Stop Talking ROI To Sell High Priced Coaching Packages, Use These Pro Tips To Close The Deal Fast
“I’m not a salesperson.”
“Discussing money is rude.”
“Talking money makes me feel like I’m begging.”
Those sentences are the most common excuses (call them what you will, but that’s what they are) coaches and personal service providers say to justify not charging clients what they’re worth.
Sure, you may lose some clients. You may even upset your most loyal clients, and your favorites may think you don’t appreciate them. Maybe you’re doing well financially, so it’s just easier not to increase your rates this year. After all, you don’t need the extra money right now.
Sound familiar?
Whether you’re just starting out in the coaching industry or you’re an experienced pro, I bet you’ve used at least a couple of those excuses.
That ends now. It is time you adjust your perspective and keep it adjusted.
Our Coaching Clients Taught Us Well
When ServerWise first began, the service attracted many coaches, personal trainers, and other service providers because they’re often the first to see overall value in something. And they did.
Having a wonderfully high ratio of coaches as clients has taught all of us a great deal. I use those lessons in my own beloved coaching side hustle (a highly specialized niche in my native language).
You need to think about your services from a different perspective. From this perspective you’re not selling anything, no need to feel like a salesperson. In fact, the less you ‘sell’ your highest priced packages, the faster you’ll pack your schedule with hungry clients.
Let’s look at the typical sales exchange:
- You explain what you offer to a potential client.
- You explain how your service works and what the client can expect.
- You include exactly how many phone calls, personal emails, content you provide, etc.
- You mention the length of your contract.
Once you lay it all out, you say, “My current rate is $$$ an hour.”
You’re going to get a Yes, No or a Maybe (which is also a no).
Stop Selling & Start Telling
Its human nature to sell by focusing on what the client will get FROM YOU. We sell by selling with the same list of benefits that all clients hear. What YOU will do for them and what YOU will give them.
But you’re a coach, so you teach, motivate and drive your clients. You push them to be better versions of themselves. That’s what you’re selling right there.
Don’t sell – do what you already do. Make it about the potential client and speak to them as you would if they had already hired you. Talk about what the client will achieve by working with you. Ask their goals, interests, what’s holding them back and fears.
If you take just three minutes to get to know the basics you can shift your sales pitch and make it personal. This tactic displays your true talent – coaching.
You’re giving the person a taste of what it would be like if they had you as a coach.
Make It About The Money, The Right Way
If you’re a small business or startup coach, this is even easier. Make it about the money. Ask about the client’s business, sales and/marketing goals. Talk about how you can teach their business how to increase sales by $3,200 per month to start. Point out that everything you teach them that grows leads, conversions and profit will not just benefit them only while you’re coaching them. Explain that what they learn from you will help them for the rest of their lives.
Mention that the first short-term goal you would like to make for them is to increase their sales by $3,200 within 30 days. As their coach, you’ll walk them through it and provide a handy checklist.
At this point, your business coaching fee of $1,000 a month is irrelevant – it’s inconsequential.
As you’ve probably realized at this point, you’re not selling your service. You’re not justifying the cost of your coaching, you’re explaining how much they’ll lose by not working with you.
Not only that, but you’re letting the client know that they’re choosing to walk away from thousands of dollars a month in extra profit and untold expertise. Priceless knowledge they could parlay into success for decades.
What About Different Types of Coaches?
A business or startup coach is easy – focus on opportunity cost from a financial standpoint. But what about the many kinds of other specialty and niche coaches?
Money is currency – literally. Every field has its own currency. You need to find the currency you can use to show your potential clients the opportunity cost of their inaction. What will they lose by not hiring you? What are they missing out on?
Adding 15 years of quality life to an unhappy and overweight man with high blood pressure and high cholesterol is quite valuable, and certainly not something most would want to miss.
As a life coach, your client would avoid many more years of feeling unfulfilled and out of place with no direction in life. That’s a currency that holds deep value to many people.
As a dating or love life coach, your client would be sacrificing many happy years with their potential love and many romantic nights by choosing to decline your services. Imagine how valuable you are to someone who has been in one unhappy, disastrous, and painful relationship after another. Always hoping for something real and lasting but instead is left alone emotionally destroyed and heartsick.
Don’t Sell Your Expert Services
You’re not even selling yourself as an expert. This is about taking their hand and walking them through what declining your services will look at – it isn’t about what they’re getting. It’s about what they’re achieving and what they would be missing out on.
Let them know what their dating/health/wellness/financial/business life would look like with your coaching services, and make sure they understand what it will look like without you.
Once it’s all laid bare, and they experience the magic that is having a coach like yourself, pricing is irrelevant. Why, it’s barely worth mentioning at that point.
You Must Discuss Your Coaching Rates with Expert Confidence
Have you ever found yourself stressing and anxious waiting for the moment when the potential client you’re talking to finally pops the questions, “What do you charge?”.
Please know that it isn’t just you. Most professionals struggle when the time comes to discuss their own pricing. After all, you quite literally must put a price to your overall value and worth as a coach. And what if the person decides that’s too much? That’s essentially the individual telling you that you’re not worth it. Change your perspective and do it with confidence. Pretend you are your own client and give yourself the same pep talk you’ve probably given dozens of times before.
Say It Aloud – Often
You’re a professional and just like any lawyer or therapist you’re going to get that question a lot. You need to be ready to say it with absolute confidence – no delay, no hesitation. Project confidence because you know the value you bring to your clients.
“I charge $$ an hour.”
That should be your rallying war cry whenever you’re alone.
- Tell your dog
- Tell your mirror
- Tell your shampoo
The more often you say it out loud the more comfortable you’ll become with it.
Smile When You State Your Rates
Whether you’re responding to an email or on the phone talking to a potential client, always smile when you state your pricing. And why wouldn’t you smile? You add a lot of value to their lives, you care about them, and you’re worth it. Smiling while stating your rate is an old trick, but it works.
Naturally, our tone in our voice and even the tone in our writing (passive to direct) changes when we smile. That’s the tone you want to convey to your clients because you’re confident, and you know your pricing is correct.
Never Hesitate or Come Across as Unsure
“Well, do you think that $$ will work for you?”
“Typically, I charge $$ but…”
“Well, actually, my rates…”
If you’ve ever caught yourself discussing your pricing with any of the sentences from above, stop right now. If you can’t state your rates confidently without puttering or pausing, you need to coach yourself!
This back-and-forth way of speaking tells your potential client that you’re not sure of your own rates and as such, you’re not confident in your own value.
The next time you’re asked, even if it’s only on the phone or email, smile and sit as straight and tall as you can. Now bluntly state, “I charge $800 a month for VIP coaching and I have three spots in my schedule open.”
Embrace Silence
Another classic trick that works is to find comfort in silence. When we’re nervous or feeling anxious or unsure of ourselves, we tend to talk – and we tend to talk a lot. The need to fill any silence with chatter, no matter how inconsequential it may be (and often is) is human nature. We talk, so we don’t have to sit there wondering what the other person must think of me.
If there is silence, let there be silence. That other person, the one you’re concerned about, is also sitting in silence and is equally uncomfortable. Let the silence rest for as long as it takes. Wait and allow the potential client to break the silence.
If you speak first, you’ll most likely attempt to justify your pricing – that can cost you the client. Give your potential client time to think and respond, even if that silence lasts a few minutes.
Disclosing your pricing and stating your rates won’t always seal the deal. Some clients can’t afford you just yet. While others may need to check with their spouse or business partner before making the decision. Sharing your pricing in a confident, clear, and concise manner will prove to every individual you speak with that you are worth your rates.
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