Adapted from posts first published on Linkedin on July 31, 2022 and May 1, 2023

In Part I, I discussed the challenges in the coaching market and the readiness of the individual leader to be coached from my experiences of being both the buyer and seller of coaching. In Part 2 on I focuss on coach supply readiness at different stages of competence, and share some insights that will hopefully be valuable to those just starting out in coaching.

3. Coach supply readiness
4. Insightful questions from early stage coaches

Coach supply readiness

It is a fast growing market for coaching in India and everyone wants a piece of the cake. There are three primary player segments from a coach’s perspective. The coaches, the aspiring coaches, and the "certifiers". The market, the buyers of coaching, and the coaches segments are all connected and feed on each other in several ways.

To start, let's talk about the coaches and the aspiring coaches. What I write below is a simplification that may miss some outliers. Broadly, there are four coach segments.

There are established coaches with a good steady practice, and sometimes more work than they can sign up for. They can command their rates and typically work with a limited number of clients. Most of them do very little marketing; work comes in by reputation and word of mouth. But this is a very small segment, where capability is almost a given, and the buyer buys mostly relying on a well-built reputation. There are not enough of these to cater to a growing need for top-level coaches. They also tend to be exclusive about their practice and time.

There is a large second layer of coaches, very competent but do not have the same reputation. They have not built a stellar client list and set of stories yet. In some cases, they do not come with a stellar corporate background. Many of them are either not willing to or unable to market themselves. This is a loss to the buyer since many in this segment get filtered out in the buying process for a variety of reasons. Given the opportunity, and where they get it, they prove to be great coaches. This set of coaches is also constantly upgrading itself and investing in their own learning purely out of the desire to become a great coach.

The third 'growing coaches' pool is where there is the maximum potential and chaos. Many of them have past experience in corporates, or as trainers and facilitators, and are seasoned professionals in their other avatars. They have general skills or at-least interest in the people development area, some having worked in the HR function as well. Their route to becoming a coach often starts with certification, and many spend time in trying to find the 'right' certification. (Will come back to this later).

These growing coaches are trying to get some initial experiences as a paid coach, and find it really difficult to land assignments. Buyers do not have a good process to sift between coaches who could be extremely talented in this pool, and may miss out on some great ones. At the same time, there is a reluctance to engage and pay for these coaches as the recipient coachee is often looking for an 'experienced' coach.

The other aspect here is for coaches--how do they gain enough experience and practice to really move up the competence ladder? And how do they market themselves even with lack of examples, stories and credentials, without playing only on the (cheaper ) pricing?

With the right screening and handholding processes, this pool of 'growing' coaches can provide for the needs of a large market like India.

The final set of emerging coaches are those that are just certified, or thinking of getting certified. This group is younger in age than the earlier growing coaches pool. These coaches may need a lot of mentoring, but are also likely to be more flexible and without too many mental barriers. There is more openness to explore a wider approach. They are also connected better with younger leaders and startups (and perhaps understand these better).

Here is a snapshot of the 4 simplified 'categories'.

A quick note on money/coaching rates. Especially for the growing and emerging coaches. In the Indian market, there is no bottom. Basically, there will always be someone who can offer a lower price. If lower pricing is the key strategy for selling your coaching service, it erodes your value as well as does dis-service to the larger set of coaches. It would be useful to apply the well-known 4P approach to marketing, where pricing is only one of the elements.

The other aspect is "asking" for appropriate fees/rates. Many coaches find it embarrassing and feel a little shy about having a direct discussion about commercial aspects. Developing skills/ approach that allows for upfront conversation and agreement on this aspect is important and must form part of a development plan for early stage coaches.

A word about certification and "certifiers". Coaching certifications (and other associated ones like psychometric tools) are useful to learn and get a grounding. By themselves though, they have limited value. The certifiers have their own business model where their primary market is individuals who are willing to pay for the 'certification'. They have some interest in seeing the coach do well and build a practice, but the primary responsibility is with the coach. The certifier’s interest in an individual largely ends once the certification program is over.

Individual coaches need to create a personal development plan for themselves beyond certifications, including these critical elements, among others.

• Building a learning network of other coaches

• Continuing education (and not necessarily certification)

• Getting mentored and coached (especially in areas of building reputation, marketing oneself and asking for the right rates)

• Practising the skills in contexts not always related to formal coaching. There are many opportunities to practice the skills in day to day life.

Q&A with early stage coaches

In the last and fourth part of this series about coaching in India will focus on my reflections on a series of questions raised by early-stage coaches. Talking to early stage coaches is extremely insightful. They are curious and have a lot of meaningful questions, often highlighting the way the coaching market in India has changed over the last few years. In the meanwhile, I look forward to your comments on this one.

Here is a list of questions I get most often when conversing with relatively newer coaches, and my perspectives.

What are some tips and tricks for selling myself better?

You will need to develop your own style of coaching (and selling yourselves). Like any other set of skills, selling oneself is part science, part art. What I have learned from experience is this--it's more about the mindset:

• Understand your own value and never be defensive about what you offer. In any case, not everyone is going to be your customer. Do not try to be everything to everyone.

• Focus on what you cannot deliver, along with what you can. Transparency always works. Very often coaches make the mistake of promising the moon, or being a panacea for all problems.

Be prepared to be rejected and to say no if there is misalignment at early stages of engagement in the coaching process, or at the 'sales' stage.

What should I charge?

Again, no black-and-white answer. But here is what appears to work for me.

• Scoping is critical--clearly agree on what is included in the assignment and what is not. Scope creep is very common. e.g. periodic check in calls with the coachee's manager, additional calls/meetings with stakeholders, presentations to senior management, specific reports etc. They all require effort and time from you as a coach--are you getting paid for these--directly or indirectly?

• Have a range of fees for your services rather than a single figure--based on inclusions and exclusions in the assignment. Many Indian (coaching) clients tend to pay for effort rather than for outcomes and value. So effort estimation and pricing for that is essential.

• Understand that India is a 'cost' market. Rarely will the buyer be willing to pay a premium price based on 'value'. In this case, value is linked to the fact that as an early stage coach, you may not have enough credibility or a strong reference base which can indicate value. So be clear on boundaries and mentally open to negotiating.

At what stage will you be willing to walk away from a potential client for commercials reasons: that is a key question.

How do I leverage my past experience?

In two ways. Sometimes industry background or educational qualifications or certifications help, as they can be used as filters by clients. So positioning those upfront is useful.

The second way though is to focus on examples and experiences in mentoring, leading people, what you have seen succeed and fail and actual coaching cases. These could be in past roles and not necessarily as an executive coach.

It is important to be able to show that you understand the nature of issues and will be able to bring insights and techniques to help individuals. Some element of showcasing your own uniqueness helps.

Do I need additional certifications or training to sell myself better?

If the focus is on your personal learning and honing skills as a coach, almost certainly the answer is yes.

If the focus is selling yourselves, then it helps in a limited way. Collecting certificates is perhaps the easiest way to showcase your 'apparent' competence. By itself though, does not really help. The focus has to be on making sure that there is enough real life experience as a coach.

These questions are the most common ones which I have experienced, and a few more. As I close this piece, one last learning which is worth sharing. If as an aspiring coach, acceptance (read quick client deals) does not come early, do not give up. Try getting a mentor, build skills and look deeply inwards.

The deep inward look should also be able to provide an answer to this question at some stage " Am I really meant to be a coach?".

Some of us may never really become a professional coach and the world around us may be giving us feedback on this aspect. Being humble to accept the feedback (after having tried enough) is a sign of growth. Maybe one is cut out for a different purpose...

Connect with Bimal Rath on Linkedin

Bimal Rath is an author and entrepreneur. He is interested in and supports the coming alive of human potential in all his pursuits. To get a hint of his professional work in "helping organisations leverage their talent better" visit thinktalent.co