What questions should I ask a business coach before hiring them?

Ask how they will learn your business, what happens between sessions, how progress is measured and where their expertise stops. Our guide on how to choose a business coach in Australia has the full list.

What questions does a business coach ask in the first session?

Usually questions about where the business is now, where you want it to be, what has been tried already and what is getting in the way. Expect plenty of why and what else.

Can I coach myself with these questions?

Yes, to a point. The questions work best when someone holds you to the answers and notices when you dodge one. That is the bit a coach adds.

How often should I revisit these questions?

Every quarter is a good rhythm, alongside your ninety day priorities.

Business Coaching Questions Every Owner Should Answer

Good coaching is mostly good questions. Not clever ones, useful ones. The kind that make you put your coffee down and say, hmm.

Here are the questions we come back to most often with business owners. Try answering them on your own first. Write the answers down; it is surprising how different a thought looks on paper.

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Questions about direction

If the next ninety days went brilliantly, what would be different?
What are you doing now that you would not start today if you were not already doing it?
What is the one problem that, if solved, would make several others easier?
What does enough look like, for you and for the business?

Questions about people

Who owns each important result, by name?
What do you keep doing that someone else could do at least 80 percent as well?
If you were away for a month, what would break first?
When did you last give each team member honest feedback?

Questions about customers and sales

Who are your best customers, and what do they have in common?
Where did your last ten customers come from?
What would make a happy customer refer you without being asked?
When did you last review your prices?

Questions about numbers

Which five numbers would tell you, every week, whether the business is healthy?
How many weeks of costs could you cover from cash in the bank?
Which product, service or client makes you the least money for the most effort?

Questions about you

Which parts of the work give you energy, and which drain it?
What mistake do you keep repeating, and what is it trying to teach you?
What would you stop doing tomorrow if you were not worried about what people think?

What to do with the answers

Pick the answer that made you wince the most. That is usually where the work is. Turn it into one action you can finish this week, then come back to the list in a month. If you want a hand turning answers into action, that is exactly what coaching is for. Tom’s Mistakeology approach is a useful lens for the repeated mistakes question in particular.

Bring one business wobble

Fifteen honest minutes with Dr Tom Hitchcock. Bring the problem you cannot quite name. No surprise proposal ambush and no hard sell. If coaching is not the right move, Tom will tell you, and usually point you somewhere useful.

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