The Commercial Crisis In Coaching

Why Good Conversations Aren’t Enough

Professional coaching bodies and training organisations have played a vital role in raising the standards of coaching, ensuring ethical practice, and creating a recognised global profession. Their work in accreditation and ongoing professional development is invaluable. However, as the industry has evolved—particularly with the rapid increase in qualified coaches—there is a growing gap between what new coaches expect when they enter the profession and the commercial reality they face.

The Commercial Blind Spot

Historically, many coaches built their businesses through associate work with coaching platforms such as BetterUp, Lyra, Ezra, and CoachHub. These platforms provided opportunities to gain experience and build coaching hours while earning reasonable rates. However, with the number of qualified coaches increasing by 54%* in recent years—surpassing 100,000 globally for the first time—these opportunities have dwindled dramatically.(*ICF Executive Summary of the Global Study 2023)

Worse still, some companies that exploit coaches by offering unpaid or ‘exchange of value’ work while profiting from it themselves have emerged. There are now platforms that sell coaching services while asking coaches to deliver pro bono, keeping the fees without paying those doing the actual work. Meanwhile, the notion of ‘paid coaching’ has been diluted to include reciprocal coaching or token exchanges, where a cup of coffee can count as ‘compensation’ in the eyes of professional bodies. It is entirely possible to achieve the highest levels of accreditation without having ever been paid a professional rate for coaching.

Despite this, coaches are still encouraged to follow models that are simply not commercially viable.

The Prosperous Coach Myth

One of the most influential ideas in coaching business development comes from The Prosperous Coach by Rich Litvin and Steve Chandler. This book is widely promoted as the best way to build a coaching business, and while it has undoubtedly worked for some, it has also contributed to the pervasive misunderstanding of commerciality in coaching.

Litvin’s model is based on the idea that simply having good conversations will lead to a successful business. This approach is particularly disingenuous because it tells coaches exactly what they want to hear—that coaching is so special, so unique, that the delivery tool (coaching) is also the client acquisition tool. It suggests that your niche will ‘reveal itself’ over time rather than being something you must actively choose.

The reality is starkly different. The vast majority of coaches following this approach do not generate a sustainable income. They spend months, if not years, having ‘powerful conversations’ without securing enough paying clients to make a living. Many spend thousands working with a Prosperous Coach acolyte, only to be left with no structured process for client acquisition.

The Problem of Monetisable Credibility

A small percentage of new coaches—less than 20%—can take their coaching qualification and immediately find paying clients. These are the coaches who have what I call ‘monetisable credibility’—they built strong professional networks during their corporate careers and can leverage these existing relationships to secure corporate contracts at high rates.

However, this is not the reality for the majority. Most new coaches do not have a ‘little black book’ of corporate decision-makers who already understand the value of coaching and are in a position to commission it. Instead, they are left struggling to attract clients who will pay a professional rate for their services, all while being told that all they need to do is ‘have better conversations’.

Why Marketing Is Essential (and Not What You Think It Is)

Marketing in coaching has been pilloried as inauthentic, unethical, and even desperate. Many in the profession see marketing as something pushy or manipulative—something that should be beneath coaches.

The irony is that other professional service providers—consultants, therapists, accountants—do not suffer from this misconception. They understand that client acquisition is a necessary and professional skill. The difference is that people already understand what those professions offer. No one needs to be educated on why they might need an accountant or a lawyer. But coaching is different.

Coaching is not a service people actively seek because they do not know what it can help them with. When Thomas Leonard chose the word ‘coach’ in the 1990s, he took a term that already had an established meaning (sports coaching) and used it to describe something else. This has led to a fundamental problem. People think they know what coaching is, but they don’t, and they are wrong.

This misunderstanding makes effective marketing essential. All good marketing is focused. Yet coaches are taught that because they can coach anyone, they should market to everyone. This is the root of their struggle. Effective marketing means choosing a target audience (a niche) with a specific problem that coaching can resolve and crafting a clear message that demonstrates understanding and empathy.

The Responsibility of Training Organisations and Professional Bodies

There is a level of transparency missing from both coach training organisations and professional bodies. If they made new coaches aware that associate coaching work is scarce, poorly paid, and not a sustainable business model, they would likely see a decline in the number of people pursuing accreditation.

At the same time, professional bodies are not engaged in educating the public about the value of coaching. Instead, their content appeals to coaches but fails to reach potential clients. Additionally, many of those leading these organisations are employed coaches, associate coaches, coaches with monetisable credibility, or owners of training companies—people who have never had to sell coaching directly to individual clients and therefore struggle to offer practical client acquisition advice beyond ‘have good conversations’ or ‘get on one of the platforms’.

This is not to say that professional bodies and training organisations are failing. Their work in accreditation and maintaining standards is crucial. However to remain a viable profession, we must bridge the gap between coaching and commercial skills.

A Call for Change

If we want coaching to continue to be a sustainable profession, we must evolve our approach to commercial education. Imagine if new coaches were given not just excellent coaching skills but also a structured, ethical, and effective client acquisition strategy from the start. This is not a critique—it’s an opportunity to strengthen the profession for the benefit of everyone involved.

Many coaches struggle not because they lack skill, but because they lack a structured, ethical, and effective way to attract paying clients. Addressing this gap—whether through enhanced business training in certification programmes or additional support from professional bodies—could profoundly impact the sustainability of coaching businesses.

For those of us in the coaching profession who want to see more coaches succeed, this must be the next step. We owe it to the future of our industry to address this commercial blind spot with the same rigour and professionalism we apply to coaching itself. My diary is open to anyone who would like to discuss how we can shine a light on this blind spot- email me at [email protected].