What does Business Coaching Cost?

A question I’m often asked is ‘what does business coaching cost?’. In terms of the cost of the investment to engage a business coach, there is no real industry standard. It really depends on who you engage with and what you’re willing to spend or invest. There lies the challenge, how do you see the introduction of business coaching as a cost or investment? Of course, the right answer is to view it as an investment.

For most at this stage of making an enquiry, it may not have been thought of as an investment. Maybe you’ve been advised to look at coaching to help you in business; a friend has a coach and suggested it or you’ve met a coach which stimulated interest. Whatever encouraged you to ask the question you need to understand it’s an investment. Business coaching is driven by perceived value from you and what the coach has to offer. Coaching, when delivered by a professional will have a dramatic impact on the right people, their teams and the business.

Sadly all too often a business coaching engagement is price-driven and as a result, you’ll find the less capable coaches almost happy to do it for free. Engaging a capable, experienced and professional coach will require a significant investment. At entry-level, for a small or start-up business, you should expect to be investing £500 – £1000 per month.

You get what you pay for!

Today a search for ‘Business Coaching’ will yield 630,000 results, on LinkedIn in the UK alone, there are over 200,000 business coaching profiles. There is no shortage of Business Coaches. What is the challenge is the massive disparity in regards to what you will pay and what you will receive. Having been a professional coach for 18 years I have witnessed a wide spectrum of offering and ability. It can be a confusing market place with some professing to be a coach, consultant and mentor.

When looking to engage a business coach you first need to be really clear on what you would like to achieve through the arrangement. What impact do you want for you, your team and business through coaching? Don’t worry if right now you don’t know, a great coach will be able to assist in clarifying your long term aspiration. In turn, this will ensure you understand and determine what your budget will be and what you want as a return on investment. In general, if you seek to engage a reputable and capable coach you are going to have to pay for them. Cheap doesn’t even come into it. A capable coach will have the ability to coach you towards the results you desire and probably some you hadn’t considered.

Gaining clarity on what you want from a coaching relationship will help you with your budget target. If that’s not clear then go and talk to a few good coaches to ask the question. Your enquiry into coaching should also help you discover what you seek to achieve.

3 things which will need to be right

Understanding that engaging with a great coach is going to be a significant investment now means you can approach with a higher level of expectation. To gain clear expectation you need to ensure these 3 questions are asked and answered.

1. Is this the right coach for me? During your coach prospecting, you’re likely to come across a number of coaches. They are all likely to be delightful people and build high levels of rapport. To be expected! Here’s the thing. You’re not buying or hiring a friend. You’re going to want to have the confidence that they will absolutely hold you accountable. A great coach is about making you do extra laps, go that bit further, to stretch you and take you out of your comfort zone. In other words, you don’t want a coach to be nice and more concerned about upsetting you than telling you as it is.
2. Am I the right type of person for them? Now this second point is one of compatibility. Let’s remember you do need to be able to work with the coach in order to get the results you seek. In order to do that you need to have the confidence that the coach resonates with you.
3. Through coaching will I see the ROI? This is about the business and your ability to turn the agreed actions and activities from coaching into a solid ROI. How viable is your business? Does your business have the depth to grow? Are you all things to all things? In order to make an ROI, it is ultimately going to be down to you and your business delivery to make the ROI.

If you can’t engage with all 3 of these questions having been answered positively then don’t invest. Move on until you find the right coach.

The cost of business coaching is …..

Hopefully, you will now have a little more clarity around the cost/investment in Business Coaching. It’s not merely a ticket price there’s a little more to consider. Additionally, if business coaching isn’t right for you at this moment in time it will be worth talking to coaches. If, like our coaching practice they will likely have other programs they run to support business growth with a view to assisting in the various areas of business growth and development.

It’s difficult to put a direct cost to business coaching for you and your business owing to the many variables. All I can offer is the fact you will want to invest in a great coach as they will offer a significant ROI. Cheap doesn’t come into the conversation, other than to say you will absolutely get what you pay for. Coaching in business as it is in sports improves performance significantly, so I would just like to leave you with this though. What’s the cost to you, your team and business through not investing in coaching?

Now there’s a challenging thought.