September 29, 2026
How much does a business coach cost in Australia? Ando Chong on pricing the problem before you compare the fee, and what should be included at any price.
Owners ask me this and then apologise for asking.
Do not. It is the most sensible question in the conversation, and you are entitled to a clear number early. A straight answer on price is a reasonable thing to expect from anyone you are about to trust with your business.
But before you compare fees, there is a more useful number to work out, and almost nobody starts there.
Work out what the thing you are trying to fix has cost you, and is still costing you every month. Then the fee is a comparison rather than an expense.
Be specific about it.
If you have been stuck at the same revenue for three years, what is the foregone profit? If you have a poor performer you have not moved on, what have they cost in salary, in management time, and in the effect on your better people over eighteen months? If you are underpaying yourself because the business was never priced properly, what has that cost your household over five years?
Most owners have never put a number on any of it. The problem sits there as a feeling, the fee arrives as a figure, and the figure loses every time because it is the only one that is concrete.
Put the number on the problem and the comparison becomes an actual decision.
Three things, and they are worth asking about directly.
How much individual time you get. A room of owners once a month and a person working on your business alone are different products at different prices, and both are legitimate.
Whether they have operated a business at your scale or beyond. Not advised on one. Run one, employed people, made payroll in a bad month.
Whether the engagement includes your team or only you. Working with your leadership layer costs more and is often where the change actually lands.
Ask about all three in the first conversation, alongside the fee. The answers will tell you more than the number will.
Regardless of what you pay, some things are not negotiable.
A clear scope. How often you meet, for how long, over what period, with what access between sessions.
A proper look at the actual business first. Any engagement should start with someone reading your numbers, not with a motivational session.
Agreed outcomes you can measure. Not guaranteed outcomes, because nobody honest will promise those. Agreed things you are working toward, so both parties can tell whether it is working.
An exit. You should be able to leave. A provider who structures long lock ins is managing their own revenue risk with your money.
Guaranteed returns or specific multiples. Nobody can promise that, and outcomes vary enormously by owner, by market and by willingness to change.
Pressure to decide in the room.
And a provider with no current business, no team, and a business they sold fifteen years ago. The advice may still be sound. Just ask yourself whether they are describing the market you are operating in today.
Not what does it cost. Whether you are willing to change how you operate.
Coaching and mentoring work for owners who are. They are close to worthless for owners looking for confirmation that they are already doing it right, and no fee level fixes that. The cheapest option in the market is still too expensive if nothing is going to change afterwards.
So before you compare prices, answer that one honestly. If the answer is yes, the fee is a manageable variable. If it is no, save your money and come back when it is.
Price the problem. Ask for the fee early. Ask what it includes and who you are actually getting.
Then ask yourself the harder question, which has nothing to do with money.
It varies widely by how much individual time you receive, the operating experience of the person, and whether your team is included. Ask for a clear figure in the first conversation.
Individual time, the provider's own operating experience, whether the engagement includes your leadership team, and the intensity and length of the program.
It depends almost entirely on willingness to change. Compare the fee against the measurable cost of the problem you are trying to solve rather than treating it as a standalone expense.
A clear scope and meeting rhythm, a proper look at your numbers at the start, agreed measurable objectives, and the ability to exit.
Guaranteed returns, pressure to decide immediately, refusal to discuss price early, and a provider with no current operating business or team.
Anderson Chong, Founder of iQuest Consulting and Business by Design.
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