How Much Does Business Coaching Cost?

(reading time 3 mins)

When I first sat down and starting writing this article, the first line I typed was, “This is the most common question I get asked by business owners who are interested in business coaching.” But then I thought about it, and promptly deleted it. In fact, I don’t get asked this question very often. When I meet with a business owner who is interested in growing their business, and they are exploring with me how business coaching could potentially help them, the conversation usually finishes with me explaining the various coaching options available to them, along with the corresponding investment levels, and the business owner saying something like, “Yeah, that’s about what I expected.”

But it did leave me to wonder, are people wondering what coaching costs before they meet with me, or before they even think to get in touch with me? Have people been asking others what coaching costs? Are people’s expectations that coaching will be expensive, or cheap, or somewhere in the middle?

Well, let’s explore the true “costs” of coaching here – and let’s use the word I prefer to use when it comes to business coaching: “investment.”

As you could probably imagine, coaching is a very wide-ranging industry, with all sorts of different programs and services available, provided by coaches with a wide-ranging level of experience. So unfortunately, there is no straight answer to this question.

There are two things I can tell you, however. The first is what I cost, which I will do in a moment. The second is that you can expect to pay anything from a few hundred pounds for a one-off, short time period spent with a coach, to many thousands of pounds per month for an ongoing program.

I said earlier that coaching should be thought of as “investment” rather than a “cost.” What I mean is, depending on what results you are looking for from coaching, you should look at is an investment in your own learning and growth, which of course is invaluable, or as an investment in the growth of your business, which will ultimately grow your profits. Either way, you need to work out how much money you need to make as a direct result of coaching, to cover its costs. Once you’ve done that, you can then decide a) what level of program do I require, b) who is the right coach for me, and c) can I afford that coach? You may also need to work out your cashflow situation, in other words, how long will it take before I see a direct financial return on my coaching investment, and can I cashflow coaching in the meantime?

** By the way, this is a great question to ask a coach that you are interviewing. What ROI can I expect from coaching, and by when?

Once you have worked out what return on investment (ROI) you require from coaching, and how long it will take to realise that return, all that’s left is to decide whether the coach you’re considering is the right coach for you, and whether the program they’re offering is the right level of pace and intensity for you (that’s a different article – watch this space).

Most of my coaching clients begin their journey on a program that involves two 1-to-1 meetings per month, plus quarterly planning workshops which last all day. They also have access to me as often as they need throughout the month, in between the scheduled coaching sessions. For that, any new clients I bring on board can I expect to pay somewhere between £2,000 and £3,000 per month. My larger clients, that have teams of managers and/or salespeople who also require coaching, could expect to pay £4,000 per month, depending on the frequency of their sessions.

Find out more about what ActionCOACH can do for your business. Or if you simply have a question about something you’ve read here, don’t hesitate to get in touch. Email me at andrewgoldberg@actioncoach.com.