High-Achieving Women's Blogazine

I received a call from someone who has been coaching (business coach) for about two years. She felt that she was under valuing her services since she did not have a true pricing and packaging strategy in place.  Here are the suggestions I gave her:

Your pricing not only determines your bottom line, it also impacts whether or not someone will become your client. While there are many factors that influence pricing, the bottom line is that you must pick a number.  If the number does not work, it’s easy to change that number if and when you need to do so.

There are three main ways that coaches typically charge for their services:

1. by the session (e.g. $125/session)
2. by the month (e.g. $500/month)
3. by the package (e.g. 6 month package for $2,500)

When I coach, I prefer coaching by the package.  It makes my income more stable and predictable; and the clients who sign up for a 3+ month package are willing to make an investment in their personal development.  These are the best clients to have.

When you are looking at packaging, there are three things to remember:

#1 – Decide how much individual coaching the client needs:
This decision is based on how much coaching is best to support the client in achieving h/her desired results, how much coaching you want to provide and how much coaching the clients sign up for.

#2 –  Determine what additional services the client’s needs:
This decision is based on any perks you include in your coaching package. A few examples might be: check-in calls, email access, assessments, etc.

#3 –  Price your coaching package based on you:
There are many many factors to consider when setting your fees, including your target market/niche, background and experience.  If you are a new coach, I recommend you choose a price that you feel good about and one that is in the
“more affordable” range. If you are an experienced coach with a proven track-record of helping your clients achieve results, then your fees will likely be much higher.

Like any other business model, you must have a defined method for obtaining the clients through your coaching program on a consistent basis.  The ‘sales funnel model’ can be adapted to your coaching program.

Finally consider offering group coaching as your ‘lower-priced’ option or a full-day coaching intensive as your ‘higher-priced’ option. When you have a well developed pricing and coaching process, it allows you to charge what you are worth.

If you want to accelerate your rate of achievement rapidly, you must search out and vigorously employ new behaviors.

If you would like to know more about developing a full coaching practice that impacts your bottom line, become a member of the Global Association of High-Achieving Women.  Membership does have its privileges.

Love, Success and Greatness

Dr. Laureen

Million Dollar Solutionist™

twitter: DrLaureen  
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/drlaureen
Facebook: http://profile.to/drlaureen

© 2010 Dr. Laureen

PS: The Global Association of High Achieving Women and Masterpiece Solutions are the sponsors of the free monthly newsletter: Elevations™. Elevations™ has three focus categories:  Your Career – Your Business – Your Life and You. If you would like to receive free monthly issues of Elevations™, please provide your name and e-mail address below.

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable. – Seneca

Do you want to wake up every day with a smile and a zest for whatever possibilities the day will bring?  Do you crave a life where your creativity and talents thrive without limits?  If you do, then take the time to plan for your success and happiness.

Many business people fail to prepare a business plan mainly because they are intimidated by the process.  This process does not need to be overwhelmingly complex; but it does require some thought, some research and a conscious effort to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. 

Here are 10.5 tips that you must address.  How much detail you give to each step is up to you and how successful you want to be.  Here they are:

1. Identify the purpose of your plan
2. Outline your personal qualifications
3. Clearly define your business
4. Clearly define your market or niche
5. Know your industry
6. Know your competition
7. Do the math
8. Know when to ask for help
9. Pull it all together
10. Keep the plan up to date

  10.5.       Review these steps on a quarterly basis to make sure you are on target

Don’t forget to plan for problems.  Whether it’s a national recession, a blizzard that knocks out communications or mail delivery, or a computer snafu that wipes out important data, glitches will occur.  In other words – expect the unexpected and have a backup plan in place.

Home-based businesses are booming.  More and more women are beginning businesses at home as either a part-time supplement to their family’s income, or  they are trading in the 9-5 to improve their quality of life and pursue their passion.  Could the next successful business owner be you?  Beginning your own home business has many potential benefits, including: no commuting, flexible work hours, the satisfaction of being your own boss, as well as providing an outlet for your creative and unique talents.  

Organization is one of the keys to success and it is also an essential part of every work environment. When you work from home being organized is essential.  Here are 5 tricks of the trade:

1. Designate a certain amount of time to a particular project.  When the time is up move on to the next project or task.
2. Maximize your time out of the office. If you picking up dry cleaning stop by the bank while you are out.
3. Utilize the ‘multi-story’ house principle.  When you leave a room, it is best to bring something with you that need to go into another room that you will be passing.  You will cut down the number of trips you make up and down the stairs.
4. Work on what has to be done first. Don’t waste time worrying about projects that are not due now.  Expend that time on the project that must be completed first.
5. Be sure to give yourself some breathing space.  When things are stressful, just get away from your workspace.  It may be a good time to go for a walk, have a cup of coffee or just relax for fifteen minutes.  When you return, you will be surprised how smoothly things will flow.

5.5.        Learn to live with imperfection.  Family members may have to chip in more, dinners may be more take-out than gourmet, and you may have to give up Facebook or other hobbies you enjoy.  Learning to live with imperfect solutions helps you and those around you become more resilient and independent

From My Jewel Chest: “The fact is, your work life needs to have a pocket in the garment of your whole life”.  – Millie Szerman, Author

Financially successful people aren’t lucky, or endowed with any special gift for making money.  But what they do have (besides hard work and persistence) is a skill set completely focused on being professionally successful.  You can create personal wealth. It’s possible to meet your financial goals.   These tips are the building blocks of success.

1. Begin with a good idea.
2. Develop a big compelling vision and a compelling story.
3. Define your bold money goals, and the lifestyle you want to have.  
4. Develop a wealthy and prosperous mindset.
5. Develop a clear strategy for the big vision, bold money goals and lifestyle.
6. Define your niche and marketing platform.
7. Build your business and personal brand based on your vision, strengths and expertise.
8. Build a dream team.
9. Build a community of raving fans.
10. Develop a one-to-many business model.
11. Automate and systematize.
12. Align yourself with opportunity.
13. Be willing to become a mentor and a protégé.
14. Build assets.
15. Expect the unexpected – plan for a crisis.
16. Keep abreast of trends and changes in your industry.

16.5.   Learn from yesterday, focus on today and prepare for tomorrow. “Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works.” — Thomas J. Peters Making money isn’t rocket science.  But it is hard work.  Too many people want to make more money and don’t do anything about it.  Besides having a dream, you must have a goal and be passionate about it, obtain specific knowledge, and create a timeline to make your dreams happen!  

From My Jewel Chest: Make a list of skills that you bring to the table.  You would do this if you were interviewing for a job with someone else’s company, so do it for yourself.