If you work as a business coach, your job is to teach others how to run a successful and profitable business. You use your training, experience, and schooling to provide them with insightful knowledge. When properly implemented, your steps should translate into success and profits for your clients.
In terms of business management, much focus is placed on organization, marketing, and sales. These are important components of running a sound business, but there is more. Small to medium sized business owners and their employees suffer from stress. As you know, business has its difficulties. For some, this stress takes a huge toll. Not only should you cover sales, organization, and marketing, but stress management too.
How can you incorporate stress management into your already proven step-by-step business coaching guide?
By offering it as an extra bonus. Clients pay for your service. New business owners and those struggling will gladly pay for your service, but give them an extra incentive. Include stress management as a bonus service or feature. With this approach, you cover this important aspect of business and your clients will feel like they are getting something for free. Everyone wins!
You now know how to offer stress management as a part of your business coaching services, but what steps should you take to educate?
If you are able to meet with your clients and their employees one-on-one, do so. Gather everyone in a room and ask some to share their biggest stress concerns. Most will mention the balance between family and home. Others will mention short deadlines or long work hours. Some may actually mention that they are stressing out about your training session, because they are missing valuable work time. Once you get a good idea of what troubles your clients and their employees are facing, you get a better grasp on the situation. Next, comes the solution.
It is important to know how to manage stress, but it is also important to know how to prevent it. Encourage those worried about short deadlines to improve their time management skills. Suggest monitoring their progress and recording whenever they get off track. What were they doing? Surfing the internet, checking email, or socializing with a coworker? It is easier to eliminate these trigger factors when we know what they are. As for balancing family and home, most companies provide their employees with vacation time. Encourage your audience to use theirs, especially when they need a break.
As previously stated, it is best to avoid stress, but this is impossible for some. Many individuals cannot help blowing things out of proportion. These individuals need to learn to manage it. Now is the time to suggest stress reducing tools, such as aromatherapy candles, hot and cold therapy, stress balls, and so forth. In fact, if you discuss this with your client ahead of time, they may be willing to go the extra mile for their employees and purchase stress balls for everyone.
Hot and cold patches and stress balls are ideal for at-work use, but there is more to stress management. As mentioned above, some individuals are stressed about home life and they bring that stress to work. The goal of a business owner is to have happy and healthy employees. This involves encouraging positive attitudes at home too. In your stress management session, stress the importance of relaxation outside of the office. Those who are worried about spending time with family should know that it is okay to let a sink full of dishes sit for the night. It will still be there in the morning.
As a recap, marketing, sales, and organization are three important components of running a successful and profitable business. But, if the individuals in charge of these tasks are ridden with stress and unable to deal with it, poor results are likely. When dealing directly with a business owner, urge them to allow you to hold a short session on stress management or encourage them to do the same.