Mentor Coach Tips

The Credentials/Certification Maze

Most coach training programs offer their graduates "certificates" -- proof that you fulfilled the program's learning requirements, passed exams, had certain coaching experiences.

Coach Training Institute has its Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC).  Coach U mixes up a pretty hearty coaching certificate alphabet soup: CECG (Core Essentials Certified Graduate), CUCG (Coach U Certified Graduate).  You can even be a Certified Coachville Coach.  And there are countless other programs, each with its own certificate.

But the designations that every professional coach should set their sights on are the credentials from the International Coach Federation: ACC, PCC, MCC.  Other professions have used an independent credentialing process to make it easy for consumers to benchmark proficiency -- think of the accounting profession's CPA or financial planning's CFP.  As the ICF works to increase the visibility and awareness of coaching, the value of ICF credentials in the marketplace will also increase.

Check out the ICF credentialing requirements.  Key points are:

• number of training hours (60 for ACC; 125 for PCC)
• coaching experience (8 clients and 100 hours for ACC; 25 clients and 750 hours for PCC)

Next, decide if you'll do the "portfolio" approach or the ACTP approach -- essentially, completing an oral exam through the ICF or as part of your coaching school's certificate program.  Coach U students: since the current requirements for CUCG requires 20 clients and 500 hours, don't wait -- as soon as you have 100 hours, use the portfolio route to apply for your ACC.

Show Me the Money

Many of us have a complex emotional relationship with money and all things financial.  We wonder about our value, we worry about never having "enough", we feel like we're walking on eggshells whenever we talk with prospects and clients about fees.

We can deal with these things during our mentor coaching conversations. But first things first.

As a professional, you owe it to your clients to provide them with a convenient, simple and straightforward process for purchasing your services.  And this means the capacity to accept major credit/debit cards ... a "merchant account".

You are probably familiar with PayPal as the secure and versatile web-based money transfer service for internet purchases. But it can also be your get-started merchant account solution.

Transaction fees are slightly higher than traditional merchant accounts, but there is no upfront set up fee.  And in these early days when watching cash flow is important, this is an important feature.

Approval for a PayPal Business Account is often immediate. Just be sure to sign-up for the "virtual terminal" option -- this will allow you to process your client's payment information, rather than asking your client to visit the PayPal site.

When is it time to move to a traditional merchant account? Call Practice Pay Solutions (familiar with coaches and competitive rates) when your receipts are consistently over $1000 each month. Fee differences begin to fade away at that level ... and so does pressure on cash flow.