Are you wondering if you should discount your prices?
Short answer: NO.
But seriously, if you are asking yourself right now: “Should I race to discount my rates because of x, y, or z reason” … I’m still going to say no.
Don’t do it!
I know you may have great reasons as to why you should discount…
…but don’t as your first response.
Here’s why:
1) Discounting can train people to never pay full price for your services, which will be detrimental for your business in the long run.
2) Discounting can take you from profitable to barely-scraping-by, and make it tough for you to support yourself as a coach.
3) Discounting can breed resentment in you as a coach, and tank your energy. It’s hard to do your best work if you feel like you are constantly underpaid, and that’s not good for you OR your clients.
Instead, let’s talk about concrete things that you can do that will make you feel good, and also let your business succeed!
But first, *why* are you discounting your coaching packages?
As coaches, we have to do the inner work before we can do the outer-work, no?
So, why are you discounting?
Is it:
—-> 1) Because you feel like you “should?”
—-> 2) Because someone told you to and you are blindly following advice?
—-> 3) Because you don’t feel like you are worth more?
—> 4) Because you are worried if you don’t no one will hire you?
—> 5) All of the above? Something else?
Let’s unpack these thoughts!
1) To the “shoulds” I say this: You own the business, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do!
2) To the people telling you to do something I say this: Don’t take random/bad advice without at least doing some research. Why is this person telling you to discount?
3) To your self-worth I say this: Why do you have this belief about yourself and your business? DIG DEEPER and do some self-coaching. How is this belief serving you?
4) To the worries that you won’t get clients I say this: Value is in how you communicate, how are you communicating your value? Also, this is an easily proven-wrong fear. Note some sales from our students recently…even during tough times.
5) And finally: We all have beliefs around money, and many of them drive behavior that can be detrimental to business.
So, take a second and dig in, with your best coaching hat on.
What are your specific money beliefs? How are they impacting your business right now?
What do you want to give yourself permission to let go?
Okay, awesome!
Now to the concrete help – let’s talk about ideas to consider before you rush to discount your services.
Idea 1: Offer a bonus or special session, without raising your rate.
This is an easy one to implement that won’t cost you anything. Instead of offering a big discount, why not offer an extra bonus session to help your client do something specific, or simply give them more runway or additional support as a part of your coaching package or program. This will feel like a value add to your clients, and can help you make sure you are getting them great results.
Idea 2: Give your clients relevant services or tools at no additional charge, to make their path forward easier.
So, if you are a career coach who normally doesn’t offer resume reviews, consider including that as a bonus (and do them yourself or hire out to another coach to do them for you). If you are a date coach you could offer an online styling session focused on how to look good on zoom dates. If you are a health coach you could gift an e-cookbook or even something more concrete like a Nutra Bullet as an extra. Get creative!
Idea 3: Offer an extended payment plan option, beyond what you currently offer.
While it’s a best practice to keep payment plans within the term of the coaching contract, it’s okay to extend them if that will make it easier for a client right now. So, if you were offering 10 sessions at $297 per month over a 6 month life coaching contract, you might extend it to something like $197 x 9 months, to lower the monthly payment and make your coaching more accessible to more people.
Idea 4: Consider offering a payment plan with no financing charge.
Normally the pay-in-full option is cheaper than the payment plan option as a way to encourage people to pay up front, and also help offset the additional credit card charges and admin that comes with any payment plan. Try offering a payment plan with no additional charges *for a short time* to make it easier for folks to say yes and make your coaching more accessible.
Idea 5: Offer a different refund policy for a short period of time.
For instance, offer to refund in full after a certain amount of sessions if the client isn’t making great progress, or hasn’t reached an agreed upon milestone. Do this if you feel like you can deliver some great results in a clear time period. Don’t do this if you don’t :).
Idea 6: Offer a shorter “jumpstart” package at a lower price.
Offer something that has enough meat and sessions that clients see clear results and get great value, but is not as much of a time commitment or expense as your regular package.
When times are tough, we carry a lot of mental anxiety, as well as cash anxiety. A shorter package can feel less mentally hard, and friendlier on the wallet, and therefore be an easier yes. Once folks complete the jumpstart you can encourage them to try your bigger program or service. Do this if you feel like your coaching can get your client somewhere concrete in less sessions. Don’t do this if you feel like clients need the whole package to really see the outcome they want.
Idea 7: Offer a group “pay what you can afford” session(s)/or one-time masterclass for those clients you connect with who really want and need help, but will not be able to afford any regular coaching.
If you are worried about folks who can’t afford any private coaching and want to offer help directly to them, consider a pay-what-you-can GROUP session. By doing an offer as a one-time group session, you leverage your time and make sure you maintain a good hourly rate, and also give your clients a feeling of some control. Do this if you are willing to offer a suggested rate and feel like you have a reasonable amount of people who might be interested in this offer (so you do end up with some profit for your time). As a helpful tip, at Coach Pony we use e-junkie when we offer pay what you can afford options on some of our smaller programs. It will let people choose what they want to pay, and you can set a minimum.
So, choose one or more of the above *before* you race to discount your prices.
Your business WILL thank you!
Now that you’ve got your pricing strategy down, how are you finding all of these amazing clients?
Do you know how to market your business? If not, watch this AMAZING free Marketing Masterclass. It’ll show you the 5 big Marketing Mistakes new coaches make, and how to avoid them so YOU get paying clients!