Latest / Burning Brightly / 118. How to Create a Coaching Program People Actually Want to Buy

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118. How to Create a Coaching Program People Actually Want to Buy · Burning Brightly

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  Most new coaches spend weeks or even months building a coaching program before they ever sign a client.
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  I don't want that for you.
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  I want you to make money as you're building your coaching program and perfecting it as you help people If you're a Latter-day Saint or another woman of faith feeling called to build a business, welcome.
• 0:16
  I'm Bonnie Wiscombe, and each week we'll combine faith and practical business strategy to help you answer that calling with confidence.
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  This is Burning Brightly.
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  I wanna start off by giving you a metaphor of how we're gonna build this coaching program.
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  Imagine someone asks you to plan a road trip for them, but they don't tell you where they wanna go.
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  Instead, they wanna know what roads to take, what to pack, how long the trip will be, and where they're gonna stay for the night.
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  This is exactly what happens when coaches start by asking, "What should I include in my program?"
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  before they actually decide the destination that they are taking their clients to.
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  So today I'm gonna teach you how to choose the destination for your people, how to map that route of how to get them there, how to pack what you will need, metaphorically speaking, decide what the journey is worth,
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  price it, give the trip a name, and then finally deliver it and take people on that journey Okay, here is the most important thing that you need to know and the mistake that most coaches make.
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  Your coaching program is not a collection of Zoom calls or worksheets or training videos.
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  It is a bridge from the before, where they are right now, to the after, where you're taking them.
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  It is a destination, okay?
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  Your job is to take them from where they are right now, the before, the part that is causing them pain, to the place where they desperately want to be.
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  Every decision you make for your coaching program should be based on that bridge.
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  It should make it feel clear, achievable, and worth the money that you are charging.
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  So I'm gonna show you how to build this bridge for people instead of just giving them a bunch of coaching calls.
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  Number one, where are you taking them?
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  Everything starts here, my friends.
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  What is the transformation you are promising?
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  What problem are you solving?
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  What result are you offering them that would make them say, "That was worth every penny I paid and every minute I spent with that coach"?
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  I want you to get very, very specific.
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  Here are a few examples.
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  Instead of saying, "I help women become more confident in their bodies," not measurable, kind of nebulous.
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  You say, "I help women lose 20 pounds without counting calories."
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  Now the overall result is they're gonna feel more confident in their body, but they're gonna be able to measure this result If they can't measure it, neither you nor the client will ever know if you've gotten them the
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  result Now, not every coaching transformation will be quite that specific.
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  Let's take a relationship.
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  It's a little bit harder to measure a relationship improvement, but you still can.
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  How about I'm gonna help you go from being in a marriage where you feel like you never talk to your spouse to one where you prioritize weekly dates and really enjoy being in each other's presence, okay?
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  A little bit less measurable, except they have those weekly dates, and both parties in the relationship can determine whether or not they enjoy being in each other's presence.
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  So decide what the transformation is and what does it look like specifically.
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  If you told a stranger on the street, "I give people this transformation, it's gonna look like this," would they be able to say, "Oh, I know what that looks like"?
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  Or does it involve words like clarity and confidence and finding their best selves?
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  You want it to be specific Okay, so once we've decided where we're taking people on this journey, then we have to map the journey, and this is where we do get specific with the steps.
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  What has to happen on this journey for the person to go from before to after?
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  Break it into milestones.
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  All right?
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  So if I drive from where I live in Phoenix to San Diego, I'm gonna first hit a couple of small towns in Arizona, and then I'm gonna hit the border to California, and then I'm gonna pass through a
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  couple of towns I'm familiar with in California, and then I'm gonna get to San Diego.
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  There are specific gas stations I wanna stop at, maybe a rest stop or two if I need to stretch my legs or use the bathroom, There are specific milestones along that path.
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  What are the milestones along the transformation you're giving your people For me, it looks like something like this.
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  I help my clients create What I call a positioning statement, who they help, what they help them with, and what the result looks like, Then I help them create their own offer, and then I teach them how to
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  sell it, and then they go out and sign their first client.
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  So these are the milestones they're going through.
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  At any time, I could hop on a coaching call with one of my clients, ask them a few questions, and determine exactly where they are on that transformational journey because I have specific steps I take them through.
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  this is what I like to call your coaching framework.
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  If you don't have a framework yet, take a few minutes and sketch it out.
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  You're not making lessons, you are making milestones, a roadmap from here to there Now the cool thing about the framework is that it gives your clients confidence that you have a path for them, that you're not gonna show
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  up on a coaching call and just say, "Well, what do you want coaching on today?"
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  You're gonna say, "The next step in my framework is this, and we're gonna work on it together."
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  Now, that doesn't mean that we're not flexible.
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  Sometimes my clients need a lot more work creating their offer than they do selling it, or maybe they need a lot more time nailing down their positioning statement than they do creating their offer.
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  Fine, we spend more time on that, but I still follow the same framework.
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  The other thing that's important to know is that I want you to share this framework regularly with people on social media, in your emails, on your long form content, whether that's a podcast or YouTube video or Substack or
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  whatever.
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  Don't gatekeep this framework because again, the more you tell people about it, the more confidence they gain that you can help them on this path.
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  Obviously, they're gonna still need your help to get through the path.
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  They're still gonna need your guidance on the road trip.
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  But please tell them what the steps are so they know what to expect when they hire you Now, once we have mapped the journey for them, then we're gonna decide what they need along the way.
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  Now that we have the framework, we decide how we show up, what kind of logistics are involved in this coaching program.
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  This is the third step instead of the first, right?
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  We're gonna say, "What makes this feel valuable?"
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  Or, "What actually is going to help my client succeed?"
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  I'm gonna give you some suggestions of tools you can use, but please don't use all of them.
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  We'll talk more in just a second about how to make it simple versus complex.
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  But a few options you can include: weekly coaching calls; accountability check-ins; templates for whatever tools they might need, maybe meal plans or email templates or something like that; feedback on their offer or other things they're creating; a community
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  with peers other clients of yours that are going through the same transformation; or some sort of daily support, like Voxer or Marco Polo.
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  Now, you might choose to put a couple of these different tools in your coaching program.
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  You might only choose to put one in there, or maybe one that's not even on the list.
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  But resist the urge to add things just to make your offer feel bigger.
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  Remember, we're not selling these tools.
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  We're not selling the logistics of the program.
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  We're selling the transformation, and in the end, the person who can give the transformation the quickest with the least amount of work wins.
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  Now, would I rather pay for a coaching program that helps me lose 50 pounds in three weeks with very little work, or that helps me lose 50 pounds in 13 weeks with all these tools and videos and feedback?
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  I want the one that's faster and requires less work from me.
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  So when we think sometimes we're delivering lots of goodies, the clients think, "That sounds like a lot of work."
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  So resist adding things to make it feel more valuable.
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  If you feel like it's not valuable enough, do your own mindset work to acknowledge that your transformation is worth what you're charging, and more on that in a second.
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  In my group program, for example, I offer my clients prerecorded training videos, which are very short and to the point.
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  They're just the basics of how to get a coaching business started, and then they also get weekly live coaching calls with me where they can ask me questions, get feedback on what they're working on, and then they can
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  also get feedback in the community at any time.
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  That's it, those three things, and people pay me every month for that program.
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  It's always easier to add additional support if you feel like your clients need it than to subtract something that overwhelms you.
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  Because if you build this big, bloated program, and then you feel overwhelmed and like you can't fulfill it all, it becomes really tricky to start taking things away from people who bought a program that had those things included.
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  so decide what they need along that journey but do so very simply, and focus on the end transformation, not on the steps along the way.
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  Next step, we're gonna put a price on this transformation or on this road trip.
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  This is where the brain starts to get a little dramatic sometimes.
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  A lot of coaches want to base their price on the hours it takes them, right?
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  "Well, it took me 40 hours to give this woman a transformation to help her coach through her problem.
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  I'm gonna charge $20 an hour."
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  Or they base their pricing a little bit on fear.
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  "I don't know if anybody will buy that.
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  I don't know if anyone can afford that.
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  That feels expensive."
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  Or they base it on what they see other coaches charge.
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  "Well, Susie only charges $300 for her whole program, so I guess that's all I can charge."
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  Instead of using those motivators, I want you to ask yourself this: What is this transformation worth?
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  And I guarantee you the transformation is worth more than what your brain wants to charge.
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  Let's say you ask yourself, "What is the transformation of improving my marriage worth?"
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  I think it's worth thousands, because it's a lot cheaper than a divorce.
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  It feels way better than never talking to my husband or never making time for him, right?
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  It's, it's very, very valuable.
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  But if your brain resists charging the amount that you think it's worth, there are ways to ease into it.
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  You can always start with beta pricing, okay?
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  I'm a big fan of starting a program, a brand-new program, at a low price.
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  And you can make it sound really appealing.
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  Instead of saying, "I'm brand new at this.
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  I don't know what I'm doing," you say, "You have the privilege of getting in on the ground floor of this program the first time I'm offering this.
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  You're gonna have the closest access to me.
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  You're gonna get lots and lots of results.
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  And it's only this amount of dollars," And then plan to drastically increase that price as you gain confidence and client testimonials.
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  Gaining testimonials is really, really useful because it gives you some street credit All of a sudden, you have people you've given results to, and you can use those on your sales pages or in your sales conversations to prove
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  to people that this transformation is valuable.
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  And of course, you can always, and I highly recommend, you always increase your prices as your confidence and your results grow.
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  Please do not shortchange yourself because guess what?
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  You're not just shortchanging yourself, you're shortchanging your clients.
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  How much do we value coaching that is not priced very high?
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  We value it about as much as the price tells us to, When I go buy a hamburger at McDonald's, I value it at about three or four dollars, 'cause that's what it's worth.
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  When I go buy a nice deluxe burger at the nicest hamburger place in town, I value it much higher because I know the quality is better.
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  So as your quality improves, as you work with more clients, please increase your prices accordingly.
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  And if you have mindset drama on this, find a coach to coach you through it or come join me in my membership and I will help you.
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  Remember, people are not paying for six or twelve coaching calls.
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  They are paying for what those calls make possible for this incredible transformation that you are offering them.
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  And the clearer you can get on that transformation, the more valuable the time with you will be If you still struggle with price, ask yourself this.
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  What are people already paying to solve this problem?
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  What would it be worth it to them if you could help them solve it forever?
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  Some of us struggle with weight loss or relationship issues or business drama forever.
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  If you could solve the problem once and for all, what would that be worth?
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  Think about that for a little bit side note, if you haven't had your first five clients yet and you want them now to gain experience, make some money, and get some of those testimonials I'm talking about, download my
• 10:40
  free three-step training to get those first or next five clients without any technology.
• 10:45
  It just takes a few minutes to go through, and then You'll start finding the right people online and having simple conversations with them and getting those five clients to boost your confidence and your expertise.
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  The link is in the description below Now that we've priced our transformation, we're going to give our journey or our coaching program a name.
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  Now, your program's name should reinforce that destination.
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  It should jog people's memories that, "Oh, that's right, I paid for this transformation that's coming."
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  Instead of naming it after yourself, which most of us probably aren't comfortable with anyway, name it after the transformation.
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  A few examples from my own program are The Client Magnet Path.
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  That's pretty obvious what that is, first Five Clients, pretty obvious.
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  Another example would be Launch With Confidence.
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  You have a general idea of what I'm selling there, right?
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  A good name helps people instantly understand where you are taking them, and it should be short and memorable.
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  Remember, it is better to be clear and memorable than to be clever.
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  So a lot of us wanna be really cutesy with our name, but then it becomes impossible to remember, And it may not even explain what you're doing.
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  So choose clear over clever.
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  And then once we have named our program, guide people through it.
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  This is the delivery part.
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  And after you deliver it, improve it.
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  Deliver it again, improve it again.
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  Deliver, improve, deliver, improve, forever until you have the best coaching program in the world.
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  This is where perfectionists struggle.
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  I want to give you permission.
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  Here is me handing you permission to relax.
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  Your coaching program is not perfect, nor will it ever be, because perfection doesn't exist.
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  The first version will be a little bit of a hot mess.
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  That's okay.
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  It does not have to be perfect or even close to perfect for you to help people.
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  It just has to work.
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  It just has to get them a little bit of a transformation.
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  As you coach people, take notes on where they get stuck.
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  What takes longer than you anticipated?
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  Where in your framework do you need to streamline some things?
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  Do you need to spend more time on this step versus this step?
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  Do you need to ask more questions about this?
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  Do you need to coach more on the mindset of this step?
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  Take notes and pay attention.
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  You're gonna start to see patterns come out as you coach four, five, 10, 20 people.
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  You're gonna start noticing that a lot of people struggle with the same things over and over.
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  And then you keep simplifying your framework.
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  Don't make it more complicated, but you also refine it into the best possible version, and then you repeat it.
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  I love to find analogies with parenting in my business all the time, and building a coaching program is really similar to parenting one child, and then you have a second child, and you get to try it all over
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  again.
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  And then you have a third child, and you get to try it all, all over again.
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  And each child is very, very different and has different struggles, different challenges, and different strengths and talents.
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  But a lot of the tactics and tools are the same.
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  That's what you're gonna do with each client.
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  Oh, I've noticed that a lot of them have different struggles and talents, but they all need this, and they all need this, and they all need this.
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  So give yourself permission to start messily.
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  Charge very little at the beginning if that helps you sleep at night.
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  If not, charge your full price.
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  If you know you can get them the transformation, charge your full price and get going.
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  Start learning Remember that the best coaching program that you could possibly build will be built with your clients along the way, not before you ever have one.
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  The longer you take to create this program before actually getting your first few clients, the longer you will take to make money and to help change people's lives.
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  So just get started today.
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  And the goal isn't to create the perfect program.
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  It's to create a program that helps people change, that gives them results, and makes them have a better life.
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  Make sure you get lots of feedback from these clients.
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  But also remember that not everyone is a representative sample of your clients.
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  Sometimes people will just be unhappy, or sometimes people will be overly happy and think you did everything perfectly.
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  Instead, listen to the whole and take notes and listen for patterns of what people are saying.
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  "Oh, I could have used more time here," or, "This part was a little bit too fast for me," or, "This part was just perfect."
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  Okay?
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  Lots and lots of feedback the biggest mistake I see coaches make is waiting until everything is polished and perfect and every lesson recorded before they start selling.
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  Please don't even record anything before you start coaching, because I guarantee you, you will start to create a program, maybe pre-recorded modules or videos or whatever, and you will start coaching people and realize that's not actually what they
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  need at all.
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  'Cause what you think they need up here in your head, is actually a lot different than what they actually need.
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  So teach people, coach people, tweak it, tweak it some more, and then start implementing more and more resources Your coaching program isn't a masterpiece that you unveil one day.
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  It is a living framework that gets stronger every time you help someone through it Focus on that destination, focus on helping people, and your coaching program will naturally evolve through that practice.
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  And as a reminder, if you haven't had your first five coaching clients, click the link in the description to get my free training.
• 15:10
  It's just three simple steps on how to find your ideal clients online, have simple conversations with them, and convert them into paying clients that then help you build the best coaching program you possibly can.
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  Talk to you next time, my friends.