10 would be a couple week?s work, if it can be
done at all, I believe.
Jennifer Corbin says there are probably only a handful of small
business coaching firms that are ?large.? The one that came to her
mind immediately is:
The Pyramid Resource Group. You can find them at:
http://www.pyramidresource.com/coaches.htm
General Inquiries: Info@pyramidresource.com
919.677-9300 [phone]919.677-9005 [fax]
DJ Mitsch: DJ@pyramidresource.com
Barry Mitsch: Barry@pyramidresource.com
Courtney Davis: Courtney@pyramidresource.com
The Pyramid Resource Group
1020 Southhill Drive, Suite 150
Cary, North Carolina 27513
Here is another that responded to my many e-mail inquiries:
Professional Marketing International - http://www.pmicoaching.com/
They responded to my e-mail and said almost all their business is
with small business. They employ ?about 50 coaches? and have been
in business about 8 years.
ADDRESS 360 S Technology CourtLindon, UT 84042
PHONE888-251-1116FAX801-437-6894
EMAILinfo@pmicoaching.comeu.)
Action International is, as you suspected, aimed at small to medium
businesses, and they look to be huge. You can find them at:
http://www.action-international.com/ai/region_us/aius_home.php
To contact them, go to their contact page, and select your state:
http://www.action-international.com/ai/region_us/aius_home.php?page=aius_coach_listing
Shirlaws is Australian, but has US offices, and does specialize in small
business.
http://www.shirlaws.biz/shirlaws/index.aspx
You can contact them at:
Head Office
Shirlaws USA Inc
400 Montgomery Street Suite 600
San Francisco CA 94104USA
Phone Number: +1 415 341 6052Fax: +1 415 276 6310
Email: infousa@shirlaws.biz
USA Contact:Marc Johnstone (Partner)
Phone Number: +1 415 341 6077Fax: +1 415 276 6310
Email: mjohnstone@shirlaws.biz
Manchester, which you mentioned, has mostly clients in the Fortune 1000,
so wouldn?t qualify as small business coaches.
If you?d like to contact coaching companies yourself to find more large
firms, here is the Open Directory page for Business Coaching. There are
296 entries:
http://dmoz.org/Business/Management/Consulting/Executive_Coaching/
Als, Google Directory, small business> consulting
http://directory.google.com/Top/Business/Management/Consulting/Small-Medium_Sized_Businesses/
As I mentioned in our first contacts, the World Association of
Business Coaches hopes to do detailed research this year.
The International Coaching Federation is also holding a Coaching
Research Symposium at its Conference in Quebec City in November,
which could be a good source of information for you.
To find out about the conference go to:
http://www.coach-federation.org/conference/default.asp
Some Other Resources:
Small Business Development Center, National Information Clearinghouse
http://sbdcnet.utsa.edu/SBIC/trends.htm
Marshall Goldsmith?s website has a wealth of coaching articles:
http://www.marshallgoldsmith.com/
There are some 20 industry associations for coaches worldwide.
Here are some of the top ones I found.
Worldwide Association of Business Coaches
c/o WABC Coaches Inc.
8578 Echo Place West
Sidney, BC V8L 5E2
Canada
www.wabccoaches.com
International Coach Federation
1444 I Street NW Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: 888-423-3131 or 202-
Fax: 888-329-2423 or 202-
Email: president@coachfederation.org
Web Site: http://www.coachfederation.org/
Description: The International Coach Federation is a non-profit
professional organization comprised of personal and business coaches.
Their Coach Referral Service and PR plan help to build and support
the coaching profession.
International Association of Coaches
http://www.certifiedcoach.org/
Also of possible interest to you:
Coach2coachnetwork:
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/coach2coach/
While not technically ?business coaches,? SCORE has 389 chapter
offices across the country providing free counseling to small
businesses.
http://www.score.org/cgi/third_party.cgi?url=http%3A//www.score.org/
I hope this answer gets you off to a good start on your business plan.
If anything is unclear, please don?t hesitate to hit the
'Clarify Answer? button before you rate my work.
Good luck with your business!
cath-ga
Google Answers Researcher
search strategy:
?business coach ? + association
market research + small business coach
business coach + small business |
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