Free tool · Choose a business coach
How to choose a business coach: score up to three on the ten questions that matter.
Most owners pick a coach on the sales call, which is the one place every coach sounds good. Put the two or three you’re considering side by side on the same ten questions, and see who you’d actually be buying.
Strictly private. The figures you type stay on your device. They are never sent to us or kept on our servers. The only details we hold are your name and email.
1. Who are you comparing?
Names, initials, whatever you like. They stay on your device.
2. Score each one
0 = no or don’t know. 1 = partly. 2 = yes, clearly. Score only what you’ve actually asked or seen.
| Question | Coach A | Coach B | Coach C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do they own a business now? 2 = Yes, and they can talk about its wage bill and cash flow. They are solving the problems you have, this month, not remembering them. | |||
| Are their prices published? 2 = Every price on the website, including the first day and any minimum term. Unpublished prices mean the price depends on what they think you can pay. | |||
| Independent, or a franchise or programme? 2 = Independent, and they can say what they would do differently for your business. A programme gives every business the same modules. Your business has one thing stopping it. | |||
| Did they name your constraint? 2 = They named the one thing to fix first, from your numbers, before you signed anything. If they can’t name it until you’ve paid, they’re selling the programme, not the fix. | |||
| Evidence or opinion? 2 = They show you numbers: their own businesses’, their clients’, published research. Opinion is what gets owners stuck. Ask where the advice comes from. | |||
| Have they worked with businesses like yours? 2 = Similar size and sector, and they can describe it without naming clients. The right size matters more than the right sector. | |||
| What happens between sessions? 2 = You can call or message when something goes wrong, and they reply. Most of the business happens between the sessions. | |||
| What will the first 90 days actually be? 2 = A specific plan for your business and when you get time back. A description of their system is not a plan for your business. | |||
| How do you leave? 2 = Month to month, or a short notice period, in writing. A long minimum contract with no way out tells you how confident they are. | |||
| Does their website sound like everyone else’s? 2 = No: their own words, their own story, their own numbers. If the words are interchangeable, so is the coaching. |
Coach A
0/20
Coach B
0/20
Coach C
0/20
Score the coaches to see who comes out ahead and where the gaps are.
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How it works
Why these ten questions?
Because they predict whether the coaching pays off for the owner, which is the only measure that counts. Whether they own a business now. Whether the prices are published. Whether you are buying an independent coach or a franchise programme. Whether they named the constraint in your business before you paid. Whether the advice is evidence or opinion. The rest is whether you can live with the terms.
The full reasoning, the types of coaching compared and the red flags are in how to find the best business coach or mentor in the UK.
The one question that decides most of it
“What’s the one constraint in my business you’d fix first, and how would you know?” A coach who owns businesses and works from your numbers can answer it on the first call. A coach who delivers a programme can’t, because the programme is the answer whatever your numbers say. That difference is what owners mean when they say coaching “got us so far, then stopped”.
Score me too
I’m not pre-filled, on purpose. Every one of the ten answers for me is on this site: I own and invest in businesses, every price is published, I’m independent, and the first 30 days are described on how working with me goes. Bring your scores to a virtual coffee and I’ll tell you where I’d mark myself down.
Questions people ask
Do you keep my answers?
No. The scores and the coach names you type stay on your device: they are never sent to us or kept on our servers, and they stay strictly private. To see your result you enter your name and email, and those are the only details we hold.
How do I choose a business coach?
Compare two or three on the same questions before you decide, not on the sales call. The ten questions here cover the things that predict whether coaching pays off for an owner: whether the coach owns a business now, whether their prices are published, whether they are independent or deliver a franchise programme, whether they could name the constraint in your business before you signed, whether their advice comes from evidence or opinion, and how you leave.
Should I pick a franchise coach or an independent one?
Know which you are buying. A franchise coach delivers one system, the same way in every business, and quality depends on the individual. An independent coach should be able to tell you what they would do differently for your business and why. If a coach can’t name the first thing they would fix in yours, the answer is the programme, whoever delivers it.
What does a business coach cost in the UK?
Independent one-to-one coaching for established owners runs from a few hundred pounds to about £3,000 a month; franchise programmes are typically £1,000 to £3,000 a month for one-to-one. Many coaches only tell you on the sales call. Published prices are one of the ten questions for that reason.
Why isn’t Dr Lewis Haydon pre-filled as one of the coaches?
Because a coach who ranks himself first in his own comparison is one of the red flags in the article this tool comes from. Score him on the same ten questions as everyone else; every answer is on this site.
Built by Dr Lewis Haydon, a business coach and mentor in Birmingham, UK, who owns and invests in businesses and works from evidence, not opinion. Related: the owner time audit and the business health check.
Next step
Comparing coaches?
Bring your scores to a 30-minute virtual coffee. I’ll answer all ten questions about me, and tell you which of the others I’d pick if it isn’t me.
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