It’s Time to Build Your Own Client Base
A new study published in Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice called ‘Getting better all the time’: using professional human coach competencies to evaluate the quality of AI coaching agent performance – Passmore, J., Tee, D. R., & Rutschmann, R. (2025) has confirmed what some of us have suspected for quite some time.
The study examined whether AI-driven coaching agents could meet the standards of human coaches by evaluating their performance against professional coaching competencies. The results were striking. AI coaching agents – supported behind the scenes by human experts in a “Wizard-of-Oz” setup – demonstrated many of the qualities we associate with effective professional coaching. The feedback from clients was positive, and the performance was rated highly by observers.
For example, AI agents in the study showed strong capability in competencies such as active listening, with clients reporting that they felt heard and understood. The AI also displayed competency in powerful questioning, with observers noting that the questions generated helped clients reflect and gain insight. Clients themselves commented that the AI coaching sessions “felt like real coaching” and helped them make progress on their goals.
This is no longer theory. The platforms that provide many of us with our client work are much closer than we might hope to rolling out AI coaching as a replacement for most human coaching. Make no mistake, that’s precisely what they will do when the technology is ready, because it will reduce their costs, increase their margins, and remove the challenges of managing large networks of human contractors.
From their perspective, it’s a smart business move; from ours, it’s a significant threat to our livelihoods, unless we act now.
The Commoditisation of Coaching on Platforms
For those of us who secure our client work through the major platforms, you’ll know that coaching is already viewed as a commodity. The platform controls the pricing, coaches don’t set their fees, the platform handles the marketing and client acquisition, and coaches deliver the sessions assigned to them. This creates a dependency. Your income is limited by what the platform decides it’s willing to pay.
Now add AI into the mix.
AI coaches won’t need to be paid. They won’t need supervision either. They’ll be available 24/7. They’ll deliver ‘good enough’ coaching for the platform’s purposes, and (crucially) at far lower cost. When that happens, we, as human coaches who rely on these platforms, will find fewer opportunities, with platforms prioritising AI delivery as the cheaper and more scalable option.
Where the Platforms Won’t Be Interested – Micro-Niches
There is a way forward, and it’s entirely in our hands. The platforms are interested in scale. They want the largest possible audiences served in the most cost-effective and efficient way. They won’t be interested in small, tightly defined micro-niches and that’s where our opportunity lies.
Micro-niches may seem unexciting compared to the promise of a global platform, but they can offer a stable, profitable, and sustainable income. Not with magic marketing tricks, but through clarity, consistency, and a fundamental understanding of the specific people we serve. Having a micro-niche can enable us to build six-figure (even multiple six-figure) businesses over time. I’m not talking about the ‘six figures in 90 days’ nonsense that proliferates in our LinkedIn DMs – I’m talking about building a proper, sustainable business.
What This Means for Your Coaching In The Future
If you want to build a business that will survive and thrive in the AI era, you need to stop relying on platforms to give you clients. You need to develop your client acquisition skills. That means:
- Choosing and committing to a niche so small that the platforms won’t be interested, but in which you can thrive.
- Learning how to attract, engage, and convert clients without relying on third parties.
- Building visibility and trust within your niche so that clients choose you, not a platform.
- Creating a business model that is yours, one that you control.
AI can’t replace that.
My Last Thoughts
AI isn’t coming – it’s already here. The study I mentioned is proof of that. Observers rated one AI coaching session in the study as demonstrating competencies at a level “comparable to a credentialed coach.” The question is whether you want to wait until AI takes your place on the platforms, or start building a business now that AI can’t touch. The good news is that with a clear niche and a solid client acquisition strategy, your future as a coach can be not only secure but also prosperous.
If you’d like to discuss how this works in practice with one of our team members, you can schedule a call with us here.
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