How much does coaching cost?
If you’re thinking of investing in executive, leadership, career or transformational coaching, you’ll want to understand the costs involved before you make a decision. I’ve written this article to give you some more information about what coaching costs and the various factors which will affect the price you pay.
I’ll be upfront with you and tell you that costs for this kind of coaching vary enormously. You can pay anything from £50 an hour, to upwards of £500 per hour for elite coaches. It’s not particularly helpful that many coaches aren’t transparent about their pricing on their websites, so you may need to contact them directly to get a sense of their price range. Looking at their testimonials to get a flavour of the kind of clients they work with may give you clues here, as will personal recommendations from friends and colleagues.
Determining your price range
The first thing to consider will obviously be your budget. Work out how much you can reasonably invest in the process, noting that many coaches will give you the option to pay monthly for regular coaching.
It’s also worth considering at this point the kind of return on your investment that you are hoping coaching will help you achieve. If you are bringing a career or business related challenge to coaching then this may be a little more straightforward. Perhaps you’d like to secure a new role with a significant increase in salary, perhaps you’d like to increase your business revenue, or maybe you’d like to feel more confident asking for a modest payrise. You may be able to put a value on this number, and assess the increase in likelihood of achieving that number with the support of a coach.
If you’re looking for something less tangible, perhaps you want your life to feel balanced, calmer, more joyful or more relaxed, then putting a price on this can be more difficult. You might say these things are priceless. But remember that coaching may help you avoid costly outcomes like burnout, divorce, or losing your job. It’s more difficult but try to estimate the value to you of avoiding crises like these.
Costs involved in coaching
The main factor involved in determining the cost of coaching will be the coach’s time, and a high demand for their time will likely push prices up. I’ll come to that a bit later. But there are also a number of fixed costs that all ethical and reputable coaches factor into their costs, and which mean that the price you’re paying per hour doesn’t directly equate to the amount of income the coach is actually earning.
All coaches should have basics like business insurance, accounting systems, calendars, data security measures and IT systems in place. They’ll also be paying for their website and other marketing activities. Some coaches may spend their own time doing these activities, others will be employing other experts to support them. Accredited coaches will have membership and licensing fees to pay, and will be required to invest in their own professional development, both formal and informal. They will also usually pay for a supervisor to help them maintain a high quality of coaching. In-person coaches will need to cover room booking, premises or travel costs. Whilst freelance or self employed coaches will pay these costs directly, others may offer their services as part of a larger coaching practice, sharing them out across a larger number of coaches.
There are also a number of variable costs associated with each client that a coach works with. Coaches may provide workbooks or other materials to each client, or include leadership or personality profiling as part of a programme. Coaches will block out time to prepare for each coaching session, and to review and reflect on each session afterwards. They may also make themselves available to their client in between sessions.
A key factor that determines the price a coach sets for their services will be their coaching capacity. Here, there is a quality vs. quantity dynamic at play. Some coaches will aim to fill their diaries, and may choose to offer a high volume of lower priced coaching sessions. Other coaches take on fewer clients and have more space between sessions, but will likely need to charge a higher rate. Whilst some very skilled coaches may be able to deliver a high volume of high quality sessions each week, many coaches find that keeping client numbers on the low side is key to maintaining good quality for their clients.
Other factors to consider
When choosing and agreeing terms with your coach, there are some other factors you may want to consider which will impact the costs you pay.
💛Choosing online sessions will avoid travel costs for you and the coach, and may help your coach keep overall costs down too.
💛Committing to a longer package of coaching sessions is often more cost effective than paying for single sessions or a shorter package.
💛Many coaches will provide the option to pay monthly, though it may inflate the overall cost.
The likelihood of achieving results
I’ve already suggested you consider the value you place on the outcomes you’re hoping to achieve through coaching. When choosing a coach, you’re effectively searching for the person you believe will be most likely to help you achieve that outcome and give you a return on your investment. When assessing this, you’ll want to consider factors such as:
💛The specific relevant experience and skills of the coach - in life, in business, and as a coach
💛The training and qualifications they’ve received
💛How much time and space they give to each client outside the coaching room
💛Their style and the likelihood of you working well with them
💛The results they’ve helped other clients achieve (although be very wary of coaches making promises to you about results)
These factors together will affect the outcomes a coach can support their clients to achieve, the demand for their services, and the value they place on their time. It will be these factors that largely determine whether a coach charges £100 or £500+ per hour.
Shopping around is always a good idea when making a large investment of this kind. By speaking to at least three coaches before you make a decision, it can help you to assess these factors against your budget and the likely return on you are hoping for.
I hope you’ve found this a useful guide to understanding the costs involved in coaching - let me know!
From Liv 💛
P.S. If you’ve found this useful, then please join my weekly email community for regular doses of wisdom like this, straight to your inbox. If you’re interested in working with me, then check out my 121 coaching packages and use this link to arrange an initial chat with me. And if you’d like me to talk to your team, organisation or community about this, or any of my other articles, then please reach out via email to enquire about speaking/workshop engagements.
