How to check a business coach before you pay

Find the legal entity behind the brand and look it up on Companies House. You are looking for how long it has traded, whether accounts are filed on time, whether there is a history of dissolved companies with similar names, and who the directors are.

A string of short-lived companies behind a long-running brand is worth understanding before you hand over a fixed-term commitment.

Most high-ticket coaching is sold on the coach's own success story. Ask which business, in which years, and check whether that business exists and performed as described. 'Built multiple seven-figure businesses' with no nameable business is marketing, not a record.

Ask specifically whether they have worked in your trade or sector. Generic frameworks applied to a specialist trade is one of the most common complaints people report.

Testimonials on the sales page are selected. Ask instead for three clients who finished more than twelve months ago, and pick which ones you call. Ask them what they paid, what they actually received, and what happened when they wanted to leave.

Refusal on 'confidentiality' grounds is a reasonable-sounding answer that is easy to solve: they can ask clients to opt in. If nobody opts in, that is your answer.

Look at Trustpilot, Google and Companies House together, and read the one-star reviews for patterns rather than tone. Isolated unhappy clients exist everywhere. Repeated complaints about the same thing — outdated materials, contract pressure, unreachable coaches, aggressive collection — are a pattern.

Also check whether the positive reviews cluster around a single date. Sudden bursts of five-star reviews usually follow a campaign, not a change in quality.

Ask to see a real module and a real template before paying. If the programme is a slide deck with a voiceover and spreadsheets that have not been updated in years, you will find that out in five minutes rather than five thousand pounds.