How to price and package your coaching services: All that you need to know

There are a million coaching niches, but there are only two types of coaches – those who make a living and others who don’t. It can all depend on how you price and package your coaching service.

How much should I charge? How should I package my coaching services to grow my coaching practice to 5 figures and beyond? Seldom wondered these, right?

Knowing the right way of pricing and packaging your coaching services reflects professionalism in your business. It streamlines your coaching process and at the same time can help largely to beat your competitors.

During pricing, you are just picking a number but that decides the pace at which your coaching business grows. And the good news is, you can change that number!

There are several factors that determine the pricing and packaging of your coaching services. This blog would revolve around that and much more. So, stay tuned till the end!

What does it mean to package your coaching services?

Simple! It is an opportunity for your clients to buy a bunch of your sessions and time at once!

For instance, suppose you are a fitness trainer. You can package 10 sessions per month in your gym. Packaging your coaching services brings benefit to both your BUSINESS and CLIENTS.

How? Let’s look at the section below.

Why should you package your coaching services?

There are two perspectives that we need to consider here. One of the client-side and other on the business side. On the client-side, packaging your services ensure that there won’t be any commitment gap.

Your clients want to be ensured that you are trustworthy. They should not regret the collaboration.

What if you are not up for the next session due to any reasons? What if you ran out of money and leave your clients clueless? What if you face hurdles in your path and suddenly decide to halt your coaching services.

These are some of the questions that packaging your coaching services address.

In this way, you can fulfill the commitment gap so that your clients can engage with you in a full-time process to get what they want.

On the other side, packaging your coaching services means that you create payment plans. This way you open the doors for more predictable income. Once you are aware of the predictable income down the line you can concentrate on strengthening your services.

Just imagine the other way round. You are worried whether your clients will renew the sessions or not and hence your entire focus is on the growth and sales. Phew!! Packaging your coaching services help you to avoid this situation.

Let me make this more clear with an example.

Suppose there is a fitness trainer who sets the following narrative:

Workout sessions for beginners to lose weight- $50/hour.

And, then there is this one:

Get the perfect shape for your body quickly in just one month- $400.

Both of the above take sessions of one hour. In fact, the second one charges more. Yet the word “quickly” grabs the attention of the clients. Also, a specific period confirms the client about the ROI he/she would achieve.

By packaging your coaching services into a system that resonates with your clients you can charge much more. That too for the same no. of hours.

What are the kinds of coaching packages?

So, till now you know what does packaging your coaching services mean and why is it important. Now I will highlight more about pricing and kinds of coaching packages.

Generally, there are three ways by which most of the coaches charge.

1. By the Sessions ($150/Session)
2. By the Month ($500/Month)
3. By the Package(5-month package for $5000)

The package approach appears best to me. Going by this way removes any room for fear that all your clients will end in the same month. Also, you know beforehand how much your income would be.

Apart from that, going by the package way you will get only those clients who are genuinely committed for your coaching services. Thus you would get the clients who you would like to work with. The ones who take coaching seriously and who strive for better results with full dedication.

While packaging your coaching services there can be two ways that you can choose from.

1. Focused on one result
2. Ongoing results.

Focus on one result

Now, this kind of packaging is focused on one set goal in a defined time hence the name result-focused packaging. Similar to our fitness trainer example above. Here you would need to highly organize and plan each session to ensure that the client reaches the end goal in the specified time.

How to create a focus result coaching package?

The very first step while building a focus result coaching package is to ensure that you get the results. You cannot just sell advises without first-hand experience. If you are new to coaching and would like to learn how to tread on a result-focused approach. Follow the steps below:

Interview your target audience

You would come to know about the pain points of your target audience only when you talk with them directly. What do they want? For what process they would agree to pay good amount? Spend some time dwelling into their space and then formalise your strategy in accordance with their answers.

Freelancing

Rather than jumping directly on one-to-one coaching sessions, it is always a good choice to do some freelancing work. In this way, you will get a lot of exposure and would also know which tactics work and which do not.

Coach something that you already know

There are a lot of coaching niches. Don’t get influence with what some other is building his/her foundation on. Coach something which you already possess command on. Introspect yourself. Take your life experiences into consideration and then come up with something that you can proudly flaunt about.

Apart from this, focus on the below points to add structure to the package of your coaching services:

1. Clear the end-result: You should clarify the end results and the steps that you would take to achieve the same.
2. Set the deadline: By when will you achieve the result decided? Will it be a 4-month training?
3. Frequency of one-to-one meetings: If it’s a group coaching program, will you take individual sessions? If yes, how and when?

Advantage of Focus-result coaching package: You can convert high-end paying prospects.

Disadvantage of Focus-result coaching package: After achieving the end goal the purpose of your coaching sessions end and so your collaboration.

Ongoing results

This packaging structure is priced based on time. However, unlike the hourly rate, the client must buy multiple sessions at a time (That’s what packaging means!).

This can be either a monthly, 3 months or 6- months rate.

Here you operate as an advisor and accountability partner to your client. This way the collaboration continues till the goal is achieved or the client discontinues.

Providing ongoing support can be a brilliant chance for you to survive the famine that most of the coaches face. You just need to switch to a system that continuously offers new value.

You can go for one of the below:

Mentor

This is one of the most common paths that many of the coaches take. If your client is walking on the same path that you had once, it becomes damn easy to help. You can coach your clients for whatever challenges they are facing.

You should ask various coaching questions to dive deep into your clients’ problems. These set of 44 coaching questions that every coach should ask would help you out.

Accountability guy

This is when you check in regularly how your client is performing on scheduled intervals. The basic idea is to behave as a source of external motivation.

You can become an accountability buddy even without much experience. Since here it is more about motivation rather than expertise.

Community manager

This is another way through which you can engage your clients. The group-coaching community is actually a group of like-minded clients who are ready to help each other too when you aren’t around (bonus!).

You would be equipped with disseminating your advice and knowledge to the community members on an ongoing basis. These top skills will definitely help you as a community support manager.

Advantage of ongoing coaching package: The flow of income is more consistent this way. In this way, you can foster deeper relationships with your clients. Also, you need to prepare less for the sessions and most of it can be handled on the spot.

Disadvantage of ongoing coaching package: It becomes a bit difficult to sell. The end goal is not that strongly asserted. Hence it becomes a bit difficult to convince your clients until you have built a solid authority for yourself in the niche.

Now, why should you take the difference into consideration?

Suppose someone is looking for an organized structure and you, on the other hand, start each session with – “What’s on your mind?”. This is not what your client would be happy with.

This goes the other way too.

Suppose your client is coming up with a new problem every week. Now you are driving consistently towards the set goal without even considering that it isn’t solving the client’s problems. I bet that this way he/she won’t be around for long.

A deep insight in creating your packages for your coaching services

Step 1:

In order to package your coaching services well, first, you need to be clear about the ideal no. of sessions/number of months/length of sessions that your client would require. This can be possible only when you are experienced about how much time a client in such and such situation usually takes. Take proper consideration of how much coaching would be best for your clients, how much do they desire and for how much they would pay you.

Step 2:

Now that you have finalized the frequency and length of your coaching sessions decide what additional services your package would contain. There can be various things like check-in calls, email-access, readings, consulting, pre-recorded coaching modules, audios etc.

Step 3:

Price your coaching packages. Take various factors into account for pricing your coaching package. Right from your target audience to your own business experience and expertise- count everything. This should also include the additional services that you are providing and the current market pricing structures in your niche.

And now you would be wondering how to set the right pricing structure, right? Let’s jump on that.

How should I price packages of my coaching services?

Packaging your coaching services make your coaching business look more lucrative. The reason being that this way you provide a value-based mindest to your audience. Now they will levy the cost against the benefits rather than thinking that they will have to pay for another session.

Now, the number which you set for your package again has to be done carefully.

Benchmarks can be helpful but they can be misleading too as different coaches have different sets of offerings.

Factors that influence your pricing structure:

The affordability of your target client

How much can your ideal client afford? Surely the answer to this question depends on how much you are aware of your target market. If you are dealing with a business owner there is a huge probability that she would even shy away from low prices. On the other hand, someone who has lost a job and has turned up for your guidance to fight with depression would be interested in a lower-priced package.

Your experience and expertise

If you are just boasting about your experience and knowledge there are high chances that your clients would feel that you are making stories. They need proof as well! Certificates, client testimonials, case studies, pieces of training- all these would prove beneficial here.

People pay only when the trust is built and they pay really well. To build that trust you would need to establish some trust signals so that your pricing is worth enough your caliber.

In USA $45/hour is the average rate. Many coaches even charge $200/hour. Expert coaches even go till $1k-2k/hour.

You should never underestimate your worth. Even if you are new to the coaching field it takes just some initial efforts. Once you get your ideal coaching clients fast, it would become much easier for you to scale your coaching business.

Whatever pricing you set, say it with confidence. Substantiate the same with the components of your offerings, your experience and expertise. Your confidence will build confidence in your clients to purchase your package.

Why not name your coaching packages?

If you want to sell something, it should sound creative and grabbing. You should decide on a name which is memorable enough. Keep it short, punchy and one with an indelible impact. Great if it can evoke an emotion, feeling or idea.

Proceed in the following manner for creating a brilliant name of your coaching package:

1. First of all, pen down all the keywords that are around your coaching business. For instance- fitness, sales, professional, training etc.
2. Now curate words that emphasize the results of choosing your coaching services. For eg. lose weight, feel younger, fight depression in 2 months etc.
3. Now pen down words that reflect emotions- smart, glee, happy. Choose the ones which you want to associate with your coaching services.
4. Now think of words that contribute to the structure of your coaching business. For eg. one-to-one, online, mentoring etc.

Some coaching tips to keep in mind

Price your coaching packages according to the time you devote

Suppose you decide to work with your client for 3 hours a week plus some additional 10-20 minutes after each session over emails. Now you must make sure that you are making an amount equivalent to the time that you are investing.

Also if you have packaged your coaching services for $300 per month and soon you realize that you have to invest even more than 10 hours monthly with your client, this isn’t going to fetch you more. You are just not underestimating your worth but also getting trapped in an undervaluing job.

One way here can be switching to group coaching package wherein you can get more clients with the same effort and time investments.

Why not create the group coaching package as your mid-range package and one-to-one coaching program as your high-end one? Nice idea, right? Think about it!

Don’t underestimate your worth

Even if you are a brand new coach with no experience at all, leave the habit of underestimating your worth. As long as you have the zeal and dedication to bring the transformation in your coaching clients and you are striving hard for it, you deserve good pay.

Focus on honing your coaching skills and keeping yourself abreast with the recent coaching trends that every coach must know. It is just a matter of time and then you would be able to price your coaching packages the way you want.

Focus on results rather than competition

Rather than spending your time too much on what your competitors are charging focus on what value you are adding to your clients. Yes, sometimes a reference is good but never get swayed away by their prices. Decide how much time you require to invest in solving the problems of your clients. Create a few different packages to meet your clients’ requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)