If you remember back in episodes 49, 50 and 51, I talked about the periodic coaching program, which is essentially the program you create for your clients after your initial coaching program.
But a question that kept coming up is how to price that periodic coaching program. This week, I’m going to talk through this and offer a breakdown of how I’d evaluate this for yourself!
If this is your first episode of this podcast, please check out episode 51 specifically, but the entire Ultimate Growth Guide series, starting with episode 45, will tie all this together.
And if you want to listen to the Ultimate Growth Guide with no interruptions, you can download it as a private podcast feed for free!
Get the Ultimate Growth Guide here!
How to Determine Your Pricing
The price of your periodic coaching program is going to be based on the price of your initial program. Start by determining what your hourly rate is that you’re charging during your regular program and then simply use that to calculate the monthly rate of this program.
Let’s say you offer an initial 6-month program. You charge $2,500 and you meet 12 times with the client during these 6 months. Those 12 sessions MIGHT look like:
- weekly for the first month
- bi weekly for the next 3 months
- once per month for the remaining 2 months (4 + 6 + 1 + 1).
This is just an example. Your program can be 90 days, it can be 4 months, it can be 12 months. You can meet weekly, bi-weekly, monthly. Again, the Ultimate Growth Guide series of episodes talks about designing this initial program.
Breaking Down Your Time
Next, you also want to ask yourself about additional time spent. For example, at Fiscal Fitness, we estimate that 2 hours is spent during our clients’ initial program because we set up and create their Plan Ahead Budget. Episode 39 is where I break down my Plan Ahead Budgeting Method if you’re wanting to hear more about that. Then I also estimate 2 hours in those 90 days replying to emails, checking in on the client, etc.
What I’ve seen with my clients is that they require more hand-holding, time and energy initially and less over time. I will also say that some clients may never send a single email or ask a question outside of the coaching sessions and others are pinging you a lot. So you’re looking for averages not absolutes.
We estimate 2 additional hours during our 90-day program but some clients need us 5 additional hours and some zero. Personally, I do not split hairs. There’s a balance between being accessible and available for our clients when they need us and establishing boundaries around our own time and energy. The more clients you help, the better you’re able to see trends so you may need to increase or change your price of your program if you notice the time you’re spending is different than your estimate.
Program Pricing Example
So let’s say for this 6-month program, in addition to the 12 coaching sessions there’s another, I don’t know, 5 hours worth of time. Your total time then is about 17 hours (you’re charging $2,500 in this example if you remember) so that puts you at an average rate of $150/hour.
Now, I am going to use this average to determine the price of my periodic coaching program.
Think of it like a membership program and not just a per-session rate.
In addition to the session, which often times is going to be 90 minutes instead of 60 minutes, but in addition to that, we’re spending time before that session reviewing things. We review their questionnaire responses and we pull up their budget and review:
- the prior 6 months to see how they’ve been doing,
- where they’ve come in under budget,
- where they’ve gone over, what they’ve added and
- overall wrap our mind all around it.
So we use what they tell us and then we use their budget to get a full picture of what their life has been like these past 6 months. So we’re preparing in advance of the session, which takes a bit of time.
What Happens Between Calls
We’re also available for emails in between sessions for quick things. There are times when a client emails and we say, “I would love to answer this for you but email is not going to be the best format for this decision you’re facing. There’s a lot that goes into this and we need to have a more in-depth conversation about it. This is one of those instances where I really want to encourage a drop-in session for you.”
And then there are times where we email them back with an answer or a handout or some factors to consider. So we are providing some level of support or coaching between sessions too. We’re just clear, and you’ll want to be too, of when it’s appropriate to do this and when an additional session is actually what’s needed and what’s best.
Finally, we provide technical troubleshooting with their Plan Ahead Budget, help them to extend it out, check their formulas, those types of things in between sessions.
So we estimate all of these benefits and the time for all of these things.
Your Program Will Change
One thing to keep in mind, you will have multiple iterations in business before you get something right. Don’t make changes based on one client or one situation. But be open to seeing patterns. For every 5-10 clients who go into your periodic coaching program (or even your regular program for that matter), ask yourself:
- How it’s going?
- How much time are you spending?
- Is it working?
- What exactly is working well and what’s not working like you anticipated?
Chances are things aren’t usually all wrong or all right. Make a change based on what you’ve learned and then roll that out for the next 5-10 clients. Repeat that process until you get it just right.
So many of these strategies work but with finessing for each of us. Because it’s based off you, your style of coaching and your clients and their needs.
I hope this helps you to determine the pricing for your periodic coaching program. Once you know the price, you can begin to build out your targets and goals.
- How many clients in this program would you need to have a solid recurring income?
- How many hours would that mean you’re coaching and how often?
- What’s your business and life look like at that time?
Let this be one step toward really designing and outlining your future, Coach.
