How to decide how much to charge for online coaching

What to know how much to charge for online coaching? Maybe you’ve previously been offering coaching in-person and are moving your business online. Or maybe you are new to coaching and not sure what you should be charging for your services. Whether you are a freshly qualified coach, or you’ve been coaching for years it can be hard to know what to charge for the service you provide. Keep on reading to find out how much to charge for online coaching. 

 

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When it comes to pricing, the rate online coaches charge varies drastically within every type of coaching niche. And if you’ve either had a look at other businesses in your niche or been googling for advice on setting your coaching rate you’ll likely be more confused than when you originally started out.

 

The fact is that there is no rule about what you can and can’t charge for online coaching. As a business owner you get to choose and without knowing more about your brand, your positioning and your target market I can’t make a specific recommendation about what you should be charging for your online coaching.

 

However, here are 3 things you need to keep in mind when deciding how to  charge for your online coaching.

 

HOW TO DECIDE HOW MUCH TO CHARGE FOR ONLINE COACHING

 

1. Your pricing should be set so that you can run a profitable coaching business (and that includes paying yourself properly)

 

The first thing you need to think about when deciding what to charge for your online coaching services is what you need to charge as a minimum in order to have a profitable coaching business. All too often I come across coaches who have set their rates too low and even if they managed to get to being fully booked they still wouldn’t be able to have a profitable coaching business after they had paid themselves. I talk about this more in ‘How to set your prices to achieve your financial goals.’ 

 

You need to ensure that your pricing is set so that you can pay yourself properly, pay all the expenses associated with running the business and still make some profit. And ideally you want to be able to do all of that within the amount of hours you feel comfortable or happy working.

 

In order to work out what to charge for online coaching you’ll need to know a few things

1) How many hours you’d like to work

2) How many hours you can commit to coaching

3) How much money you’d like to pay yourself

4) How much money it costs to run your business

 

Number 2 is very important. One of the main reasons that coaches get their pricing wrong is because they base their pricing on the number of hours they can work in total, rather than the number of hours they can be working with coaching clients. In some cases the difference is big. Say you want to be working a maximum of 30 hours per week. That might only leave you with 12, 15 or 20 hours for coaching, once you also consider the time you’ll need to commit to marketing, sales, admin, operations, finances etc.

 

Once you are clear on all of those numbers you’ll be able to work out what is the minimum you can charge for your coaching. Now I’m not suggesting that you charge the minimum, but understanding what your minimum rate is means you can ensure when working through the other steps that you always set your pricing so you have a profitable business, and a business that is properly paying you.

 

OVERWHELMED WITH THE NUMBERS AND WANT HELP TO ENSURE YOUR SERVICES ARE PRICED PROPERLY?  I offer Pricing Power Hours where I will help you to quickly and confidently set, or reset, your coaching prices. You’ll leave confident that all the number crunching has been done correctly and you’ve set your prices to ensure financial success for your business and you. To find out more and book a Pricing Power Hour click here.

 

2. Your coaching rates should be set at a price your ideal client can afford, and is willing to pay for online coaching.

If you want to have a successful coaching practice then you’ll need to be signing clients. From previous research you might have an idea about the range of rates within your coaching niche. It is easy to get excited and decide to set your rates at the higher end of the range. Whilst setting a high price might feel great in terms of the money you could potentially make, you have to ensure that your pricing is set at a level your ideal client can afford and is willing to pay for coaching.  It is important to note there is a difference between what someone can afford and what someone is willing to pay. You might have a good understanding of the financial situation of your ideal client so you know they can afford you, but just because someone can afford a certain price, doesn’t mean they’ll pay that amount.

The only way to know if someone is willing to pay the price you are charging is to ask them and see what their response is. And ideally this should be a genuine ask, not an ask during market research. It is easy for someone to say hypothetically that they would pay X amount for online coaching, but then if you asked them to physically pay they might give a different response. Also, just because a competitor has rates on their website don’t assume that they are signing clients and definitely don’t assume they are signing clients at the advertised price.

 

3. Your pricing should feel like a fair exchange for you and your clients

By this point you should know what you need to charge as a minimum in order for you to run a profitable coaching business and you should be aware of what your ideal client is willing to pay. Hopefully your ideal client is willing to pay more than minimum. So you now have your parameters, but you are still left with the issue of what you should charge.

 

At this stage you should be considering what rate would mean it is a fair exchange for your service. If you want to build a profitable coaching practice for years to come then you should be aiming to provide a high service, at a fair price so clients feel they got good value for money. This will help ensure you have happy clients who work with you further and / or recommend you to other people.

 

I’m very aware that fair exchange is subjective and so when you first start you’ll have to use your judgement. Your rate should be set at a point where you are happy to work at that price and that your client feels they are getting good value for money. Since fair exchange is subjective I highly recommend that as part of your offboarding process you ask about whether they felt they got good value for money. If a number of clients are negative about the value for money this is a sign to relook at your pricing.

 

 

That’s it. You now know how to decide how much to charge for online coaching.

 

Knowing what to charge for online coaching can be tricky. As previously mentioned pricing is subjective so the best thing to do is work out what you as a business owner need your rates to be above, set your prices above that rate and then pay attention to how people respond to your rates both potential clients and existing clients once they’ve finished working with you.

 

Unfortunately, pricing isn’t one of those things that only needs to be decided on once. You don’t get to set your prices once and then they stay the same forever. You should be reviewing your prices on at least an annual basis.

 

I hope you’ve found this blog post helpful. Let me know in the comments what your biggest takeaway was or if you have any further questions.

 

WANT TO GROW A THRIVING ONLINE COACHING BUSINESS THAT GIVES YOU THE MONEY AND TIME TO LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE?  Setting your prices is just the beginning of creating a thriving and profitable online coaching business. Once you’ve set your prices you’ve got to have a robust marketing strategy to ensure the right people become aware of your service, and that they buy! I’m a Chartered Marketer that specialises in supporting coaches who are looking to grow their business strategically so they can live the life of their dreams. To find out more about my 1:1 business and marketing mentoring programme click here And to discuss your precise needs book a free, no-obligation, introduction call to discuss your business here.