Experts say there are four distinct phases in the life of a business. Transition planning then is the process of getting from one phase to the next as effectively and as efficiently as possible. Isn’t this where small business coaches come in?

The Start Up Phase:
This is when companies are just getting up and running. This is when every action, from ordering business cards to selecting an Internet provider, and on and on are being done for the first time. This is also when the initial business strategies are being developed and implemented.

It’s at this point when any mistake may be the one that dooms the enterprise before it even gets off the ground. What did your small business coach experience in their previous life (before becoming a small business coach) or from their other start up clients that gives them special insights when working with people during the early days of their business?

The Survivor Phase:
The survivors are those businesses that have escaped the failure common to the vast majority of entrepreneurs and their start up companies. They have beaten the odds, from having to worry about paying their suppliers on time to a company that is looking for more and better employees, new equipment instead of the junk they started with, and they are beginning to consider themselves a real business in need of an actual professional management team.

The Coasting Phase:
Since virtually all companies are owned by a single individual or a small group of them, and since the owners are most likely to be about the same age – and going through the same changes as one another, at some point they are likely to hit a “flat spot” in their developmental process.

That’s because they are making money doing what they’ve already figured out how to do and there are no challenges worth risking it all for. Also they have not started thinking about what is going to happen to the company when they step down, because it is too painful to contemplate alone.

Small business coaches do most of their coaching with business owners in this phase. This is the time when business owners know they should be doing something, they just don’t know what. Don’t you think this is an area where you can add value to the equation?

The Exit Phase:
During the next 10 or so years we’ll see the largest transition of wealth and management in history. The post WWII boom, not only in the United States but globally – companies were founded in the late 1940′ through the mid 1950’s in record numbers. The successful ones – the ones who outlasted their initial mistakes, their competitors, and in most cases survived into the second generation are now passing the torch to those who follow them.

Every business is where it is now because of where it was 10, 20, 30 or more years ago. The organization’s history determines where it is today and where it will be in the future. Understanding that history is a key steps toward successful business planning because it gives everyone a sense of how you got where you are now.

Small business coaches who focus, during their initial intake interview, on simply trying to understand where the organization and its people are right now are missing the most important information that will be necessary to truly understand the unfolding future of the company.

Small business coaches whose insights come from their willingness to invest their time learning the company’s “story” – how the company got to where it is from where it started will be superior to anything they are likely to hear from anyone else.

Business coaches will ask you just who do you think is going to run the place in the future? The training, experience, and abilities of the successors will generation managers are crucial factors in transition planning. Small business coaches help you recognize whether your next generation people are being properly prepared to take on the business in the future or not. Small business coaches help business owners develop their next generation managers.

The most commonly recognized components of business planning are the technical ones. How the company is organized and what are the latest strategies to maximize the organization’s value, reduce taxes, and many other things. Small business coaches are not selling anything, not selling specific solutions or products, have no financial stake in the products or services you buy and are not scrambling around trying to protect their past advice.

However small business coaches who have extensive experience in your industry may understand more about the planning possibilities than their existing advisors. This puts them in a position to work well with your existing advisors, help you recognize when it’s time to look for new advisors, and coordinate the activities of their advisors – so they always work with your goals and objectives.

Small business coaches who are integrated into the life of the business become vital cogs in the never ending transition process. They will help you see how farm you’ve come. Their questioning skills are put to use uncovering what you and your employees want to achieve. And they’ll help you pick up on the challenges, possibilities, and concerns that are along the way.