What Executive Coaching Costs
What executive coaching costs
I get asked this before people ask me almost anything else, and most coaching websites dodge it entirely. So here is a straight answer, even though the honest version of that answer is “it depends,” and here is exactly what it depends on.
What the market pays
Across the industry, executive coaching runs roughly $150 to $600 an hour, and sessions for director and VP-level leaders average around $300. Packaged engagements at that level typically land between $9,000 and $25,000 for six months. At the very top of the market, hourly figures of $1,500 to $3,000 get quoted for C-suite specialists at large companies.
Coaches who specialize in a single industry generally sit above generalists, which is worth knowing when you're comparing.
Where I sit
Above the middle, deliberately, and I'd rather tell you that now than in a proposal. You're not paying for coaching technique alone. You're paying for someone who ran carrier operations, 3PL networks, and Fortune 500 shipper networks for thirty years and doesn't need the context explained.
If budget is the binding constraint rather than fit, I'd genuinely rather point you toward a good coach at a different price point than take an engagement that strains you. Say so on our call.
What moves the number
Term. Three months is my minimum. Six months is what I recommend, and it carries a lower monthly rate than the quarter does.
Assessment scope. Every engagement includes stakeholder work. I interview the people around you and bring back themes. A three-month engagement is a focused version, four conversations. A six-month engagement goes up to eight at the start and then repeats with the same group at month five, so you can see what actually moved. That second round is the most time-intensive thing I do, and it moves the number more than anything else on this page.
Sponsorship. When an organization funds the work, there's more in it: a sponsor alignment conversation, stakeholder input, and a themed review your company can point to. More scope, so a higher fee.
Team work. Offsites and facilitated sessions are priced per engagement, depending on length and how many people are in the room.
What doesn't change
It is never hourly. You're not buying an hour, you're buying the preparation and the thinking between sessions, and an hourly rate prices none of that.
It is one flat number, agreed before we start, with assessments included rather than invoiced on top. No scope creep and no add-on billing.
Fees are non-refundable, because I hold the same hour on my calendar every week for the length of the engagement.
How you get an actual number
We talk for thirty minutes about what you're trying to change. Then, within two business days, you get a written proposal built around that conversation: the objectives in your words, the structure I'd recommend, the assessment work, the term, and one flat fee.
The number comes in writing rather than in the conversation because I'd be guessing otherwise, and a guess is how people end up paying for scope that doesn't fit them.
If your company might pay
Nearly six in ten coaching clients have their engagement funded by their employer. There's a one-page brief you can hand to HR or L&D, written for how that decision actually gets made.
$150–$600/hr, six-month engagements $9,000–$25,000, C-suite $1,500–$3,000/hr, from Boon Health.
$297 average North American session, Director/VP $300–$500/hr and $9,000–$21,000 per six months, from LeadersADAPT Cost Index.
Niche specialists command more than generalists, from Talkspresso.
Nearly six in ten clients employer-sponsored, from ICF 2025 Global Coaching Study.