In short
Business owners check a coach very carefully. In this article we show you what they look for on your website before they call, with a full example homepage.
Business owners are some of the most suspicious buyers a coach will ever have. And I don't blame them. Every one of them has been sold something that didn't work, whether it was an agency, a course, a piece of software, or a consultant who turned out to know less than they did. So when they land on a business coach's website, they're not browsing. They're checking.
I'll be straight with you about where I'm coming from on this. I've been approached by plenty of people who want to be business coaches. I always ask them the same thing: what businesses have you owned, and what success have you had? Quite often the answer is none and none yet, but they'd like to be a business coach. Now if we're talking purely about coaching, where your skill is asking the right questions and the client finds their own answers, then sure, that can work. But business owners don't usually see it that way. They want to know you've been where they are.
That's the first thing your website has to deal with, and it's not the only one. Here's what a business owner is checking, in the order they check it.
Check one: is this for a business like mine?
A business owner reads your headline and asks one question. Do you get my kind of problem? "I help business owners grow" doesn't answer it, because every business coach says that, and so does every accountant, agency and bank.
People hire a business coach for very different reasons. The solo owner who's "exhausted by December" from wearing every hat. The freelancer who wants to grow into an agency "without hiring too fast". The founder whose startup didn't work out and who's asking whether they're even "fit to be an entrepreneur". The new business owner who's "2 months in, no clients". Those are their words, from what business owners actually write about their problems, which I looked at as part of my research. They're four completely different conversations.
So pick the one you're best with and say it in the headline, in their words. We looked at 10,954 live coaching websites and checked each homepage for 10 things a stranger needs before they'll get in touch. Only 14.3% could be understood by a stranger within five seconds. A business owner gives you less time than that, because they've got a business to run. The five-second test shows you how to check your own headline.
Check two: have you actually done it?
This is the one that sinks business coaches, and it's where your proof has to work hardest.
Two thirds of the coaching websites we looked at show no proof at all. No result, no named client, nothing a stranger could check. Of the sites that did best, the ones where a stranger can follow the page from arriving to getting in touch, 89.5% had some. Of the ones that did worst, 18.5%.
For a business coach, proof means two things. Your own track record, said plainly: the businesses you've run, built or sold, and what happened. And your clients' results, with numbers if they'll let you use them. "Went from working 60 hours a week to 40 without losing a client" is something an owner can picture. "Sarah is amazing, highly recommend" isn't.
If you haven't run a business yourself, don't hide it and don't fudge it, because owners will find out. Say what you do bring instead, whether that's years inside other people's businesses, a specialist skill, or a coaching method with results behind it. Then let your clients' results do the talking. The testimonials post goes into getting the kind they'll believe.
Check three: what do I get, and what does it cost?
Business owners buy things for a living. They're used to quotes, specs and invoices, so a page full of "transformation" and "unlocking growth" makes them twitchy. They want to know what they're getting, how long it takes and what it costs.
82.3% of coaching websites don't show a price anywhere. For a business owner that's a red flag, because in their world anyone who won't say what something costs usually means it costs a lot. Show a price or a starting price, or explain what the price depends on. The coaching pricing post goes through both ways of doing it, and the coaching offer post shows you how to say what they get.
Check four: what happens if I call?
Owners hate wasting time more than they hate spending money. So tell them exactly what the first call is. How long it is, what you'll ask, what they'll come away with, and whether there's a sales pitch at the end. If there isn't one, say so.
And give the ones who aren't ready something else. 94.3% of the coaching websites we looked at ask a stranger to book something, and for a lot of them that's the only option. A business owner who's just started looking won't book a call this week. They might download something useful, though, and that keeps you in touch until they're ready.
What does a business coach homepage that passes all four look like?
Here's one written out for the solo owner who's doing everything themselves. The name, numbers and quotes are made up to show you the shape. Yours have to be real. After each part I've said which check it passes.
"For people running a business on their own who are exhausted by December."
Check one. The right owner reads that and knows straight away it's about them.
"You're the boss, the admin, the sales team and the person who fixes the website at midnight. I help you hand off, cut back and set up the business so it runs without you holding every piece of it."
Still check one. It describes their week better than they could, and says what changes.
"I ran my own design studio for 14 years, on my own for the first six. I know the 'am I even cut out for this?' feeling because I had it every January."
Check two. A track record they can picture, and the doubt they've had themselves.
"'I went from 60-hour weeks to 40 and kept every client.' Mark, joinery business owner."
Still check two. A named client, a real business and a number.
"Three months, six sessions, a written plan for what to hand off and what to drop. From £X."
Check three. What they get, how long it takes and roughly what it costs.
"Book a 30-minute call. I'll ask about your week, tell you honestly if I can help, and there's no pitch at the end. Not ready? Get the free 'Hand it off' checklist instead."
Check four. They know what the call is, and there's an option for someone who's not ready.
Read it top to bottom as that owner and you'd know who it's for, why they're credible, what you'd get, what it costs and what happens next, all in about a minute. That's the job.
Does a business coach website need to look impressive?
Not as much as you'd think. Nearly every coaching website is well built already. They load, they work on a phone and they're secure. The difference between the coaching websites that work and the ones that don't is almost never the design. It's the words. Website design for life coaches goes into why.
The one thing I'd say for business coaches is this: your own website is a sample of your work. If you're telling owners you can sort their business out, a homepage that's vague about who it's for and what it costs doesn't help your case.
Questions coaches ask about this
What should a business coach put on their homepage?
Who you help and with what problem, in the headline, in their words. Then proof that you've done it, what they get and what it costs, and what happens on the first call. There's a full example further up this page.
Do I need to have run a business to be a business coach?
Not always, but business owners will want to know. If you have, say what you ran and what happened. If you haven't, say plainly what you do bring and lean on your clients' results.
Can I check my own business coach website?
Yes. Put your website through the same checks we ran on the 10,954 coaching sites and you'll see where it loses people.
The figures here come from our own corpus of 10,954 scored coaching websites and 918 mapped coaching markets. How we built and scored it.