If you’re new to offering your services as a coach, it can be really challenging and intimidating to set your prices. You know on some level that you have a lot to offer. You know that your clients can see some great results if they’re willing to work hard and implement what you recommend.
It can also be scary to think about pricing even if you’re an experienced coach. It’s different than pricing a product or something like that. Even though you created it, it’s not you. When you’re offering coaching that is YOU.
It can seem egotistical to charge a high amount, right?
That’s actually the wrong line of thinking.
Can you help someone get the results they need? Are you going to work hard to help them change their mindset, habits, and strategies?
That’s definitely worth charging a relatively high price tag for.
There are certainly other factors to think about in combination with those things.
Pricing According To Niche and Audience
One consideration is your niche. There are certain niches that are used to a hefty price tag, such as business-to-business. If you can coach someone to earn more money, then there’s a direct and long-term result and payoff there. Clients are often happy to pay the fee because they know they’ll see results over and over again.
Other niches aren’t as used to paying higher fees and won’t pay them. Investigate what the case is with your niche.
Are there other coaches offering the service in your niche? Take a look at how they structure their coaching and how they price it. You might be surprised.
Also, consider what your specialty is. If you’re setting yourself apart and offering a different kind of coaching program or depth of coaching, that’s something to take into consideration when you price your service.
What’s Your Time Worth?
A main consideration is how you value your time.
What do you want to earn per hour? If you want to earn $100 an hour, then you have to make sure the time you spend coaching and what you charge will allow you to achieve that. If you want to earn $500 an hour, it’s the same thing.
Coaching is a high-end service. This is something that changes lives and requires a lot of your time. Price this service accordingly.
Don’t undervalue yourself. You don’t want to get caught in a cycle where you take on coaching clients at an extremely low cost, spending all your time helping them and not earning much in the process. That can be very draining. It requires you to take on many clients to make ends meet, which can mean you’re spread very thin.
Pricing For Group Coaching Situations
Your pricing will likely be different for group situations than it is for one-on-one situations.
When people are coached in a group, they aren’t given that undivided, individual attention. They do get the benefit of bouncing ideas off of one another and seeing answers to questions they wouldn’t have thought of on their own.
That means this is very valuable. Consider what you want to be paid per hour you spend coaching people in a group setting. Think about how much time you’ll spend with the group, the way you’ll provide coaching, and what kind of energy it will require.
Pricing For Hands-Off Coaching
There are certain types of coaching that are more hands-off. Because they’re more hands-off, they allow you to charge less for your clients to join. They don’t take up as much time as other forms of coaching.
You can create coaching materials that are self-led—people will go through these materials on your own.
Depending on how you set things up, people might email you or Skype you when they have a question. Other than being available in that way, you won’t go very in depth.
You can earn a nice income with this form of coaching. The argument can also be made that you’ll be able to reach and help more people. It’s more accessible to more people because the pricing is a lot lower.
Pricing For In-Depth, One-On-One Coaching
If you’re coaching one-on-one in a very in-depth way, you’re really putting your time, energy, and soul into the coaching.
You’re dedicating yourself to helping this person succeed. You’re learning all you can about their journey, mindset, and struggles. You’re helping them come up with a plan for success and helping to hold them accountable in their journey from this point on.
This is a considerable drain on your resources. Your time and energy are finite, meaning you can’t take on many one-on-one coaching clients at all.
That’s why you have to charge more. When you charge more of these clients, they tend to be more serious and ready to succeed. You’ll likely have a higher success rate when you work with people one-on-one.
Also keep in mind that the time you spend coaching one-on-one often isn’t always easy to accurately measure. Let’s say you charge a client by the hour. They will expect to be in direct contact with you for that full hour, but you will spend extra time preparing for that hour, perhaps responding by email to follow up questions, perhaps sending them a recording of the coaching session, perhaps negotiating and scheduling that session to begin with, etc.
So if you charge $100 per hour for coaching, you might be making half that for the time you actually spent, maybe even a lot less.
Charge a premium price—whatever the market can bear.
You might be uncomfortable charging hundreds or thousands of dollars for coaching, but this is a situation that definitely warrants it.
Set Your Coaching Apart
Remember to set your coaching apart. Also, help people see the real value in it. Why should they hire you? What will they come away with and learn?
If you can set your coaching apart, you can charge more premium prices. You can get more money for the time and effort you spend coaching.
Take a look at the coaching services that are out there. What can you do to compete and thrive?
It’s Up To You…
Ultimately, your pricing is completely up to you. You’ve probably noticed that I haven’t given any specifics as far as prices are concerned. That’s because each coaching program is different and each coach is different.
That’s why I’ve laid the different factors out for you here. Think about how you’re going to structure your program, what the market for your specific audience will bear, and what you want to earn as a coach.
Price Your Services and Adjust Them Up or Down Over Time
Keep in mind that just because you choose a pricing structure for your coaching packages today doesn’t mean you’re locked in forever. You can adjust your prices up or down as needed. As you gain more experience and have a higher rate of success among your coaching clients, you might adjust your pricing up and take on fewer clients—you can become a premium coach.
Or, if you’re doing group coaching, you might find that word spreads about what a great job you do, which means more people sign up for your group coaching program, and you don’t need to worry about raising your prices because your income increases based on the number of clients you have in your group.
Get Started
It’s so important that you choose your pricing and get started today. Don’t let the fear of setting a price hold you back. Get started coaching and change lives! People will pay your price if you can help them get the results they so desperately need.