If you’ve ever found yourself struggling on your professional path, you may have considered hiring a business or career coach to help get you on the right track. A good coach will listen to your concerns, give you an honest assessment of your weaknesses, and help you leverage your strengths to maximize opportunities.

If you decide to hire a coach, you’ve taken the first step toward greater professional fulfillment and success. However, this person isn’t a mind reader; you must be willing to work with them, and part of that is asking the right questions.

Based on their experiences with clients, 15 members of Forbes Coaches Council each shared one important question to ask your business or career coach to get the most out of your relationship with them.

1. ‘In What Ways Am I Resistant To Coaching?’

Those who progress most quickly in coaching are those who are most willing to be coached. It’s a high-level skill to hear feedback and apply it quickly. Often it takes clients months to “get over themselves” to hear real feedback. Seeing your own blind spots is one of the greatest benefits of coaching. Those who are really willing to take a look advance more quickly in any endeavor. – David Butlein, Ph.D., BLUECASE Strategic Partners

2. ‘How Can You Help Me?’

There are a lot of business and career coaches out there, which makes it hard to differentiate between the good and the bad. A good question to ask is, “How can you help me?” The reason to ask this question is to have an understanding of their skills and capabilities in working with clients. You also want to know what outcomes they’ve been able to achieve. – Dr. Venessa Marie Perry, Health Resource Solutions, LLC

3. ‘Can You Tell Me About A Time When You Pushed A Client Out Of Their Comfort Zone?’

One of the questions I think is critical is about being direct and providing useful feedback. I have clients who have asked me how I will call them out on their inaction. They are not looking for a coach who is just “nice.” They want someone who will push them. Ask your coach how they will be direct and if they can provide some examples of a time when they had to really push a client. – Kathy Lockwood, Blue Water Leadership Coaching

4. ‘Have You Worked With People In My Business Universe?’

A great coach asks questions and listens carefully to understand you, your blind spots and how to best help you “pull up the window shades.” Business coaches who understand your industry and your company’s place within its larger ecosystem can be huge assets by prompting you to see things in a usable way and combining your instincts, your experience and their knowledge from the field. – Karyn Gallant, Gallant Consulting Group

5. ‘How Many Businesses Have You Helped Create?’

The business coaching field is oversaturated with people who may or may not have been successful in their own businesses. It’s really easy to get caught up in pretty pictures and branding or guarantees that they will help you make six figures in a few months. I see so many people fall into this trap only to find that the coach has no real background in building businesses other than their own. – Kerissa Kuis, The University of Wellness

6. ‘How Do You Define Success?’

It’s important to understand how your business or career coach defines success. Credentials, background and experience are important, but so is understanding what defines success. Is success a metric or a feeling? Some coaches offer a tangible report card while others are more driven by feelings or surveys — understanding how your coach defines success is important. – Maresa Friedman, Executive Cat Herder