Originally published on mrpurple.com.au.

By Dr Tom Hitchcock, founder of Mr Purple (LinkedIn)

Choosing a business coach in Australia is a bit like choosing a GP. Plenty of people are qualified, a few are brilliant, and the right one for you depends on what is actually going on. The wrong choice costs more than the fee. It costs months of momentum, and a team that quietly decides coaching is something the boss does on Thursdays. Here is how to choose well.

Start with the problem, not the coach

Before you look at anyone’s website, write down the one thing you most want to be different in twelve months. Not a vision statement. Something you could check. More profit on the same revenue. A leadership team that makes decisions without you. Weekends that are actually weekends.

That sentence becomes your filter. A good coach will want to talk about it in the first ten minutes. A less good one will want to talk about their programme.

What a good business coach in Australia actually does

A good coach helps you see your business clearly, decide what to change first, and then follows through with you until it changes. That last part is where most of the value sits. Insight is cheap. Turning it into new habits across a team is the hard bit.

• Candour. They tell you what everyone else has learned to walk around.
• Method. They have a way of working you can explain to your team, not just a personality.
• Follow through. Agreed actions, owned by named people, reviewed against evidence.
• Fit. They understand your kind of business, or are honest about what they do not know.

Questions to ask before you sign anything

• What would you want to understand about my business before giving advice?
• How do you measure whether coaching is working, and when would we know?
• What happens between sessions?
• Who else on your team would I work with, and when?
• Have you worked with businesses like mine, and what did you get wrong?
• How do we end it if it is not working?

The answer to the last question tells you a great deal. Confident coaches make it easy to leave.

Red flags worth walking away from

• A guaranteed result, especially with a number attached.
• Long lock in contracts before anyone has understood your business.
• A one size programme that every client follows in the same order.
• Lots of talk about mindset and very little about your numbers, your people or your customers.
• Pressure to decide on the first call.

Coach, consultant or mentor?

They are different jobs. A consultant usually tells you what to do, often in a specialist area such as compliance, finance or IT. A mentor shares what worked for them. A coach works alongside you over time on how the business is run, and helps you and your leaders build the habit of running it well. Many owners use all three at different stages. If you run an NDIS, aged care or allied health business, the same split applies: coaching covers the business around the care, while registration and compliance belong with specialists. Our NDIS business coaching page explains how we draw that line.

What good coaching feels like after ninety days

By the three month mark you should be able to point to something concrete. A decision that used to land on your desk now gets made by someone else. A weekly meeting that used to wander now ends with owners and dates. A number you used to guess at is now on a page everyone can see. None of that is glamorous, and all of it compounds.

You should also feel a little more stretched than comfortable. Good coaching asks for things you have been putting off, usually the conversations, and then helps you have them well. If every session feels pleasant and nothing has changed, that is worth raising. A good coach will welcome the question, because it is exactly the kind of candour they are asking of you.

Location matters less than you think

Most good coaching now happens online, with the occasional room together when it counts. A business coach in Sydney can work well with an owner in Perth. What matters more is time zone, availability when something goes wrong, and whether they understand your market.

A simple way to decide

Shortlist two or three coaches. Have a short call with each, bring the same real problem, and notice who asks the best questions rather than who gives the slickest answers. Then trust your gut about who you would actually listen to when the news is unwelcome.

If you would like to try that with us, book fifteen minutes with Tom. Bring one business wobble and leave with a clearer view of it, whether or not we end up working together: book 15 with Tom.

Common questions

How much does a business coach cost in Australia?

It varies widely with scope, time and who is involved. Be wary of anyone who quotes before understanding your business, and ask what is included between sessions.

How long should I work with a business coach?

Long enough to change habits, which usually means months rather than weeks. Agree up front how you will judge progress and when you will review it.

Do I need a coach who knows my industry?

It helps, especially in specialised sectors. More important is that they understand how businesses like yours make money and where they usually get stuck.

Can my leadership team join the coaching?

Often they should. The people who have to make the change real usually need to be in the room.