164 | Why Your Coaching Offer Isn’t Selling (And How to Fix It)

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Once a coach has some clarity on

their niche, the next question is

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about what exactly am I selling?

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And this is where many coaching

businesses can stall because coach

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training teaches you how to coach.

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But it rarely teaches you how

to turn that into something that

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people actually want to pay for.

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Many coaches default to

the simplest description.

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Something like I offer

one-on-one coaching sessions.

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And technically that is true, but from

a client's perspective, it doesn't

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tell them very much about why it's

gonna be valuable in their life.

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So it tells 'em about the format, but

it doesn't tell them about the purpose.

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It doesn't emotionally compel them to buy.

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And most people don't buy coaching

because of the format of one-on-one or

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group or however you decide to do it.

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They buy coaching because they want

something in their life to be different.

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So either they want to move away from.

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A problem that they are having

or sometimes because they want to

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move desperately towards a future

that they can see for themselves.

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Usually it's moving away from a problem.

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So for example, I wanted to film

YouTube videos, and after eight hours

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of trying to film a YouTube video.

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I gave up frustrated that I was

never gonna get this sorted out,

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and then somebody that I'd worked

with previously messaged saying,

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do you have any video needs?

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It was perfect timing because

I had a problem and yes,

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therefore I did have video needs.

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So often we want to solve problems.

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That's what we will pay to do.

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So when you are thinking about that

coaching offer of yours, one of the

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most helpful places to start is here.

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What transition is your

client moving through?

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Most coaching begins

at a moment of change.

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So maybe they want to leave their

job because they hate their boss.

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Maybe someone is.

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Starting a new job and

feels really unsure.

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Maybe for the first time they have to

manage a team and they just don't know

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how to do that and to get that authority.

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When you can create a journey that

takes people from where they are

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now to where they want to get to,

that is what they will pay for.

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So instead of saying, I offer

leadership coaching, so you might

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want to say something like, I help

new leaders navigate their first.

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Time in management and excel

in their first 90 days.

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Or instead of saying, I offer career

coaching, you might want to say, I

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help professionals who feel stuck

in their careers to really figure

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out what they want to do next and

take those first steps towards it.

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Now that person listening can picture

the journey that you will take them on.

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They can recognize whether it applies

to them, and that offer becomes so much

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more easier to say yes to 'cause it's

connected to the goal that they want.

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Another important part of creating

a strong offer is the structure,

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because meaningful change rarely

happens in a single conversation.

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So I always recommend not selling single

sessions of coaching because it's not

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financially viable for you, but it also

doesn't create the change that that person

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wants over time because as we know, most

things take a lot longer than we think.

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So you want to work with someone

over the period that will

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actually change their life.

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Through those reflections, them

experimenting with different ways,

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creating new behaviors, and that's why

coaching offers work well when they are

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usually over a period of maybe three

months, maybe six months, but that long

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enough period for real change to happen.

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That also feeds into something I talk

about often, which is getting great case

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studies, because whilst you can have

an amazing one-off coaching situation,

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you can rarely create the change that

people can talk about in a case study in.

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One month or one session.

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For example, inside my program, the

business of coaching, this is something

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I help people to build step by step.

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So we take that transformation that

the person wants and we turn it into

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a clear journey with checkpoints.

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So your clients will really

start to see that, for example.

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Okay.

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I get, if I'm stuck in my career and

I start to know my strengths, know the

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industry and learn how to interview

well, that I might be able to get a job.

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So if we can tell people those

checkpoints, they can start to see,

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okay, this person's thought it through.

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It sounds like they have a plan to

get me to where I want to get to.

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It's still coaching, but now it has

a structure that people understand

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because the problem is most people

have never been coached and therefore

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don't understand the power of coaching.

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And when we package it up into something

that people understand enough to pay

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for, then your business will take off.

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Something else worth remembering

is that your first offer

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doesn't need to be complicated.

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Often those simple offers

are much easier to explain.

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So one clear problem, one clear person,

one journey that you will take them

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on, that is enough to begin with.

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So you don't need to create a full

offer suite for every eventuality.

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If you've never sold anything,

then just start with one program.

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Eventually you'll start to see,

okay, do people need something less?

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Do they need something more?

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But if you create too many options,

the client won't be able to make a

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decision about which option to choose.

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It's also really important for

you to get to know that offer.

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You will start noticing patterns.

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You will start seeing what conversations,

create the biggest shifts for

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your clients and understand really

deeply what they need, and then

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eventually you will make that offer.

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Amazing.

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I love that.

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My program, the business of

coaching, has been running

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for four and a half years now.

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And it started as a three month program.

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I then learned enough to realize that

three months was not enough to do

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all the things that we wanted to do.

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Made it a six month program.

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And in fact, it's often now a program

people stay in for years because

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business building is ongoing and there's

always gonna be changes happening.

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But if I had tried to perfect that offer.

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Four and a half years ago, without

going through the journey, I wouldn't

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be in the situation that I am now with

an offer that I absolutely love and

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gets incredible results for my clients.

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It's also really important to

think about your business model

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when you're creating an offer.

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I deliberately went down the group

program route because I work school

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hours, so I have really limited

time to work, and although you can't

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always do that right away because

you need to build that lead flow.

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It was an intentional decision that I

wanted to do that so I can have time with

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my kids, time for my marketing time to

create this video and podcast for you.

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And that really meant intentional

designing of offers that work.

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With those rhythms.

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I also made my program term time only.

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So now I get to have all of the school

holidays off, including a full six

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weeks off at summer, which is heavenly.

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And all I do is I extend the

length of someone's support.

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So, for example, they pay for six

months support and then I'll add on two

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weeks for Easter, six weeks for summer.

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So they don't get penalized

because I work term time only.

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And in fact it usually works well for

most people because they don't want

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to work over the holidays either.

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So really think about that person,

the result that they want, as

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well as that business model

that will actually work for you.

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So if you are currently thinking

about your coaching offer, here are

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three questions that might help.

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Firstly, what problem or transition

are you helping someone move through?

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What kind of journey

will support that change

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and how can you best describe

that journey Clearly enough that

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someone recognizes themselves in it.

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One thing that can be really helpful

is dividing it into three phases

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so you can actually articulate it.

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So even if you have six or 12 coaching

sessions, don't feel like you need

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to say First session will do this.

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Second session will do that.

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See if you can summarize it into

three easy phases that people

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understand enough to buy into.

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When someone hears your offer and

thinks this is exactly what I need,

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then they will pay for that offer.

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If you are in the place where you are

having discovery calls and people are

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saying it's expensive, then they're

probably not connecting it to a real

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problem that they have in their life.

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So it might be about you going

back to that offer, really thinking

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about what your offer promise is.

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If the word offer promise scares

you, think of it as this offer is

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designed to help you get into a

career that you love, for example.

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So you can't guarantee that that person is

going to get into a career that they love

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because there are no guarantees in life.

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But you can guarantee that you

have designed your program.

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For that aim, and I know that you

know your stuff and you will be

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caring about your client and wanting

to do your best for them, but

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they do have to meet you halfway.

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If you would like help creating your

own coaching offer, I have created

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a free resource called 10 Steps to

Create a Signature Coaching offer.

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You will find the link in the

description or the show notes.

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And I hope it helps you map out an amazing

offer to get out there and sell today.

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I hope today's episode was useful,

and like I say at the end of

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every episode, trust yourself.

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Believe in yourself, and be the wise

gardener who keeps on watering the seed.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):

Thank you so much for listening to this

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episode of Women in the Coaching Arena.

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I have a mess of free resources on

my website joannalottcoaching.com.

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That's Joanna with an A

and Lott with two T's.

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joannalottcoaching.com.

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And I'll also put links in the show notes.

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Let me know if you found

this episode useful.

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Share it with a friend and

leave me a review, and I will

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personally thank you for that.

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Remember to trust yourself, believe

in yourself and be the wise Gardner

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who keeps on watering the seed.

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Get into the arena dare, greatly and try.