Transparency in the coaching industry
Do we need to start being more honest with each other (and ourselves)?
Did you know that 82% of coaching businesses fail within the first 2 years (compared to 34% of new businesses across all industries)? A quick google also suggests that many coaching businesses struggle to make more than £1,000 per month.
This is in stark contrast to the promise made by coaching schools, who say that when you emerge into the world with your freshly printed (freshly downloaded?) coaching qualification, you’ll be able to “make an impact on the lives of others”, “work with a wide range of clients”, and “explore career options including life coaching, executive coaching or associate coaching.”
Would coaching schools be able to fill their classes if potential students knew that in 2 years time, their most likely outcome is that they’ll be in their current career and still experiencing all the same feelings of dissatisfaction and a sense they’re made for something ‘more’? Would people spend thousands of pounds on coach training if they knew that, at best, they’ll be able to build up a side hustle alongside working in a ‘normal’ employed job?
I think it’s important to say that I don’t think that making money as a coach is impossible, after all, 1 in 5 people (approximately 3 per 15 person training group) manage to make it work. However, I do think there are opportunities for the industry to be more transparent about the likelihood of success, rather than making carefully worded suggestions that you *could* earn a good living working in a flexible and fulfilling career (which treads a fine line between implying an outcome, without stepping into territory that could be seen as misleading and reported to the Advertising Standards Authority…).
These almost promises can lead to people throwing away jobs which offer a steady and stable income, and the financial and emotional consequences that can occur when someone prioritises their dream of building a successful coaching business above all else, but is ultimately disappointed.
So, how could the industry become more transparent? Below are some ideas…
Training Providers
The obvious suggestion here is that course providers could start surveying their graduates, and seeing how their coaching business is going within a certain time after qualification (e.g. 1 year) and making this information readily available. This would provide a transparent overview of the likelihood of business success, but has its own challenges, including:
Not everyone who qualifies as a coach decides they want to be a coach, and this is no reflection on the coaching school. This could be due to work and family commitments, not wanting the hassle of running a business, or wanting to dedicate more time to other interests.
Those who decide they don’t want to coach, or who try and start a coaching business and are unsuccessful, are more likely to disengage with the coaching school and ignore their emails/survey requests.
Success looks different for everyone, with measures which could include number of paying clients, number of coaching hours built, hours per week spent coaching, whether the student was able to leave their current job, or something else entirely.
My opinion is that we need to switch the narrative and promote coach training as a personal development tool, rather than something that’s likely to lead to a new career.
I also think providers need to be more transparent about the true needs of any organisations they ‘partner’ with. For example, when talking about a partner organisation making it clear that there are X opportunities X times a year, or the opportunity is to join a waitlist, rather than implying there is an ongoing demand.
Does this mean companies won’t be able to charge quite as much for their services? Probably. Is it more transparent to promise an in-depth personal development journey which could potentially turn into a fulfilling hobby or side business? Definitely.
Coaches
We’ve all seen coaches on social media who seemingly run their business full-time and appear to have a steady influx of clients. However, when you scratch beneath the surface, things are sometimes not quite what they seem.
It’s not good business to shout about how you’ve actually not had any paying clients for a while now, that your testimonials came from coaching swaps, and that the real reason you left your corporate job is because your husband landed a major promotion, not because you replaced your old income with coaching.
However, I do think there is an opportunity for coaches to be more honest about the challenges they faced when they started out, the hours they actually need to put in to keep their business going and whether they have another source of income to pay the bills.
‘Build a Coaching Business’ Programmes
New coaches who sign up for a programme to help them build a successful business are likely to be very serious about making their coaching dreams a reality. These programmes are sometimes nearly as expensive as coach training itself, and I think it’s fair to assume that the people who commit to these see coaching as a new career, rather than a hobby.
These programmes could survey past students to ask how many paying clients they had before, straight after, and a year after completing the course. Business development programmes are marketed as an investment which will offer favourable returns, so I personally think measuring the outcomes of these in terms of financial reward would be fair.
When sharing success stories, these could also be centred around the client’s business and their number of paying clients, rather than talking about (free) discovery calls booked or how the coach now feels ‘more clarity about their niche’.
However, we’re then faced with the same challenge mentioned above. Will surveying past students and making the results readily accessible mean that the coaches who coach coaches won’t be able to command such high fees? Will new coaches stop seeing these programmes as a magical solution to help them get clients? No-one knows for sure, but I do think that publishing this data would be a great way for coaches who coach coaches to set themselves apart from the crowd (as long as the results are favourable…).
Coaching Directories
When coaches pay to be listed on a coaching directory, it’s a fair assumption that it’ll lead to them receiving some enquiries. However, this is another area where many coaches end up being disappointed.
Directories could start publishing how many clients signed up to work with a coach they found via their platform every month. This would provide more clarity around likely return on investment, and create a clear picture of the ratio of potential clients to available coaches.
So, what’s next?
Below are some actions we can all do to promote more transparency within the coaching industry:
Being honest about your own experiences, whether that’s with the people you trained with, online, or if someone asks if you’d recommend training as a coach.
When approached by someone selling business development training, ask for data around how many paying clients the students from their previous cohort are currently working with. Asking for the data will encourage gathering of the data going forward, and the specific question above about their previous cohort should be easy enough for them to find out.
If you feel comfortable, gently calling out (in private) anything that is misleading or inaccurate.
If you’ve enjoyed this post, I’d love it if you could:
share it with one other new coach who might find it useful.
About me
Hi, I’m Claire and I qualified as a Transformative Coach in 2024.
In the interests of transparency, I’ve been struggling to get my coaching business off the ground and move away from offering discounted sessions. This is despite doing all the ‘right’ things and previously being successfully self-employed in another industry.
I’m currently at a crossroads, where I’m trying to decide whether I want to continue to pursue coaching, and this post has been inspired by conversations I’ve had over the last couple of weeks.
If you’d like to reach out, please feel free to contact me at clairewcoaching@gmail.com.