Ecommerce Business Coach: 5 Things You Probably Never Thought About

Oct 24, 2022

Estimated reading time: 12 minutes

I guess you’re looking for an eCommerce Business Coach to fast track your online store. Starting a business is easy — running a successful business can be difficult if you don’t have the right system in place – which is what eCommerce coaching is for.

For ecommerce store owners, it can be tough to push forward when your business is not living up to your expectations. Though platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Wix offer great learning resources for businesses, their information usually does not go much deeper than “how to” — which is useless for those who have already established their business.

eCommerce Business Coaching

No matter where you are on your ecommerce journey, from those who are just starting out or those looking to take their shop to the next level, you can always benefit from ecommerce coaching and the help of an expert.

Learning is an active process, and an ecommerce business coach can teach you the essential information that you need to know in order to turn your passion project into a profitable one.

What does an ecommerce business coach do?

An ecommerce business coach is an expert in the ecommerce field and it is their job to advise you on how to make your business the best it can be. In other words, how to get more visitors to your store and turn it not just into sales but into actual money for your business.

Many entrepreneurs, especially first time business owners, begin an online store thinking that just knowing the basics of ecommerce will cut it. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Technology, business trends, and consumer climates are changing every day.

Ecommerce business coaches work closely with you to examine every aspect of your business. They can help you cut through the confusion that is today’s online landscape.

All ecommerce coaches have slightly different expertise, but they can help you and your business with a variety of things, including:

  • Marketing strategy: identifying your ideal target audience and the best ways to effectively reach them and make a sale.
  • Paid traffic strategies: In order to get as many visitors to your store as possible and start scaling your business, you will be needing to invest money into paid traffic sources such as Facebook or Instagram ads. If you’re a small business with limited resources, knowing how to do this properly is crucial. Otherwise, you can waste a lot of money with no results.
  • Organic traffic strategies: Organic traffic is one of my favorite sources of growing a profitable and a sustainable business. There are many little known hidden ways to get free traffic to your store and start turning those sizzling visitors into high value sales fast. With 8.5 billion searches per day and over 90% of businesses not playing in this field, this is a hidden gold mine. And the best part? If you know how to do this, you’ll start seeing results very fast.
  • Branding & Positioning: Most eCommerce businesses we work with sell high quality boutique products often made in small batches. For an online business to be profitable and sustainable, it’s very important to understand how to position your products online so that you’re not competing with the cheap imports where you can’t trace the origin of the product. If you’re looking to sell junk at a discount, there are some eCommerce coaches who will teach you that, but sorry, we won’t. If that’s you, you’ve come to the wrong place.
  • Product: Some entrepreneurs look for eCommerce coaching that tells them which products are trending and what is it that they need to be selling to make a profit. This can work to an extend, however trending products typically attract very high competition and high manufacturing and advertising costs. When it comes to us and our philosophy, once again we work with business owner who are passionate about what they do and sell high quality products. So similar to the above – if you’re looking for eCommerce coaching to tell you what to sell and don’t care about where it came from, that’s not us, please find another eCommerce coaching program.
  • Store Design: The flow of your eCommerce store is super important as you want to make it easy for visitors to add things to cart and feel confident to pull out their credit card and buy from you. If you have traffic but no sales, then it’s very likely you need to work on this part.

Even still, you may not be sold, thinking, “Can’t I just YouTube or Google how to do all this stuff?”

Well, yes, you could. But you would be missing out on so much essential information, wasting years of your time and spending thousands of dollars on things that don’t work.

We did that by the way, when we first started. We thought we were smart and that we’ll figure it out. So we didn’t hire an eCommerce coach because we thought we’ll just get there. After eighteen months of hustling and wasting tens of thousands of dollars, we finally jumped into an eCommerce coaching program that helped us turn it around. Looking back, I’m not sure if the painful time and wasted money was worth it. 

Why should you hire an ecommerce business coach for your store?

Learning how to take your ecommerce store from a time consuming passion project to a lucrative business heavily depends on two things: knowledge and support.

While it’s true that the help resource pages of your chosen ecommerce platform (and, of course, Google) can offer plenty of learning resources on how to improve your business, they lack a personal touch. Ecommerce business coaches are devoted to you and your business — not increasing their own website traffic with gimmicky blogs.

Ecommerce coaches are able to pore over your ecommerce store with a fine-toothed comb, identifying your business’ strengths and weaknesses, coming up with a plan for the future. Their advice for you will be tailored entirely to your business, rather than broad statements from a blogger on the internet.

Google can’t tell you why your marketing campaign did not appeal to your target demographic or tell you exactly the best way to get a better return on your Facebook ad spend. Ecommerce business coaches can.

Additionally, any ecommerce business coach worth their salt has experience running their own online business. Ecommerce coaches have seen first hand what works and what doesn’t and can share their experiences — and their experiences with other clients — with you in order to learn from their mistakes.

Here are more reasons to consider hiring an ecommerce business coach for your online store:

  • Ecommerce business coaches see things with a fresh pair of eyes. Over time, entrepreneurs get so used to the way they do things that they are not able to see their mistakes. Think of it like this: books submitted to multiple editors before they are published. The author gets so comfortable with their work that they miss grammatical errors or plot holes — an editor will not. And neither will an ecommerce coach.
  • Ecommerce business coaches can be honest with you. Unlike your friends, family, or coworkers, ecommerce coaches will not hold back on the constructive criticism just to spare your feelings. You have hired them to help you correct your mistakes, not say, “Great job!” and give you a thumbs up. This also means that they can hold you accountable for the goals you have set for yourself as a small business owner in a way that your personal acquaintances cannot.
  • Ecommerce business coaches want you to succeed. They are hired to help you make your online store a success, so ecommerce coaches will always be your biggest fans. They took you on as a client because they believed in your business and knew you could be successful, and can help take you out of your comfort zone to start turning a profit.

The proof is in the pudding: a recent study found that 92% of small business owners that had worked with a mentor or coach said that it had a direct impact on the success of their business. 89% of small business owners who did not have a mentor or coach wish that they had.

When is it time for your business to hire an ecommerce business coach?

Though the profit typically greatly outweighs the initial cost, hiring an ecommerce business coach can be a difficult decision, especially for small business owners on a tight budget.

Hiring an ecommerce business coach before you launch your online store is optimal, because you will have an expert to advise you every step of the way, ensuring that you start your business off on the right foot. That being said, ecommerce coaches are more than helpful for stores that are already established and can help you overcome any obstacles that have been thrown your way.

Here are some indicators that it is time for you to hire an ecommerce business coach for your store:

  • You want to start an online store, but you want to make sure you do not make any early mistakes.
  • Your store is not making very many sales, if any at all.
  • When you search keywords that relate to your store on Google, your store does not show up until the tenth page of results.
  • Plenty of potential customers have visited your online store (traffic) but there is very little interaction and no sales being made.
  • You have spent a fair amount of money on social media ads, but it has not resulted in any traffic or sales.
  • No one is signing up for your company’s newsletters.
  • You want to start social media pages for your businesses, but you do not know the best way to interact with your customers.
  • Your business does not have a strong brand — you are just sellings products to your customers, rather than selling them on your business.

If you are struggling with any of these issues, you likely have already noticed that Google does not have a definitive answer for you. Fortunately, an ecommerce business coach or consultant can help your online store fill in the gaps and start turning a healthy profit.

If you are struggling with any of these issues, you likely have already noticed that Google does not have a definitive answer for you. Fortunately, an ecommerce business coach or consultant can help your online store fill in the gaps and start turning a healthy profit.

What do I need to look for when hiring an ecommerce business coach?

If you have read this far, great news! You are ready to start your search for the perfect ecommerce business coach.

While I would love for each and every one of you to work with us, it is important to note that every ecommerce coaching program has their strengths and focus areas — while I may be a perfect fit for some of your stores, others may benefit more from someone else, and that’s okay!

Because no ecommerce coach can truly do it all, you will need to identify exactly what you want out of hiring one so that you can make the right decision.

Here is what you need to consider when shopping for an ecommerce business coach:

1. Your ecommerce coach should be suitable for how far along your store is.

If you are just starting out in the ecommerce world, you should not jump right into the advanced marketing strategies. You should look for an ecommerce coach that will be able to teach you the groundwork and help you learn healthy business habits and that will be able to go as slowly (or as quickly) as you need to, ensuring that you feel confident and comfortable along the way. On the other hand, if you are an experienced entrepreneur, you will not want to hire someone who only works with newbies — you need someone that can offer specialized strategies that can solve your advanced problems.

2. Identify what you want to learn from your ecommerce business coach.

As I mentioned before, every ecommerce coach has their focus areas and what they’re interested in. If you want to learn how to sell cheap stuff to masses at a discount, then we’re not for you.

However, if you want to learn how to drive high quality traffic to your quality products and turn those clicks into sales, then we’d love to hear from you!

To give you another example about focus areas, a friend of mine works exclusively with YouTube ad campaigns, while one of our specialties is helping small business owners attract their ideal customers through untapped sources that require minimum effort. You need to find the person that will be the best fit for you and your business!

You should be cautious when dealing with ecommerce business coaches who claim that they are “jack of all trades” and can “do it all”, because, quite frankly, they usually can’t. It would be better to hire multiple ecommerce coaches who specialize in one or two aspects and have proven outcomes (as long as their philosophies and approaches don’t clash), than one person that “specializes” in everything only to have mediocre results.

3. Have extensive conversations with potential ecommerce business coaches.

Since the ecommerce industry revolves around the internet, you may never have your eCommerce coaching in person. Even if you may never be in the same room with one another, you will still be working very closely with this person. Treat it like a job interview, telling them what you expect from them and asking about themselves. Make sure that you think that you will get along (at least on a professional level) and that they are trustworthy.

4. Look up the ecommerce coaches’ previous clients.

Hiring an ecommerce business coach can be expensive and first impressions can sometimes be deceiving. Look up the coaches’ past results and get a feel for their experience. Were they helpful? Kind? Knowledgeable? Professional? Just like any other job — they will need references.

5. Last, but not least, consider the price.

Like I said earlier, joining an eCommerce coaching program is not a decision to make lightly because it can often be expensive. Every ecommerce coach will have different pricing, often based on where you are at and what you’re looking to achieve.

Don’t hire someone that is out of your budget, but don’t hire someone just because they work for less than the competition. The sayings “you get what you pay for” and “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is” both apply when working with a business coach.

The way we like to look at it is that you want to see how is the eCommerce coaching going to generate a return on investment for you. The main criteria is making sure that it saves you a ton of time, pain and money on things that don’t work.

Ready to find your perfect ecommerce match?

Hiring an ecommerce coach to help you fast track with your online business is a big decision that can be time consuming and expensive, but it is more than worth it. We can help your shop live up to its potential and teach you all the secrets that the YouTube university won’t tell you.

Book a call with us to see how we can help!

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Silvia Myers

Silvia Myers

Traffic Ninja & eCommerce Coach

Silvia is co-founder of Traffic Ninjas, teaching product makers and brand builders how to sell their incredible products online without having to discount or spend their hard-earned cash on things that don’t work.

Together with her husband and co-founder, Kristen, Traffic Ninjas equip eCommerce stores with an underground Ninja method specifically designed for small business owners, teaching them how to be profitable and sustainable and actually earn an income from selling their products online.

The Traffic Ninjas community has grown from Sydney, Australia to 35+ countries around the world with small business owners achieving amazing results.

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