How to Price Your Coaching Services

Wondering how to price your coaching services? You’re not alone. Pricing your coaching services can be tricky.

You provide an amazing service to your clients. You deserve to get paid a rate that reflects your worth, but you don’t want to price your services so high that your ideal client can’t afford you.

Let’s unpack a few key factors you need to take into consideration when pricing your services.

Choose a Pricing Model

Pricing that helps you make money and attract your ideal client starts with choosing the right model. You might choose to charge your clients an hourly fee, monthly fee, or one-time fee. 

Hourly Coaching Prices

With an hourly model, you charge your clients a flat rate per hour. This can be a nice option when you are just starting out. 

You might not have enough experience or expertise to talk your clients into a monthly fee or an expensive package. An hourly fee can help you convert skeptical or hesitant clients into paying customers.

The downside with this option is that you have to be really organized. You’ll need to stay on top of payments and make sure that you get paid before providing your service.

Monthly Coaching Prices

Similar to hourly, a monthly model features a flat rate. Your client will pay you X dollars per month. With this model you can save time for both you and your client. Rather than sending reminders or invoices for every session you can send one monthly invoice.

This is a great way to automate your sales and provide a smooth experience for your clients. 

One point of caution with this model is to make sure you’re clear about how many sessions your client can expect in exchange for your monthly rate. This information should be obvious in your contract or written agreement.

Coaching Package Prices

Unlike hourly and monthly models, a coaching package features a one-time payment. With a package you are selling your clients more than just an hour of your time. Your coaching package will likely include workbooks, assessments, check-ins, or other bonuses that go beyond your coaching time.

A package is also a great way to make a larger sale. Because you are providing more than just a coaching session you can charge a higher rate. To learn more coaching packages, read my article How to Package Your Coaching Services

This model makes the sales process quick, painless and full of value! You don’t have to worry about sending invoices on time or having awkward conversations when payments are missed.

A potential downside with this option is getting your clients to follow through. Consider establishing a time frame in which the package must be concluded (i.e. A package of 12 coaching sessions will need to be concluded within 6 months).

Charge Your Value

Once you have a payment model in mind, it’s time to identify your rate. To determine your rate, consider how much the market can bear, what your services are truly worth, and how much you need to make to sustain your business.

What Can the Market Bear?

Where do you fit in the marketplace? That’s the first question you need to ask when formulating your rate. Would a rate of $75/hour put your pricing at the upper-end of your niche or would that be a screaming deal for your niche?

Take some time to consider what is an average rate for your niche. Got a rate in mind? Great, don’t forget to consider how your ideal client fits into the market.

Pro tip: Research other coaches in your niche. Find out what they are charging. Comparing your rates to that of other coaches in your niche can be a great way to determine if you are charging too much or too little for your services!

What the market can bear is not the only factor to keep in mind here. A key component of determining where you fit in the marketplace is the financial position of your target market. Take a moment to envision your ideal client. Can they afford your rate?

For example, if you’re a health coach who works with CEO’s of fortune 500 companies, your client might not think twice about a rate of $200/hour. On the flip side, if you’re a health coach that helps single moms take control of their fitness your rate of $200/hour would likely be unbearable.

What is Your True Worth?

For coaches who are just starting out, be sure to stick within a reasonable price range. The more experience and client success you get, the more you can charge. For now, determine a rate that makes sense for you and your client!

New coaches typically charge about $50-75 per session. In order to determine what you should be charging, there are a few key factors to consider.

1. Do you have relevant experience or education that makes you a more qualified coach?
2. Do you have a certification or training experience that is relevant to coaching?
3. How sought after are you for your expertise as it relates to your niche?

The more education, experience and training you have the more you can charge. Similarly, you can charge a higher rate depending on how sought after you are for your expertise and coaching services. 

Take a moment to work through the questions above. After considering the value you bring to your coaching practice, move on to crunching the numbers.

How Much Do You Need to Make?

You have a good idea of what the market can bear and what your services are truly worth.

You worked hard to become a coach, and it’s possible to use your skills to make a living! Let’s look at what it’s going to take to run a profitable coaching business.

Start with the end in mind. What would you realistically like to make in the next 12 months? Take a moment to calculate how many clients you will need to achieve the figure you came up with.

Depending on the model you chose, you might need to calculate how many packages you need to sell, how many coaches sessions you would need to host, or how many clients you will need on a monthly basis.

Communicate your Pricing

Now that your pricing is nailed down, you’ll need to determine how to communicate your prices to potential clients.

This can be a bit of a contentious issue in the coaching industry. Some experts swear against publishing your pricing. Others insist that it’s a necessary part of securing the sale. Ultimately, this decision comes down to personal preference.

You get to decide whether you want potential clients to have this information up front or if you prefer to explain your pricing during a sales call.

Free Discovery Calls

Speaking of sales calls, offering potential clients a free Discovery Call is an ideal place to discuss pricing. A Discovery Call gives you the opportunity to display your value and convince your client that your service is perfectly priced.

It’s no secret that coaching is an investment. When you post pricing on your website you run the risk of inducing sticker shock. A Discovery Call gives you the time and space to present your pricing with more context.

Use Discovery Calls to address fears, concerns, or confusion in real time and convince your potential client that you are the coach for them.

Know When to Increase Your Rate

After you’ve been in business for a while, you can start to think about increasing your prices. You’ve proven that you can get results. You have more experience and expertise than when you started, and you’re more in demand than ever.

Think about it this way: more demand + increased value = higher prices

More established coaches like you can typically charge $150-500 per session. Here’s how to know when it’s time to raise your prices:

• You are 75% to 80% booked out
• Your value has increased – You have more experience and possibly even more education or training than when you first started
• You are an expert in your niche – Your courses, books, and speaking engagements have established you as an authority in your field

How to Increase your Rate

What if you’re not new to this whole coaching thing? In that case, it might be time to raise your prices.

The first step in raising your prices is to inform your clients. If you charge your clients on a monthly basis, let them know you are raising prices and their next invoice will be higher than usual. You will also want to inform any potential clients that may have a proposal or quote that contains your old pricing. 

Pro tip: You can “grandfather in” your existing clients into your old pricing as a way to boost longevity in your coaching relationship. Think of it as a way of thanking long-term clients for their loyalty. This can also be an effective way to lock in sales with potential clients. Create some urgency by giving potential clients a deadline to lock in your old pricing.

Once your clients are aware of the changes in your pricing, consider adding more to your packages. Adding new elements to your package offerings is a great way to showcase your value and offer something fresh and exciting to your clients.

New elements could be a new workbook, eBook, exclusive access to a course, or even entrance to an event. Get creative and have fun adding new elements to your packages!

Your Turn!

You’re already ahead of the game with the knowledge you’ve gained through this article. No random guessing or throwing metaphorical spaghetti at the wall when it comes to pricing your services.

You’ve put time and energy into crafting a rate that will help you build your business and serve your clients well. You’ve considered your value, researched similar coaches in your niche, and taken the marketplace into consideration. 

You also know how to communicate your prices and when to raise your rates. All that’s left to do is get out there and confidently sell your services!

Still wondering what exactly to charge? Take The Coach School Perfect Rate Quiz here.