One of the most common questions I’m asked – whether at networking events in downtown Wellington, in boardrooms in the Hutt Valley, or over coffee in Kapiti – is simple:

“How much does business coaching actually cost?”

It’s a fair question. But it’s also a layered one.
Because when you ask what coaching costs, what you’re really asking is:

• What does it take to grow a better business?
• How much should I invest to improve my thinking, my team, my systems, and my profits?
• And: Is it worth it?  There is a clue in this question…Hint: It is about the value you get, not the price you pay.

Put simply, you need to know the answer to this question:

What’s the Dollar value of the gap between where you are now – and where you know you could be?

Here’s what I know: A good coach helps you close that gap – and delivers a return many times over your investment.  The right kind of coaching should pay for itself.

Let’s answer all of those questions clearly, without fluff, and without hiding the price tag.

The Global Benchmark: 2 – 3% of Annual Revenue

Across industries and geographies, the global benchmark for executive and business coaching sits between 2% and 3% of an organisation’s revenue.

This isn’t for generic training courses or motivational talks. It’s for targeted business coaching – supporting business owners and leaders to:

• Think more strategically
• Make better decisions
• Lead more effectively
• Build systems and structure
• Drive sustainable growth

A $1M revenue business might budget $20,000 – $30,000 annually for coaching.  Likewise, a $2.5M business will be somewhere in the $50,000 – $75,000 per year range and a $5M+ business could be up around $100,000+, potentially when applying the global benchmark.

That’s the investment. But the right question is still: What’s the return?

Typical Coaching Models in New Zealand

There are several options in the New Zealand business and leadership coaching market, each with pros and cons.  Which model is right for you depends on:

• Your business size and revenue
• Your growth goals
• How fast you want to move

✅ Group Coaching – Entry from around $500/month

Ideal for small business owners who want structured learning, tools, and peer accountability.  Normally, this will include:

• 60 – 90-minute sessions weekly or fortnightly with 3+ participants
• Structured learning and accountability

These group programs are great for learning frameworks, building accountability, and connecting with other owners.  They are less personalised, but more accessible.

✅ 1-on-1 Weekly Coaching – From $2,000 – $7,500/month

One-on-one coaching is designed for owner-operators with 3 – 20 staff who want focused attention, help implementing systems, improving marketing, increasing profit, delegating effectively and freeing up time.  From what I’ve seen, these programs typically are:

• Weekly or fortnightly, 60-minute sessions
• Highly tailored, with hands-on guidance
• Ideal for businesses seeking deeper transformation, faster

✅ Premium 1-on-1 + Team and Executive Coaching – From $8,000/month

For businesses with 30+ staff, multiple divisions, an established Executive Team, and a desire to rapidly build a scalable, systemised, and (even more) valuable business, some coaches offer what a richer portfolio.  Typically, this includes strategic facilitation, executive coaching, system design, sales improvement, leadership development, and reporting structures and is moving towards the ‘done for you’ model’.  However, coaching isn’t consulting, and the client (you!) still has to do the work.  After all, that’s the point of coaching in the first place – to get stronger, fast, more resilient so YOU can get the business asset you want, right?

Premium coaching programs should have (at least) these services included:

• One-to-one coaching for the owner
• Team-based strategy and workshops
• Sales and marketing optimization training
• Business dashboards, scorecards, and leadership development
• Intensive work with multiple levels of the business, so that change is embedded and organisational ‘muscle’ is flexed as quickly as possible

(Fun fact: Entrepreneur Alex Hormozi paid $120K for just four phone calls with Grant Cardone. Not exactly the budget option – but ROI is ROI.)

Why It’s Not a Straight Line

That said, this isn’t a purely linear equation. A $5M business doesn’t necessarily pay five times more than a $1M business.  The true cost of coaching depends on:

• The intensity of support
• The complexity of the business
• And the ambition of the owner or leadership team

A one-man band in Lower Hutt with no team has very different needs than a company with 30 – 60 staff and a general manager and branches in Wellington, Kapiti and the Wairarapa (or Auckland, Mangere and North Shore, for that matter!)  And someone wanting slow, steady improvement is investing differently to someone aiming to double revenue in 12 months.

6 Key Factors That Shape the Cost of Business Coaching

1. Size and Sophistication of the Business

A business with 3 – 5 staff and a single location has very different needs than one with 30 staff, multiple departments, or a general manager in place.  Larger, more complex businesses often require:

• Coaching for multiple leaders or divisions
• Workshops for teams
• Facilitation of strategic planning
• System and process design
• Ongoing leadership development

The more moving parts, the more leadership layers, the more complex the system design – the greater the time, input, and value coaching provides.

2. Frequency and Format

The rhythm of engagement impacts cost:

• Weekly 1-on-1 coaching is more intensive and tailored – often essential for rapid growth or major change.
• Fortnightly coaching can be more sustainable for smaller businesses or those with a slower implementation pace.  Remember, speed isn’t everything.  It is vital to work at the level where you can implement what you are learning, or you risk just being busy…
• Group coaching offers a more cost-effective path, typically between $100 and $200/week, ideal for early-stage businesses or owners who want access to frameworks and accountability, but not 1-on-1 time.

3. Level of Engagement

At the lower end, coaching may be limited to weekly strategy calls and action plans.  At the upper end, it will include:

• One-to-one and team coaching
• DISC profiling and debriefs
• Workshops for systemisation and culture alignment
• Leadership team development
• Regular reporting, dashboards, and performance reviews

4. The Owner’s Willingness and Capacity to Be Coached – and Commitment to Doing What’s Needed

Let’s be blunt. Coaching doesn’t work if the business owner doesn’t do the work.  Imagine an Olympic athlete or and All Black rugby player sitting on the sidelines and expecting to win the gold medal.  It doesn’t work that way.

If you’re not open to challenge, if you won’t make time for implementation or you’re ‘too busy’ (read, too distracted) to work on the business, no amount of coaching – at any price – will deliver value.

That’s not a pricing issue. It’s a return on investment issue.

5. Ambition and Urgency

Some clients want 10 – 20% growth over the next 12 months. Others want to double revenue, open new locations, or prepare their business for sale or succession.  A business owner wanting marginal growth invests differently than one building toward exit, succession, or acquisition.  Your ambition and the urgency of your goals impact the scope of the coaching program, the time invested by you and your coach, the strategies selected…and the coast.

6. The Problem You’re Trying to Solve

Are you stuck under the glass ceiling of $1M in revenue?  Are you burning out as a technician in your own business?  Do you need to grow leads, fix conversion, build team performance, or put systems in place?

Each of these challenges – if solved well – has quantifiable ROI. Coaching should always address the problem behind the problem, the deeper issue: leadership, systems, focus, team motivation, etc.  The more urgent and valuable the issue, the higher the potential ROI.

What Coaching Looks Like in My Practice

I try to keep things pretty simple.  I guess I see business as a game, where we know the rules, we practice our skills and where we keep score by the profit we make.  So, I’ve structured my services to meet client’s needs across a range of ‘leagues’.

✅ Group Coaching – From $197/week

Ideal for SME business owners and management teams who want structure, accountability, and tools.
Right now, I am running three Masterclass programs (covering all you need to know about Management, Leadership and Sales).  Participants engage in:

• Weekly group sessions
• Peer learning and accountability
• Live and recorded videos (with Brad Sugars, the Founder and Chair of Actioncoach)
• Opportunities to join Membership, so that you stay connected and learning.  Once the 12-week Masterclass is completed, participants can also then choose to continue working with me 1:2:1
• DISC behavioural profiling
• Access to Actioncoach’s 30X Life, 30X Business, and 30X Wealth programs (structured self-paced learning)

(And just a quick comment on learning, which I insist on for all my clients:  The more you learn, the more you earn.  By investing the time in yourself, you grow and when you grow, the limits to your business growing and becoming the asset you want it to be, disappear.  No matter which program you join, you will be spending time on becoming the next version of you).

✅ 1-on-1 Coaching – From $1,000 – $3,000/month

Personalised coaching is for people wanting to create a business that works for them, not the other way around.  If you are thinking of your business as an asset that you can pass on, sell and leverage, then my 1:2:1 programs may be a fit for you.  For smaller (typically from about $750,000 to around $3,000,000 Revenue per year) SME businesses, the starting point is geared to weekly or fortnightly sessions where we focus on mastery of the most important management and leadership aspects to move you forward.  You will be building better business systems, helping your team become more productive, learning to delegate effectively so you have more time ON the business and ultimately ‘keeping score’ by improving profitability.

✅ Flagship Growth Coaching – From $4,000 – $6,000/month

For businesses with 30 – 50+ staff, multiple locations, a GM/CEO and Leadership Team looking to grow their capability, I tailor bespoke programs.  Together we use one-to-one coaching for the owner (and often their CEO or GM), strategies and workshops for the Senior Leadership Team and their direct reports, sales and marketing optimization and the business dashboards, scorecards, and leadership development needed to get to the next level.

The clients I work best with want a highly personalised experience. They’re serious about change – and serious about outcomes.

Our bespoke programmes combine:

• Weekly 1:1 coaching with myself and/or our finance coach
• (If needed, we will provide) ongoing admin support and marketing expertise, where our team works with clients to deliver targeted results
• Executive team development, leadership workshops, and accountability frameworks

This isn’t surface-level coaching.  It’s a business mastery model – for those ready to work on the business, not just in it.  Installing the Action Business Operating System (A-BOS) takes time, effort and dedication, and pays back in spades!

So… Is It Worth It?

Let’s do the math.

If your business is currently doing $2M in annual revenue, and coaching improves Lead generation, Conversion Rate, the Average Dollar Sale, Transactions per client (how many times clients buy from you) and Margin by 10% each over 12 months…your revenue increases by over 46%, and profit typically increases by 60% or more.  The Business Chassis (those five metrics above that make up the foundation of pretty much every business) is what allows you to build the engine of your business into a V8 (or the EV version, if you prefer!)

That’s a $1.2M upside – for a $40K – $60K investment.

Even for smaller businesses, the same principles apply. One pricing strategy shift, one conversion improvement, one successful hiring decision, or one marketing funnel could return 3 – 10X the investment.

But only if you act.

How to Find the Right Business Coach in New Zealand

Hiring a business coach is a significant decision – and a big investment. So how do you find the right one?

Here’s a step-by-step approach that works:

1. Clarify your goals.
   Know what success looks like and what you are aiming to improve. Are you trying to increase profit? Work fewer hours? Build a team? Exit the business?
2. Research carefully.
   Look for coaches via referrals, professional platforms, or industry networks. Check their websites, testimonials, case studies, and credibility.
3. Assess their business expertise.
   Coaches aren’t there to teach you to become a better technician (think plumber, accountant, builder, etc).  They are there to teach you to become a better business owner, a better manager and a better leader.  Check whether they ‘speak’ your language – and whether they challenge your assumptions.
4. Test the fit.
   Most coaches offer a free intro session or discovery call. Use it. Great coaching requires trust, rapport, and clear communication.
5. Look beyond charisma.
   A coach isn’t there to impress you with hype. They’re there to help you think, act, and grow. Don’t fall for flash.  Look for frameworks, structure, accountability and evidence.  Choose substance over style. 

Final Word: It’s Not About What It Costs. It’s About What It’s Worth.

When you invest in (good) coaching, you’re not paying for someone to tell you what to do.  You’re not just paying for coaching sessions.  You’re paying for clarity in your thinking and smarter decisions, the accountability to act, more control, a stronger team, tools and frameworks that work are globally proven, (strategic) insights you won’t get from YouTube or a beer with a mate at the pub.  In fact, in many cases you are paying for ‘tough love’ and support to achieve your dreams. 

Business is about getting more life.  Done right, it is the best tool we have to create vibrant, prosperous futures for ourselves, our families and our communities. 

You’re paying to become a better leader – so your business becomes a better business.

If you’re serious about growth, and ready to put in the work, coaching doesn’t cost. It pays.

If you’re serious about closing the gap between where you are – and where you could be – we should talk.

Book a quick 15-minute call.  Or, if you want to ‘try before you buy’, have a look at the scholarship I offer.

We’ll help you clarify your biggest opportunity or challenge. If it’s a good fit, we’ll map out the next steps and show you what the right support could help you gain (not just what it might cost).