Are you a health and wellness coach who wants to know about health and wellness coaching prices – and more specifically, how to price your programs and packages?

This episode shows you exactly how to create yes-please pricing so that your coaching clients see your services as a no-brainer!

As a bonus, I’ve created a download for you – an Irresistible Pricing Guide – to help you take step-by-step action toward your goals.

Now, let’s talk about some steps to start thinking about and getting your pricing right. 

What Commands Price?

I’ve identified 9 things that affect pricing for a coaching business. They are:

1. People tend to buy from people who are similar to them
2. Around 90% of a buying decision is emotionally driven (think Rider and Elephant)
3. People spend on things that are aligned with their values
4. People buy to solve a problem or for pleasure – rarely for other reasons
5. People tend to buy things that are described in words and images that are familiar with them and which speak to the desired outcome
6. People pay more if the problem they want to solve is big, painful and urgent
7. People will buy what they consider to be value for money
8. Some people are price-driven and will make most or all buying decisions based on the lowest possible price they can get
9. People will only buy coaching services when they are ready, willing and able to change.

I’ve covered these in my irresistible pricing guide and what you need to do about them.

For the sake of this podcast, let’s assume you can clearly position your prices around the discretionary income of your niche, the problem they want to solve, and the value of what you can help them achieve through coaching.

A Health Coach Pricing Guide

How do you price your services as a health and wellness coach?

I am speaking directly to hourly rates pricing here because that’s where most coaches feel comfortable to start, usually coming out of an hourly rate job role and being familiar with this.

I will talk about packaging later in this episode, and about other pricing strategies in a future episode.

Based on the 9 factors affecting pricing that I’ve described, we know that lower income people, and people who are frugal, will pay less than those who earn more and who are prepared to spend on themselves for their own personal growth and wellbeing.

This is indicated if they spend on other health boosting services but possibly not if they put themselves last all the time (think about that one).

That aside, depending on which niche you service, most health and wellness coaches who are starting out will charge a lower session rate for either individuals or groups.

Most of them feel like charging lower rates until they’re more experienced – fair enough.

Coaches who’ve been in business longer, or who have a specialised area or other skill set or qualification, will generally charge a higher rate.

And if you package your coaching program with additional services and present raving testimonials and success stories, it becomes 300% easier to demonstrate the value of your services

Here is a quick guide:

You can see the relationship between price and experience, speciality and proof of success.

No matter how many years of experience or what your specialty, social proof is a critical factor in a buying decision and it’s something that even new coaches can get.

All you need is to be in the habit of collecting client feedback AND testimonials for every program you deliver, pro-bono or paid, and to ensure you publish it on your website and/or social media platforms, brochures and any other promotional materials like webinars.

Generally graduate health and wellness coaches in Australia, without another health related qualification, feel comfortable charging in the $30 – $70 per session range.

Those with another qualification or job-related experience such as training, teaching, project management etc will feel more confident and charge $60 – $100 as a starting point.

Also recognise that it takes time to build a presence and a client base, and you need to learn not only to serve them but to keep them buying from you for maintenance or consistency.

Assuming you can do that, then you should be able to earn $30K part time, or $100K full time, within two years, if your value proposition is strong enough.

That is, the reason why people buy from you – in the context of results your client typically get, and how important those results are to them.

With a strong value proposition, I had a six figure business within 18 months of delivering my signature program, in a tiny town where nobody knew me, and you can do this too.

Beyond the prices indicated, most coaches feel confident enough to raise prices within 2 years of starting.

I have two things to say on price:

1. The price you set dictates the quality of clients you attract
2. You can only ask for a price you feel comfortable with.

Let’s explore those.

I encourage you to get into the habit of thinking about value rather than price, and to set a price that is moderate and market-savvy, and offers value for money.

You may attract fewer people, but a higher percentage will be serious buyers who see the value in what you do and are committed to getting results.

Think of it this way – which type of person – the low cost or value based – is more likely to stick with their coaching program?

Which one is more likely to get better results?

Which one will have a more positive impact on your reputation, marketing, sales and referrals?

It’s a no brainer.

Goldilocks Pricing Method

To the second point, you can only ask for a price you feel comfortable with, so start where you are.

I developed the Goldilocks Pricing Method (in the guide) to help you get your pricing right – so that YOU feel comfortable asking for it, AND your clients feel happy to pay it.

When you set a price, check in with yourself and ask yourself how you feel about it:

• If it’s too high, you’ll be scared of asking for it, which will block you from promoting!
• If it’s too low, you’ll feel resentful and like it’s not worth it, which will either block you from promoting OR cause a lower quality client experience.
• If it’s just right, you’ll feel like it’s good value for money.

This is a no-brainer for you as the business owner – if you feel good about the price, you’ll be able to ask for it no matter what.

Here is an important point – right now, you might be set on a certain price or rate because that’s where you feel comfortable.

But imagine how you might feel if you stopped thinking about price, and more about the value of what you offer?

I bet the bar would move on your pricing – you’d feel more comfortable with higher pricing – or you’d get there sooner.

This is not about making a lot of money, it is about positioning value not just for your own services but for our industry as a whole. 

The more people who believe in the value of coaching and can talk about it and promote it, the faster we will be able to gain traction as an industry and create viable careers.

Confidence and Conviction

The #1 secret to feeling a sense of value and to create yes-please pricing, is to develop confidence and conviction in what you do, how you can help people, and the outcomes it can create.

The sooner you believe in this, the better.

I have a podcast on how to do this even if you don’t believe in yourself and your ability right now.

Packaging Health Coaching Services 

I want to talk briefly about a more advanced strategy to really create yes-please pricing – creating a coaching package.

This is where you take your basic coaching program, and add tangible, valuable assets to increase the perceived value of the program.

These assets could include worksheets, videos, booklets, guides or other resources, including physical resources, that will help your client to make lasting change, or to make habit change easier.

Another option is to blend coaching with another professional service that you offer – and I’ll be talking about that in a separate episode.

In either case the potential client can ‘see’ the tangible value and all the things they get as part of working with you, so it feels like more value than just the coaching program and conversation alone.

But in terms of yes-please pricing, it’s also what you call your packages that makes a HUGE difference.  

Imagine yourself as a customer, being offered an ‘8-week coaching program’ versus a ‘Results program’. Which one would you want to buy?

Now imagine there were three options with increasing value.

As a client, would you be more attracted to 8-week, 12-week or 6-month coaching packages (for example), or would you be more interested in a results, success or transformation package?

Summary

As you can see, there are a few ways to build value into your coaching business and to create yes-please pricing.

We talked about the nine factors that affect whether people will buy and what they will pay in a coaching business.

I discussed a guide to pricing your coaching program if you’re starting out and how that might change over time.

I mentioned how success stories are a secret to getting sales even if you’re a new client, because social proof commands respect and trust.

We covered the importance of good quality clients – which I call high chemistry clients – and also the Goldilocks Pricing method.

I mentioned how feeling a sense of confidence and conviction will help you sell anything, because you’re focusing on value rather than price.

And finally, we covered packaging your coaching program with tangible goods and/or another service you offer, and giving it a name that speaks to the results your clients will get.