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Research · Coaching & Training

Research support for coaches & training professionals who need reliable answers fast

By Zack Pennington, CEO Updated

Whether you're building a new signature program, benchmarking your pricing against other executive coaches, or sourcing case studies to anchor your curriculum, research takes hours you don't have. Nacho's US-based assistants handle the digging so you can show up to strategy sessions with data already in hand. This is especially useful when you're launching into a new niche or preparing a proposal for a corporate training contract.

Tools we work with: LinkedIn Sales Navigator Apollo.io SEMrush SimilarWeb

Can a Virtual Assistant handle research for coaches and trainers?

Yes. Nacho matches coaches and trainers with a vetted, 100% US-based Specialist who owns research week after week, not a one-off task. Onboarding starts with a $300 Delegation Strategy Plan, your Talent Budget starts at $1,000 a month, and matching takes about a week.

See how the match works What a Talent Budget costs Book a discovery call

How it works

How your Specialist owns research for coaches and trainers

A Nacho EA working on research for your coaching or training business starts by getting clear on the deliverable: a competitive landscape doc, a list of podcast guesting opportunities, a roundup of industry statistics for a keynote, or a compiled set of ICF-aligned frameworks for a new workshop module. From there, they work independently using tools like Google Scholar, LinkedIn, SEMrush, Airtable, and standard web research techniques to gather, organize, and summarize findings in a format you can actually use, typically a structured Google Doc or spreadsheet. Your Client Success Manager helps define the scope and output format during onboarding so the EA isn't guessing at what 'done' looks like. Your role is to review the output and flag what needs to go deeper, the EA handles the iteration from there.

Off your plate

What your Specialist takes off your plate

Before handing off a research task, write down what you'll do with the output, if you're not sure, the brief isn't ready yet. The most common mistake coaches make is assigning research without specifying the format or depth they need, which results in a 20-tab document when they wanted a one-page summary. A quick note like 'I need 8 to 10 competitors, just their pricing and program names, in a Google Sheet' saves everyone time and gets you something usable on the first pass.

  1. Competitor Coaching Program Analysis

    Research 5 to 10 competing coaches or training providers, documenting their program offerings, pricing tiers, delivery formats, and positioning language in a comparison spreadsheet.

  2. Industry Statistics and Trends Sourcing

    Pull current data from sources like ICF, LinkedIn Learning, ATD, or SHRM to support keynote presentations, sales pages, or grant applications with credible, cited figures.

  3. Podcast and Speaking Opportunity Research

    Identify relevant podcasts, summits, or conference speaking slots in your niche, including host contact info, submission guidelines, and audience size where available.

  4. Corporate Training Prospect Research

    Build a targeted prospect list of HR leaders, L&D managers, or department heads at companies that fit your ideal client profile, sourced via LinkedIn and company websites.

  5. Curriculum and Framework Research

    Locate existing models, published frameworks, or academic research relevant to a course or workshop you're developing, summarized with source links and key takeaways.

Your stack

Tools our team works with

We adapt to your existing stack, no forced migrations.

Statista
SEMrush
SimilarWeb
G2
Apollo.io
Claude

...and many more!

Client proof

Trusted by coaches and trainers

Nacho supports coaches and trainers including Coach Wolfgang, Martin Global Leaders, Ruth Calabrese Leadership Coaching, and 1 others, handling everything from research to broader operational support.

The model

What delegating to Nacho actually looks like

This is ongoing delegation to one vetted, US-based person, not a task posted to a marketplace.

  1. Start with a Delegation Strategy Plan

    A one-time $300 onboarding fee pairs you with a Client Success Manager who maps what to hand off first. See the full process.

  2. Get matched in about a week

    We match you with a vetted, 100% US-based Specialist in your time zone. If the fit is not right, the Nacho Guarantee re-matches you free.

  3. Set a monthly Talent Budget

    Budgets start at $1,000 a month and draw across Executive Assistants from $40/hr, Specialists from $65/hr, and Fractional Executives from $125/hr. Up to $200 of unused budget rolls over each month. See pricing in detail.

  4. Three months, then month to month

    The initial term is three months so the working relationship has time to compound, then it rolls month to month. Book a discovery call to size yours.

Talent Budget

What delegating research costs for coaches and trainers

Drag the sliders to build a monthly plan that fits your workload.

Executive Assistants
from $40/hour
10 hours $400
Specialists
from $65/hour
20 hours $1,300
Fractional Executives
from $125/hour
0 hours $0
Your monthly budget
$1,700

Starting at $1,000/month. One-time $300 onboarding fee includes your Delegation Strategy Plan.

Good questions

Frequently asked questions

Can an EA research topics I'll use in my actual coaching content or curriculum?
Yes: EAs can gather supporting research, frameworks, and sourced examples that you then synthesize in your own voice. They're doing the information retrieval and organization, not the intellectual interpretation, which keeps your content authentically yours.
How does Nacho handle research that requires access to paid tools or databases?
If a task requires a specific paid tool you already subscribe to, you can share access with your EA through a shared credentials manager like LastPass. For tasks that don't require paid tools, EAs work with publicly available sources and will flag if a deeper database would meaningfully improve the output.
I'm a solo coach, is research support worth it at my stage?
It depends on whether research is regularly blocking your higher-value work. If you're spending two hours finding statistics for a sales page or manually building prospect lists before outreach, that's time with a clear opportunity cost. At $40/hour with up to $200 of unused budget rolling over each month, it's a low-risk way to test whether delegation moves the needle for you.

Ready when you are

Get research off your plate

Nacho matches you with a US-based assistant who can start handling research tasks within your first month. Your dedicated Client Success Manager will help you build a delegation plan that fits how you actually work.

Not sure yet? See how it works, compare the Executive Assistant, Specialist, and Fractional Executive roles, or read why we stayed 100% US-based.