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Market research (small business coaching)

• I need basic market research on small business coaching. I need to know: 1) the number of business coaches who cater to small and medium businesses (let's say with 100 employees or less and/or with $10 million or less revenue). 2) The number of small business coaching firms (with more than 1 principal) broken down by number of employees/consultants. Additionally, if any general coaching firms cater to small businesses as part of their mix, I'd like their stats broken out separately, including what portion of their practice is small business coaching. 3) The revenues (per coach) of small business coaches & small business coaching firms. I'd like to see these broken out, if possible, by years in business. I'd like the stats for firms larger than 2 people broken out separately. 4) A distribution of the longevity of small business coaches - i.e. how many years they have been in business. 5) Information (i.e. URL, contact info, principals) on the top 10 largest small business coaching firms (assuming there are 10 with more than 3 principals and associates). For example, I expect Action International and Shirlaws might be on that list, but that Manchester would not (I believe they cater to larger corporates).

• Answer:

  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: --------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------- 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------ 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. ----------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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: [email protected] 919.677-9300 [phone]919.677-9005 [fax] DJ Mitsch: [email protected] Barry Mitsch: [email protected] Courtney Davis: [email protected] 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 [email protected].) 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: [email protected] USA Contact:Marc Johnstone (Partner) Phone Number: +1 415 341 6077Fax: +1 415 276 6310 Email: [email protected] 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: [email protected] 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