Keeping It Simple
The fastest, simplest ways to grow your business - no jargon, no fluff. Practical strategies that actually work for SME owners in the USA, New Zealand, and worldwide.
How much does a business coach cost in NZ? Ask five owners and you'll get five different numbers, because the question itself is incomplete. The real question isn't the monthly fee — it's what an engagement costs you in lost time and lost momentum when it doesn't work. And the cheapest coaching option is very often the most expensive one, once you count what it fails to deliver.
The Enemy: Price Shopping for Coaching
Owners comparing coaches on price alone are comparing the wrong variable. A low-cost, low-accountability coaching subscription that gets skipped every second month costs nothing on the invoice and everything in opportunity — a year of plateaued revenue, a problem left to compound, a team still waiting for the clarity that never came. Meanwhile a properly structured engagement that costs more upfront but produces a measurable shift in six months is, by any honest accounting, the cheaper option.
Is a business coach worth it? Only if the format matches what actually changes behaviour — and that depends far more on structure and accountability than on the price on the invoice.
The Framework: What You're Actually Paying For
1. Diagnostic depth. A coach who understands your specific business, industry, and numbers within the first session is worth more than a generic mindset programme, no matter how much cheaper the programme is.
2. Structured accountability. The value isn't the conversation — it's the dated commitment checked at the next session. If nothing is tracked between sessions, you're paying for company, not coaching.
3. Applicability, not theory. Practical, specific, and pertinent to your business beats generic frameworks delivered the same way to every client, regardless of industry.
This is exactly why the Simple-Growth System™ is built around named frameworks and dated actions rather than open-ended conversation — the cost of coaching should be measured against a specific, tracked shift, not a feeling of having "had a good chat."
"One of the highlight presentations during OMP. Really enjoyed your wisdom and insight — thanks Kevin!"
— Liz Wotherspoon, Director, The Icehouse
The Execution Gap
Most owners know, once they've been through it, whether a coaching engagement actually changed anything. What they rarely do beforehand is ask the coach directly how accountability is structured, what gets tracked between sessions, and what a typical client outcome looks like in numbers. That single set of questions, asked before signing up, does more to protect the investment than any amount of price comparison.
Quick Wins
- Before hiring a coach, ask exactly what gets tracked between sessions — if the answer is vague, so will your results be.
- Ask for a specific, numbers-based example of a past client outcome, not a general testimonial.
- Set your own 90-day review point regardless of what the coach proposes, so the engagement is judged against something concrete.
Key Takeaways
- Judge a coaching engagement by tracked outcomes, not the monthly invoice.
- Ask exactly how accountability is structured between sessions before you sign up.
- Compare specific past client numbers, not general testimonials, when vetting a coach.
- Remember a cheap, low-accountability programme is often the most expensive option once a stalled year is counted.
If you've ever finished a coaching call unsure what actually changed, the problem isn't coaching — it's the structure you paid for.
Kevin D’Ambros-Smith
Kevin is the founder of Simple-Growth and a business growth coach with experience at DDB, Ogilvy, and Saatchi & Saatchi. He has co-founded 9 companies, coached 200+ business owners one-on-one, and holds a 9.5/10 NPS. Every article on this blog reflects real-world experience - no theory, no fluff.
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