I’ve worked with innumerable coaches over the last 12 years I’ve been a business coach. From other business coaches, to executive coaches, high performance coaches, life coaches, sobriety coaches, and coaches that go by different terms, such as mentor, strategist, teacher or consultant, but are coaching their clients, I’ve seen behind-the-scenes of how other coaches create consistent income.
I’m sharing this for the first time, while keeping confidentiality of course, from the coaches I’ve worked with through my one-to-one business coaching, group coaching programs, and masterminds.
Every coach I’ve worked with structures their coaching differently, charges at different price points, and delivers their services differently, too. Many of my coaching clients earn more than me, and some have been coaching for far more years than I have.
There’s no one method that’s better than the others. Like all things, there are pros and cons to each option. As the business owner, you get to choose what you want to do.
By laying out the four most common pricing structures that I’ve seen for creating consistent income in your coaching business, I hope that you can make more proactive decisions in your coaching business in order to avoid feast-or-famine cycles, and create more consistency in income.
Four key ways to create consistent income in coaching
Not only is consistent income essential for creating a sustainable business, it enables better coaching too. When a coach is under financial pressure to keep their lights on, it’s hard to bring upbeat attitude to each and every session.
Personally, I’ve never offered one-off coaching sessions because I want clients whose expectations of coaching are in alignment with mine, which is that nobody can solve all your problems in a single hour. Coaching isn’t magic, though it sometimes feels magical. The value of coaching is in the tiny, incremental habits, rituals, routines that you shift and adopt over time, which add up to a big effect.
The four key ways you can create consistent income as a coach are:
- Retainer relationships
- Payment plans
- Memberships
- Being rebookable
Let’s break these down.
Coaching retainers and payment plans
These are both similar, with slightly different positioning. A coaching retainer would typically involve a minimum commitment of time, such as six months or a year. The client pays monthly, likely on an automatic payment plan.
One of my clients, a business coach who specialised in manufacturing and engineering businesses, charged his clients per month, depending on whether they wanted one meeting or two. His point-of-difference was that these meetings were always face-to-face, which oftentimes necessitated significant amounts of travel.
A payment plan is the same except there is a set amount for a specified period, and the coach offers either payment upfront, or via an automatic payment plan, thus creating regular, consistent income.
This is what I offer, and it’s how a lot of my coaching clients work. One of my clients charged a set fee per outcome. She would have her client set a key goal for their coaching relationship in the first meeting, and then my client would quote them an amount to achieve that goal, no matter how long it took. This was her point-of-difference.
Coaching memberships
Coaching memberships are different from retainer relationships and payment plans, because they’re month-to-month. Confusingly, some coaching memberships require a minimum commitment of time (such as three months or one year), which brings these different things closer together.
A lot of pricing depends on positioning which is how your clients perceive your brand and work. For example, generally memberships are perceived as lower cost and masterminds are perceived as higher cost. But the particulars of what’s included, what’s not, and the value that clients receive, can be very similar.
I had a coaching client who was struggling to fill to fill her membership. We worked together to reposition the offer, change the name from ‘membership’ to ‘mastermind’, and better communicate the offer to call in her ideal clients, which meant she booked out within six weeks of relaunching it.
Another business coaching client – a business coach for financial advisors – found it far easier to sell a higher priced package to his clients, which incorporated a program of training and coaching for their team, than to sell his group program and lower-priced membership. This isn’t uncommon.
Be careful with costing memberships, as many owners make the common mistake of pricing these too low, and assume a higher volume than they’re able to sell. While $97 per month may seem like a steal to you, compared to the value your membership delivers, it’s hard to make a liveable income if you can only sell 20 spots.
Create a few financial forecast contingencies, based on your audience size, before you decide on your price. The online coach you admire may well have an audience that’s 10 times the size of yours.
Being rebookable
This is my least favourite type of consistent income because it’s hard for most owners to do. But some coaches don’t want to ask for the commitment from clients. Which means that they need to get great at being rebookable, and always ask for rebookings.
This is more common amongst professions such as hairdressers, therapists, and masseuses, but it’s also done by coaches. I employed a business coach for a period whose point-of-difference was that she didn’t lock people into a contract and instead told me that booking one-off sessions meant that she had to perform at the highest level possible to prove the value of her coaching, and have her clients book her again. Our relationship wasn’t very fruitful and, to her credit, she instigated the end of it.
To create consistent income with this business model, you need to be excellent at sales. Most people, if given the option to be flakey, will take it (I’m talking about myself here). I have excellent intentions, and high expectations of myself. But my follow-through is often lacking (much like many of my clients).
When a service provider, such as a coach, makes it too easy for me to postpone a decision, chances are I’ll do just that. It’s hard to create a deep trust with people, not to mention a structured program of work together, if sessions are sporadic.
Key questions to help you decide
Here are key questions to prompt you to decide which structure best suits you:
- How long a period of time do you believe your clients need to get the most out of coaching with you?
- What cadence of sessions do you think your clients need to get the most out of coaching with you?
- How many clients would you prefer to work with at any one time?
- How much would you like to earn from coaching?
- How much do your ideal client value the outcome achieved through coaching with you?
Are you a coach? If so, I’d love you to take five quick minutes to fill out this anonymous survey for me. Thanks in advance!
