Once you have a system in place for generating leads with an enticing offer, and regularly communicating with them, you may think that this is all you need to be successful. But it isn’t if you are making this mistake: charging by the hour instead of the package.
This is another mistake many coaches make, especially when just starting out. Sometimes it’s because they aren’t sure of the total value of the transformation they bring to their clients, or sometimes it’s because they think that people won’t pay for more than an hour at a time. Here are a few reasons why you need to package your expertise into a coaching program instead of coaching by the hour.
1) The fact is that if you charge by the hour, your clients will associate the fee with your time, so they consciously or unconsciously think that they are paying for your time. In this scenario you are relying on them to determine the value of your time by comparing it to others. You can’t compete for clients by price because there will always be someone who charges less than you.
What your clients are really paying for, and what you must educate them to understand is that they are paying for the transformation you offer them. Once you have established that, it will be much easier to get them into a program where you have time to support their transformation. And that’s why you need a coaching program that facilitates that transformation.
2) It’s much easier to market a program than just hourly coaching. Most people who are looking for a coach, are doing so because they have a problem they want solved—whether it’s a health problem, relationship problem, or a business problem. Your coaching program should be designed to solve that problem. So if you have chosen a niche for your coaching, you can design a program that solves an immediate problem that your target market has.
Once you have created a program, you can market it by outlining the steps involved and what the results will be from each step. This makes it much more concrete for the potential client to understand how you can help them, and easier for them to make a buying decision. And you want to do everything you can to make their buying decision easy.
3) Once you have a program, you can create all sorts of other products from it. Examples of that include:
- Take one part of it and make another product that goes much deeper into that point. For example, if your program is on learning online marketing and a smaller product on the ins and outs of monetizing your service on LinkedIn.
- Create an ebook that covers one section of your program
- Create a guided meditation based on one of your steps
- Create short promotional videos that cover one point in your program
- Create a shorter version of your program that can be in the form of a group program or home study course
Another point is that if you have a set program, it will be easier to create a signature talk based on the steps of your program. You’ll just take some of the material from your program and arrange it into a talk that gives value but makes them want to hire you to take it further, and then you offer your program.
As you can see, there are definite advantages to creating a specific coaching program to offer the people on your list. So don’t make the mistake of neglecting to create a coaching program or you may end up working hard and not getting the results you want.
