A Coaching Approach to Pricing your 1:1 Coaching
Pricing is such an important topic, so this will be a two-part blog post. In this one I will cover pricing for your 1:1 coaching clients and next month I’ll talk about pricing for your other offerings. (I encourage you to consider offering other programs in order to supplement your 1:1 coaching revenues so your business will be sustainable).
Pricing your 1:1 coaching – with authenticity – is essential to both modeling the distinction you bring to your clients, as well as to ensuring you will have a sustainable and revenue-generating business. It is important to get the pricing right for your client base – not too high and not too low.
Pricing involves both art and science in order to establish fees in a way that is both aligned with your values and vision (your personal brand), as well as what is right for your primary and secondary clients and for your market. It begins with establishing your pricing philosophy.
It is important to decide if, based on your experience and skill as well as your personal clarity, you want to be known as low cost, good value or high-end in your pricing. Do you want to be known for discounts, complimentary offerings, or staying firm on your pricing (and being willing to lose the client if you and your pricing are not a right fit)? All of this clarity and context provides guidance for the end pricing as well.
If your pricing philosophy is to be known as between good value and high-end and the clients you are targeting are new moms with low incomes, there will be a mismatch. If you have 25 years experience in a field that your organizational clients are in, and you have good relationships, you are ICF Accredited, have lots of testimonials, and a strong offering (not to mention confidence in the value you deliver), then there will be a better fit.
Here are some questions you can reflect on to develop your pricing philosophy and then to apply it to your 1:1 coaching.
The questions begin with getting the right mindset and clarity to develop your pricing philosophy; second is to set up the business rigor and discipline that is required to ensure everything you do in terms of pricing is aligned to your personal brand; somatic support is third (i.e. how will you align your body with your mind and heart in order to manage the “discomfort of the ask” for the pricing you have decided upon); and the final bucket is learnings and celebration as you learn and evolve.
1. Right Mindset (Clarity for Your Personal Brand)
How do you think about pricing currently?
What is your pricing philosophy? Do you want to be known as high-end, good value or low cost? What feels right given your personal values, vision – i.e. personal brand?
What are your primary clients’ expectations for pricing? Your secondary clients?
Are they the same or different?
Do your clients work with other kinds of practitioners where they are familiar with the range your pricing fits within?
What fees do other coaches in your field use? Do they have the same pricing philosophy as you do?
Have you tested your pricing out with your primary clients? What feedback have you received?
2. Business Discipline and Rigor
How much will you price your 1:1 coaching?
Will you price it using an hourly rate? An overall program rate?
Will you offer coaching by the session? Several sessions/month? Several months/program?
Will you have “hard” costs of materials you provide to clients (i.e. an assessment or reference book)? How are these included in your pricing?
Will you offer complimentary sessions? If so, how long and what will is your intention for them?
How and when will you communicate your pricing? In an initial meeting? Through a formal proposal (that when agreed upon becomes the contract)?
If the overall price for a 1:1 program is too high for the client, do you reduce the price or the scope?
3. Somatic Support (Right Body Language)
Do you have an ongoing practice of paying attention to when you are aligned with your authentic self and values? If not, reflect on the following:
- What occurs for you in the body when you reflect on the price for your 1:1 coaching? Is it aligned with your authentic self or your personal brand? Where do you notice it in the body? What do you notice?
- What occurs for you in the body when your pricing is out of alignment with your personal brand? What do you notice in the body and where?
- How will you adjust your pricing to bring it into alignment?
How could you shift your body language, in the moment, to support you to stay present through the discomfort of asking for the pricing that feels aligned with your personal brand?
As a reminder, have you learned about the ABCs of self-managing? How often are you practicing this each day?
4. Learnings and Celebration
What are you learning about your clients as you test your pricing?
What are you learning about your self as you evolve your pricing philosophy?
How will you apply what you are learning?
What is going well in terms of pricing? How will you celebrate your success?
Tana Heminsley
Tana Heminsley, MBA, PCC, is the CEO and founder of Authentic Leadership Global™. Tana is a thought leader, author of "Awaken Your Authentic Leadership," speaker and facilitator in the area of authentic leadership and emotional intelligence. She has a passion for supporting coaches to build sustainable businesses through diversifying their offerings. She also loves building businesses and developing leaders. Tana has an MBA and more than 25 years of business and leadership experience. She was an Executive at BC Hydro -- with annual net income of $400M and 1.7M Customers. She is the founder of Authentic Leadership Global™ -- a growing global business-building community with programs for coaches to customize and deliver to their clients, all focused on living nd leading in line with their best self and passion. Email tana@leadauthentic.com if you would like a PDF copy of this blog post.
The views and opinions expressed in guest posts featured on this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of the International Coach Federation (ICF). The publication of a guest post on the ICF Blog does not equate to an ICF endorsement or guarantee of the products or services provided by the author.
Additionally, for the purpose of full disclosure and as a disclaimer of liability, this content was possibly generated using the assistance of an AI program. Its contents, either in whole or in part, have been reviewed and revised by a human. Nevertheless, the reader/user is responsible for verifying the information presented and should not rely upon this article or post as providing any specific professional advice or counsel. Its contents are provided “as is,” and ICF makes no representations or warranties as to its accuracy or completeness and to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law specifically disclaims any and all liability for any damages or injuries resulting from use of or reliance thereupon.
Thank you Tana. This is one of the best blogs I have read this year. Love the coaching approach you take in it. Most blogs tell us 5 things, 3 ways, 10 reasons, etc – tell, tell, tell – and I often, like a coaching client when they are TOLD, look at these and start to cross them off as I overlay my situation (rightly or wrongly). In the end, dismissing some things that could be useful. Your approach makes me think more and is a great role modelling of coaching. I have always had the philosophy that my coaching is to help build sustainable change and that sustainability comes with the coaching client’s ability to self coach. I have noticed that coaches in the main are very reluctant to talk about their pricing philosophy with fellow coaches – this surprised me somewhat and at the same time I understand the competitive spirit. I look forward to the upcoming ‘Virtual Tea’. Thank you.
Thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts Grace. I totally agree. It’s an important topic and one that creates anxiousness and hesitance to share information.
I believe in collaboration and co-creation – there is more work out there than we can imagine, and a client who resonates for one coach, won’t necessarily resonate with another.
Therefore why not support each other. We have eliminated the word “competition” from our vocabulary at the global community of coaches we are co-creating. We are trying to be in relationship with each other in ways that model authenticity and integrity – this way, as we get grounded in it together, we can take it out to our clients. One of the things we share is how to price our 1:1 coaching, other programs and products.
Stay tuned for Part 2 – A Coaching Approach to Pricing your Other Offerings – which will be published later in July.
And if I can be of any service, please feel free to email me at tana@leadauthentic.com
Warm regards,
Tana
PS – Grace – you made my day with your reply – thank you!
[…] […]