Is Business Coaching Worth It? What Practical Support Should Actually Change

Business Coaching

Aug 2

Business coaching should not be purchased simply because it sounds impressive or because someone says every owner needs a coach. It is worthwhile only when it produces practical improvements that justify the time, cost and disruption involved.

In my experience, businesses considering coaching generally fall into two categories: those that know something needs to change and those that do not yet know what could be improved.

Both can benefit, but the starting point and the work required can be very different.

Businesses that do not know they need support

Some owners do not approach business coaching because there is a crisis. They are simply open to discovering whether their business could operate more effectively.

That is a healthy business mindset.

An owner may understand their industry, customers and daily operations extremely well while still accepting that they may not see every opportunity or inefficiency. Being close to a business provides invaluable knowledge, but it can also make established practices feel permanent.

The owner may have started the business, purchased it or worked their way into management. Over time, the way things are currently done becomes the normal way of doing them.

That does not automatically mean it is the best way.

An outside perspective may identify improvements involving staff, systems, procedures, sales, lead generation, customer follow-up, physical workflow or the way information moves through the business. These issues are not always obvious because the existing process may still appear to work.

Sometimes an assessment finds that the business is already operating very healthily. The next available step may require expansion, additional staff or a level of investment the owner does not currently want.

That is perfectly reasonable. Not every business needs to pursue constant growth, and an honest adviser should be prepared to say when further coaching or consulting is unnecessary.

Businesses that know something is wrong

The second category includes owners and managers who already know there is a problem.

They may be experiencing declining performance, recurring mistakes, staff issues, missed opportunities or an operational bottleneck. They know something needs to change but cannot clearly identify the cause or the path forward.

The first priority is to address the immediate issue. Once that has been stabilised, it is often possible to identify related problems that were hidden underneath it.

A business may have systems that technically work, but one relatively small change could improve production, sales conversion, staff satisfaction or customer follow-up.

These improvements are easily overlooked when the same people have used the same process for years. An outside perspective does not replace the owner’s knowledge. It helps test assumptions, isolate problems and identify alternatives that may not have previously been considered.

What should business coaching actually improve?

The first step is understanding how the business currently operates.

I want to know:

What is working?
What is not working?
Where are delays, mistakes or frustrations occurring?
What do the owners, managers and staff believe should change?
What outcome is the business trying to achieve?
What is preventing it from getting there?

Owners and staff often already hold part of the answer. They may know what is causing frustration but lack the authority, structure or implementation plan to resolve it.

An owner may know they want to grow a plumbing business from its current revenue to a larger target. Knowing the destination is not the same as knowing how to bridge the gap.

Practical improvements may involve:

Business direction and decision-making
Leadership and staff accountability
Training and performance management
Lead generation and sales conversion
Marketing and customer presentation
Customer follow-up
Systems and procedures
Information and document handling
Physical workspace or machinery layout
Ordering and inventory processes
Production efficiency
Owner workload and delegation

The appropriate changes depend entirely on the business. There is no standard coaching formula that should be applied to every organisation.

Small changes can protect substantial revenue

Some of the most valuable improvements can initially appear very simple.

I supported a business where a sale could be lost if a single piece of paper was misplaced. Information arrived, was placed on someone’s desk and depended on that person seeing it and acting on it correctly.

If the paper was covered, moved, dropped or forgotten, the business could lose a sale worth approximately $30,000.

The answer was not more motivational coaching. It was changing the process so that one misplaced document could no longer cause that outcome.

The same principle applies to digital systems, customer enquiries, quotations, manufacturing processes and internal communication. A small failure point can create disproportionately large financial consequences.

Good business support should identify those failure points and make the process more reliable.

When is business coaching a waste of money?

Business coaching becomes a waste of money when it does not produce an appropriate return for the business.

That return may involve additional profit, fewer mistakes, reduced risk, better staff retention, stronger customer follow-up, improved owner capacity or time returned to the owner. Not every benefit can be measured perfectly, but there still needs to be a commercially sensible reason for doing the work.

Coaching may be poor value when:

The sessions provide generic motivation rather than addressing the business
The coach extends the engagement without a clear reason
There is no defined issue, opportunity or intended outcome
The recommended changes cost more than their likely benefit
The business is unwilling or unable to implement anything
Too many changes are introduced too quickly
Meetings continue without producing decisions or action

There are coaches who are excellent at what they do. There are also providers whose business model rewards filling more hours rather than solving the issue efficiently.

My preference is to define the problem, intended outcome, proposed work and likely investment as clearly as possible. If an outcome can be achieved safely in one week rather than two, taking longer does not benefit the client.

The objective should be meaningful change in the shortest practical timeframe without destabilising the business. Too much growth or change introduced too quickly can cause its own damage.

How should return on investment be considered?

The commercial question is relatively straightforward: is the likely benefit worth the investment and risk?

If a business spends $40,000 implementing changes, there should be a credible reason to expect more than $40,000 worth of value. That value may arrive through higher profit, lower costs, reduced risk, improved capacity or a combination of outcomes.

Consider a hypothetical situation where an assessment identifies changes costing $10,000 that could potentially create an additional $100,000 in annual profit. The outcome cannot simply be assumed or guaranteed, but the opportunity is worth investigating.

The decision should consider:

The cost of investigating the opportunity
The cost of implementing it
The likelihood of success
The potential financial or operational benefit
The risks of making the change
The cost of doing nothing

This is why practical business coaching must go beyond encouraging an owner to think positively. It should support better commercial decisions.

Warning signs that outside support may be needed

Not every business will display the same warning signs, but common examples include:

The same problems repeatedly returning
High or unexplained staff turnover
Poor workplace culture
Owners or managers being constantly overloaded
The owner becoming the bottleneck for every decision
Important work regularly being delayed
Customer enquiries or sales opportunities being lost
Products or projects not being delivered on time
Staff knowing something is wrong but lacking a way to change it
Systems relying too heavily on one person
Excessive paperwork, duplicated work or avoidable handling
Growth occurring without adequate systems or accountability
The owner being unable to switch off from work

Different industries will have different markers. A manufacturer may experience production delays, poor machinery placement or ordering issues. A service business may have weak lead follow-up or inconsistent customer communication. A growing business may have outgrown the informal systems that worked when it was smaller.

The important point is to identify these issues before they become severe.

The biggest warning sign may be refusing to consider improvement

One of the most concerning warning signs is an owner who will not consider that there may be a better way to operate.

That does not mean an owner should accept every recommendation. Healthy scepticism is important, and proposed changes should be tested against evidence, cost and risk.

The concern arises when an owner refuses to examine any alternative simply because the current method is familiar.

If the owner is unwilling to consider external ideas, it also raises questions about whether they listen to the employees performing the work every day. Those employees may already understand where time, money or opportunities are being lost.

A business that refuses to examine its assumptions may continue losing revenue or capacity without recognising what is happening.

Business support should begin before a crisis

When a business is approaching failure, important warning signs have usually been missed for some time.

It is far better to investigate recurring problems, inefficiencies and growth constraints while the business is still healthy enough to make considered decisions.

Outside support does not need to begin with a crisis. It may begin with a simple question:

“Is there a better way for this business to operate?”

Sometimes the answer will reveal a significant opportunity. Sometimes it will identify a small but valuable improvement. Occasionally, the conclusion will be that the business is operating well and no substantial engagement is required.

All three outcomes can be worthwhile if the assessment is honest.