Coaching

[Badabingbadabooom]

I made some enquiries recently about coaching (with a focus on career stuff). There seem to be a zillion coaches out there, so I just took some names dropped on a facebook post I saw – mostly people recommending friends and acquaintances to the OP.

The first who came back offers sessions at £160 per hour. He said he would be happy to do this pro rata tho – so he could offer a 15 min call for £40.

The next people who came back offered sessions at £333 per hour (or £500 for a 1.5 hour session).

I think this insane.

I have paid for private counselling with a qualified psychotherapist before and paid £50 a session. I’ve seen others charging up to £90.

I understand the concept of non-billable hours (self-employed myself) and get that some work will be done outside the call. You may not also be fully booked all week (and in the case of therapists, you are not advised to do more than 4-5 hours a day of client-facing work I believe?)

Perhaps I am missing something but why are life coaches charging 3–6 times the rate of psychotherapists? Is it just because coaching is sought out as an aspirational lifestyle? Are all the coaches coaching each other to value themselves more? I mean, I get it – less work for more money (and you only need to find one person with £500 lying about rather than 10 people with £50 – but still?

Pricing of services is a complex process. One psychotherapist/coach/hairdresser may have their core training and not do CPD for the rest of their lives. Another service provider continues to gain skills and becomes either a narrow specialist in a very niche area with high demand or has wide knowledge and a variety of techniques which sets them apart from their competition. So they are able to charge more because they can offer more.
And people generally don't change extra to make up for empty clinics. Quite the opposite. When you are near capacity, you raise your prices to slow down the demand.
And being a coach doesn't mean you are less qualified than a psychotherapist. In fact, I know some therapists transitioning into private coaching practices. I considered it myself last year but my "patient battery" is spent in my main job and I can't imagine more of the same as a second shift.
Plus, people are more likely to engage with the service if they pay for it. It's a well known fact.

Career coaching and psychotherapy have different business models OP. The latter is ongoing medical treatment. The former, not necessarily. Sometimes a single £500 session delivers all the value needed.
If you compare it to 10 sessions at 50 each...same price.
It all depends on what you're looking for.
You'll unfortunately need to do a lot more research than picking names off FB posts. You need to think about 'what' you need from a career coach, and then find someone who specialises in that.

'Executive' coaching for example focuses on people at those levels. Companies also pay for generic 'career coaches' that helps employees understand their personal motivations. I work in tech and there are a lot of industry specific coaches for different career paths and levels.

Also sometimes there's the ol' 'charge more cos they don't want your business'.

What are you looking for help with exactly?

One word - MLM

Thanks for sharing your insight.

1. I don’t think it’ll be fair or accurate to generalise that coaches generally do more CPD than therapists. I would expect this to vary between individuals (as in any profession), which is why I gave a range of what I see locally (based in a major UK city). I trawled through directories a year or so back (BACP etc.) and the vast majority are around the £50-£60 mark, with some outliers hitting around £90. Certainly no-one advertising at £333 per hour. Whereas most coaches seem to start at above £100 for an hour session. I don’t think this difference is explained by all (or most) coaches doing more ongoing CPD than all (or most) therapists. (!)
2. I also don’t think it’s explained by coaches just being more in demand than therapists and everyone just naturally going as far up as the market will bear to reflect supply and demand. Many therapists for e.g. are not taking on new clients for the foreseeable future as they are booked up yet their prices are still within the normal range.
3. I don’t think the majority of coaches are also trained psychotherapists and that this is the reason for the difference (although get that plenty of therapists might move into coaching and am sure there are plenty about with both skills). None of the people I’ve received quotes from have had training in psychotherapy too. Just plain coaches.
4. I’m not comparing paid-for services with free services or suggesting coaches shouldn’t charge anything!

I understand the points you’re making but don’t think any of these explain the vast difference in pricing across the board (although appreciate they could be relevant in some cases if you took two specific individuals and compared).

I was not comparing coaches to therapists. I was comparing coaches to each other and explaining why prices are a range. As someone helpfully pointed below my initial comment, therapists charge for a block of sessions and they, on a whole, don't do individual assessment. So that would dictate the range.
As an occupational therapist, I can change anywhere between £75 - £350 for an individual assessment depending on complexity and whether I need to write reports for external organizations. But I wouldn't be charging this for ongoing rehabilitation work where a client may need a block of 6, 10, 15 sessions. These are two very different services and are charged accordingly.

You really need to ground yourself choosing a coach.
To many rate themselves bizarrely and completely out of step with their educational background and experience. Good luck.

Yeah do get the impression there’s a lot of hot air and ‘ambition’.

It’s a crowded, unregulated market so seems like a real slog to narrow a search down to a suitable shortlist.

Sure, can see that argument if you’re comparing different service types/models (a point raised by the other poster above) – for example an assessment and action plan or something rather than ongoing sessions – but I was just responding directly to the points you raised in your post!

I'm a coach. I have an Msc. Plus other coaching qualifications.
I agree with most of what you say and the coaches you are looking at are expensive in my opinion. I charge differently for people who are individually funding.

You could look at the Association for coaching website to find a coach. A decent coach will have a call with you to find out if they are a good fit for you.

Thank you I will take a look!

Also a lot of coaches are used and paid for by large corporates to help their senior team or as a benefit. Once you start billing companies rather than individuals you can get a LOT more