Dr. April Willis, Principal Business Consultant & Coach at April Willis Consulting, LLC.
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One of the most challenging aspects of launching a professional business coaching career is knowing how much to charge. If you charge too much, you may experience difficulty acquiring any clients. If you charge too little, people may not think your guidance will be worth much. Establishing reasonable rates allows you to stake your claim in a portion of the business coaching market. Here are six strategies to help you hone in on your coaching rates.
Recognize that experience isn’t free.
The best advice I have ever received pertaining to pricing has resonated with me over the years, and I still remind myself of this principle: As a business coach, you’re not simply charging an hourly rate for services rendered; you’re charging for distilling a lifetime’s worth of experience, education and research into a short session filled with insights and actionable strategies. You are enabling the client to access all of the knowledge you have accumulated over the years and are giving them an abridged version of that. With that perspective in mind, hopefully, it will help you feel more confident in charging what your time, background and experiences are worth.
Explore competitive pricing.
Another approach to explore when determining how to set your rate is to conduct some market research. Explore how much other business coaches in your geographic area or in your coaching niche charge. Being familiar with your competition can help you understand what potential clients may have come to expect.
Determine your brand’s value.
Identify if your brand will be one of luxury or economy. You will likely find that the competition has a range of fees, some on the higher end (luxury brand) and some on the lower end (economy brand). Where would you like to fall on that spectrum? Who is your ideal client and how will you attract clients aligned with your price point?
Create coaching packages.
Rather than offer a simple hourly rate, create packages that include a series of sessions, proprietary curriculum, email support, done-for-you products, course modules or a wealth of other potential products and services. By enhancing the level of deliverables, clients are more likely to value the wraparound approach and find worth in higher prices. Also, by offering robust packages, clients perceive your value as one that isn’t just a strict exchange of time for money, but one that becomes harder to quantify because they recognize significant effort has been invested into creating these additional offerings.
Offer tiers.
Tiers are another approach for meeting the needs of more clients while still staying true to your brand’s value. By offering high, medium and low options, you can adjust how frequently sessions are scheduled or how comprehensive proposed packages are. Clients appreciate having options and they also appreciate a coach who knows one size does not fit all. Each person will be in a different place in their journey and will need support delivered in as much of a custom, individualized way as possible.
Consider á la carte services.
As a coach, you might offer some services on the side or in addition to your main coaching services. A few examples include a digital presence audit, a bio revamp, a LinkedIn profile update or a virtual workshop for a small team. Consider adding these additional deliverables at special prices for coaching clients. This may supplement the amount you bring in with your business coaching, allowing you to reach your financial goals faster while also supporting your clients in reaching their personal/professional goals with tools you’ve created and sell as add-ons.
In conclusion, armed with these different strategies for setting your prices as a business coach, your next move might be building your authority in the field to justify the price you set. When evaluating your professional experience, academic background, additional licenses/certifications, publications and public speaking engagements, consider if you have built a competitive profile for business coaching. What credentials might you consider adding to make yourself more marketable and to justify the prices you are setting?
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