What should you offer inside your coaching practice, and what prices should you charge your clients? Those are the biggest questions I get from new and seasoned health coaches – and I thought it was high time to answer these questions so your packages and prices reflect the value you provide your clients.
In today’s episode, Michelle Ellis is back on the Healthy Hustle podcast to talk about how to charge your worth so you can grow a sustainable health coaching business. We cover topics like what to include in your packages, why you need to dish out the nitty-gritty details of your offer, and how to price your coaching rates competitively.
Rachel: Hey there, we are diving into pricing and packaging your offers. I asked my good friend Michelle Ellis, who works with me to come and join me for this episode because I think two brains are sometimes better than one. So Michelle, can you just introduce yourself and tell everyone a little about you?
Michelle: So I’ve been a copywriter for going on nine years. I work a lot with health coaches and people in the health and fitness and holistic niche. It’s been really awesome helping them make their impact in the world when it comes to people’s health because I started out as a health coach. So I love just getting to be a part of that the marketing aspect and seeing them move their business forward because that means more people get impacted and their lives change, which is why I got into health coaching to begin with.
Rachel: Let’s dive into the pricing, which I know everyone wants to hear because this is one of the biggest questions people ask me is, what do I include in my coaching practice? What do I include in that transformation? And what’s the price?
So let’s talk about how essential it is to think carefully about what you’ve included in a package to be able to equate that value. Because a lot of coaches will just say, Oh, I’m going to include four sessions that month, but they’re not including what is that step by step transformation. So they’re having a difficult time getting past the imposter syndrome of pricing, but really also stepping into that place where you’re thinking your ideal client, what’s going to make them spend that money?
Why You Need To Know Your Base Hourly Rate
Michelle: Also you should know the results that you’re promising from your coaching. What’s so important and often overlooked when it comes to pricing and packaging is the time spent. That is also not listed. So, I remember when I first started health coaching that email follow up and having that communication outside of those sessions can be really long. Sometimes that’s two hours within that month or something, it’s completely unaccounted for.
It’s really important to know, at least your base hourly rate, what you really want to get paid so that you can then when you’re packaging it all figure out how much time you’re actually spending and a lot of that time appropriately with you.
Rachel: One of the biggest things I’ve seen coaches implement –I know I started to do it myself when I was feeling extremely burned out in coaching because you only have so many hours in the day and you only have so much time for follow up. You to leverage and be able to either leave that job that you wanted to leave or make this a full-time gig. You really have to make the money you need.
One of the tricks is to actually look at your packaging with one-on-one almost an automation. So I started to –instead of during the week, say, okay, so I’ll see you in two weeks, and just have email back and forth email back and forth–I made sure I was sending two emails a week. Tthat became a standard for that type of client for that type of program.
Michelle: A lot of that also has to do with health coaches having the resources that you’ve created as far as programs because years ago, just coming out of nutrition school, we didn’t have that. At least in my experience, I was just getting a ton of different handouts and trying to decipher it, there was no real program.
How To Package Your Offerings Sustainably
Rachel: The hardest thing is you’re trying to figure out what is my coaching flow. When I came out of school, I was like, oh, yeah, someone’s gonna pay me $115 an hour. I’m gonna give them handouts. But they were so far past the handout, and that’s why I got frustrated and started to create my programs for Rachel’s Wellness.
I will never forget a client that I was seeing who lived in my neighborhood. I was seeing her and her family. They were a client and she went and bought this five-day detox and I told her I could have put these recipes together for her. But she’s like, I know but it just looks so pretty. It was just so easy to grab. And it was at that moment that I was like, I better include these things in my packages so that I can charge more, so that I can make sure that I don’t have to go back to a job that I didn’t want to be at anymore. I started packaging my offers with programs and very specific details on what that chat support throughout the month looks like.
That’s what’s so great about having different programs to figure it all out. It goes back to, what’s your niche? And having that signature program and being able to package that into your services. Because it’s super important for people to feel like they have a plan and you’re not just flying by the seat of your pants. You know what’s going to come up the next session, or what you’re working on. It actually helps to see the results and structure,
How A Structured Offer Helps You Write Your Website
I think it helps to structure the coaching sessions, whether you’re working one on one or in a group. When you’re thinking about packaging, what are things that you have told your clients to look to create? Or they explained to you and you end up putting the words together? Because you’ve written countless work with me pages so you’re thinking about packaging and offers.
Michelle: Even just recently, I had written a work with me page for a new coach. They didn’t know what they were offering, there was nothing there. I’m just like, well, I’m trying to write the page. So I had specific questions, how many sessions is it per month? How long is it? Is it 90 days? Is it six months? Are you offering any type of Facebook group support or Voxer support or WhatsApp? Email support? What are you doing here? How long are these sessions? Because people want to know what they’re buying and where their investment is going.
Give Details Of What You Offer Clients
Rachel: I learned over time to really detail this package is for you. If you have the following issues with this package, then really getting down and gritty. You will get access to a guide, X amount of pages based on my x method, or based on my X signature blueprint, or gut health or for hormone health, whatever that signature program is offering whatever that transformation is. But I made sure I would say X amount of recipes as soon as they get on the sales page.
Michelle: I think that’s so important, especially coming from that health coaching experience. Clients want to know what to do. So often you go to the doctors and they tell you what you should do, and then you are left figuring it out, you’re not getting a nutrition plan, you’re not getting meals, or groceries or anything that. You’re kind of left to fend for yourself a bit.
Whereas a coach comes in and has a step by step plan. I’m even going to show you how to makeover your kitchen or your pantry and eat these types of foods. That’s a level of coaching that clients need to get the results that they want. And then also figuring out you’re packaging, how much of you are you giving? What does that look like?
People do want to feel supported during that whole process. Otherwise, they would just get a book and try to do it themselves. Instead, they can look forward to every Friday, I have a meeting with my health coach andI know these are the issues that I could bring up. And that’s so important to feel that level of support.
Pricing Your Rates
So I think knowing what kind of experience you want to give your clients is really what it boils down to and how much support you want to provide. I think that would help health coaches, once they decide that package and once they know their hourly rate. Price that accordingly because then you can decipher how to time yourself.
Rachel: I always think hourly rate is extremely important because a lot of people will do workshops that they’re getting paid for. So it’s really important to know what you’re going to charge for that workshop and speaking. How long is that going to be?
You need to know your hourly rate to come up with VIP days, which are really fun days where you’re working with somebody for four to six hours. I loved doing them. They were people that wanted to come in, clean out their pantry, go to Whole Foods, cook or have their coaching experience all packed into one day, which was so much fun and great for families great when in a bunch of people.
It’s important to know that and also the thing that you pointed out that I just wanted to circle back to is knowing what the duration of that offer is one more packaging. There are some people that do single sessions. It’s not the bread and butter. It’s not what we’re expecting.
Brendon Bouchard even teaches high performance coaches, they want to have a single session, a 60 or 90-minute session as an entry point. Because that person will be so wowed. If you’re in the beginning of your coaching, we feel that insecurity, we’ve got money mindset stuff that comes up. We haven’t had success with clients. We’ve probably had success with a ton of different family members. If you haven’t already, reach out to them and get their testimonials if you’ve helped anyone, friend, family, etc.
In the beginning that I had that low-cost offer that was a single session, and I knew my goal was to upsell them to my higher touch, higher ticket, which was a three-month program. But I also had a 28-day program that I did, as a do-it-yourself and two sessions. So somebody would get that win because I knew from my ideal client, they needed to have my support in some way, especially with gut issues, with detoxification issues, autoimmune. Why sell it just as a do it yourself? Why not include two sessions? All of the sudden packaging that made it a no brainer for somebody to say yes.
Michelle: It also really helps to provide clear results so that they can see that when they go to visit your work with me page. Where we went to school, it’s not their job to set up our business it’s just to educate us on nutrition, but without that knowing and all that took place and getting your business going, it was, Okay, well, now I got this website that was kind of given to me. The results were very general, it was not nice. It was like, you’re gonna get a holistic transformation, and you’re gonna learn how to eat healthier and feel great. That’s wonderful, but people really wanted the nitty gritty details of what they’re getting.
I always talk about coaching packages like going to a car dealer and looking at the base package to the sport. There are very different specifics in there, and you want to read what’s included package, because when we get into now pricing.
Breaking Down The Averaga Price Of Health Coaching Packages & Sessions
Rachel: Let’s talk about average price, I would say average price for a brand new coach that I see for an hour is usually $90. There is a definite general rule of pricing. I see novice coaches, at $1,000 program for three months, so $333 a month. I would say that the novice is in between $1000 to$ 2000.
Michelle: I remember going to school, and I was still doing both. I was copywriting and I was still doing some health coaching. But I was really scared to raise my rates. It was just that fear of, well, then, what if I lose out on the people that I want to help? And what if they don’t have the money? All those thoughts that come into play. Everyone was like, all these different coaches will be charged $150 an hour. But my mind couldn’t understand the concept.
Then they were like, we’ll sit down break up, how much time do you actually spend? It’s interesting because if you really calculate that there are some coaches out there that think they’re making $75-$90 an hour but the amount of time that they’re charging for their packet and what they’re spending for their follow up retainers.
Rachel: One of the reasons I love our recipes is becuase every client came to me for them., That’s why I always put what was included in that package. What is that transformation? What are those recipes that they’re getting?
I would spend hours going on Josh Axes website and there weren’t tons of recipes back then when I was coaching. At least for the person who’s typically eating a regular American diet. To hear even words that they can’t pronounce, it was just hard to really introduce them to it.
What I loved most even back then about the done for you ree programs was that there were different types. Clean eating meals, more basic ones. There was the detox plan and there was just so much to actually select from to be able to say okay, I love the idea of doing seasonal detoxes. I also love the clean eating revitalized type program. Being able to offer options to reach clients at different levels where they were at is great.
That’s the thing about pricing for coaches, Some charge $650 an hour plus some of them charging $90, who do tests and everything. But those coaches really believe in what they’re offering. And they make it very specific and they make sure that they are being time efficient, because if you’re charging a certain amount per hour, and then all of a sudden you’re putting in so much time after, it just sucks you up.
What To Think About When You Package & Price Your Programs
So before we get on to nitty gritty more about pricing, what would you say in conclusion, the biggest takeaway from packaging your programs?
Michelle: For packaging, know how much of yourself you’re putting into that package. Coaching sessions, client communication, any type of level of different types of support. What do you want to give them in exchange as well to help support them on their journey, whether that’s a certain number of recipes, different types of guides, it could be modules that maybe they’re watching, they get access to a membership area there’s a ton of different things that you can do. So it’s really a matter of what type of client experience you want to give them and the level of support from a coach that they need to actually stick with the program. Yeah, so defining that?
Rachel: It’s looking at your offer, sales page of what’s included. That person has to want to jump in and go to that next level with you. That’s why I love a low-cost offer. I love a high cost because it gives that person who may be on the fence a way to test drive you. But making sure that in a single session, you’re going over a distinct transformation, that you’re over this program, because and I always say for 60 minute sessions that, or 90 minutes, it’s so easy to do a seven-day program, so easy to do a 14-day program and go over that material.
You Need To Know The Transformation You’re Offering To Set A Valuable Price
Michelle: Even thinking it through the lens of going to a holistic doctor. I’ve paid big money for a one-hour session. To know that I’m going to walk away with some level of knowledge of what’s wrong with me, so that I can fix whatever this symptom is and have some type of solution whether it was floral essences, or certain probiotics or whatever. I knew what I was walking away with was going to help me. And then you continue going, if you still have issues, or you tackle one symptom at a time. It’s the same exact thing with the single sessions from a coach. If you can promise something that they can walk away, knowing that will help them feel a little even an ounce better.
Rachel: When I look at a low-cost offer, it’s an opportunity for somebody to come in and just get a taste of what it would be to like. It builds trust. You can say right away, I know you signed up for a 60 minute session, would you want to continue? Let me tell you what it would look to work with me for three months. This is what’s included. So that’s a totally different offer.
All a sudden I’m bringing value, I’m knowing what the transformation is that I’m offering. I know that system, that method. There are so many different ways to work with. With people you can price for your one-on-one, you can price for a container meeting, with people per month a mastermind container, you can do memberships. Let’s dive into pricing for groups. What is your rule of thumb for pricing for a group?
How To Price For Group Programs
Michelle: How I’ve always looked at it was really what I wanted to or needed to make on that offer for the amount of time. For example, let’s say it’s an eight-week group program and within that eight week period you need to make $10,000. Then you can break it up. That equals $5000 each month. How many people would I need to get into that program to make that? Then I would divide it by X amount of people and figure it out that way.
Also make sure it’s balanced with what I was giving and the amount of time that I was spending with them. So if I had to add anything, whether it was bonuses, or continue support after anything, that’s how I would typically do it. Really looking at from the angle, if you’re a full-time coach, what do you need to make? If you’re doing it part-time, maybe that would give you a little bit more wiggle room if you have a full-time job. I would say at least 1/3 of your coaching.
Rachel: This way, the prices are always relative, because it’s really based on that person’s pricing strategy. One of the examples that I have on my wall here, is doing a group coaching program at $97, which I would not suggest anything over 30 days. $97 is usually more of a 14 Day Program. $97 with 20 people is a goal of $1940. Upsell to $150 an hour. Three people out of those 20 take it. Then upsell to the three-month program at $500. I’ve had this at $591, which is cheap.
Why Upsells Are A Great Way To Keep Working With Clients
Michelle: That’s true too. Talking about that upsell, I remember many times even just as a copywriter doing programs with people, and then exceeding my own goals because people would reach out after. That was really great, you helped me get clear on my story. Can you write my website? It would be very similar to when you’re in health coaching business. Wow, this was really great. I really enjoy those group experiences, but now, I want a little bit more one to one time. So adding in the upsells is a great thing to mention because I don’t know if health coaches really look at it from that angle.
Rachel: We have to look at an upsell, always, as a brand new coach. As we’re up-leveling as a brand new coach, we just have to think if somebody wants to do a do-it-yourself, what is that next step? That’s an upsell. Let’s demystify marketing and look at, what does this mean? It means we are taking our ideal clients through a specific journey with a specific transformation, and in what time cannot be accomplished. So what we really look at our offers, I think that it is important for us always to think about.
Why Downsell Offers Can Work For You & Your Clients
I’m on a discovery call, what’s that next step? Is it a low-cost offer? Do you have more than two offers that are low cost? Some people have a membership. What would you say are the average is to do a down-sell? Where you’re actually going from that higher price to a down-sell?
Michelle: That’s also really important for that money mindset as well. Especially as health coaches. We just want to help people and sometimes even at our own expense. You just have that nature to want to help people, especially if they’re really suffering from symptoms.
What I’ve learned even as a copywriter is because my prices now are higher than they ever were before. For me, I look at it like there will be people I speak to that can afford to work with me. But I still always have a little mini offer, where it’s like, Oh, hey, I can still help you at this level and help get you started. That makes me feel good because I’m still helping this person, and they’re still getting some of the help that they need. They might have to meet me halfway and do some of the work too. But that’s always good to have something to be able to help someone with. So look at the down-sell opportunities of if they can afford your coaching or if they need a do it yourself.
Ideas & Things To Include In Your Packages
Rachel: The biggest thing about packaging is sweetening the deal. In my packages, I always gave a free gift and gave an extra two bonuses to my clients. One would be an essential oil, and another would be a skin brush or a tongue scraper. I would sign really cute little things.
Another thing that you can always do to sweeten a group program is give a 20-minute session for 20 people on a phone call to have an opportunity to build that trust, and to take them to the next offer.It’s pretty close to a free discovery session anyway. So really, it’s booking your calendar that you would want to happen so I think that that’s really important to always include.
When you’re doing a mastermind, it’s a little higher touch, but it’s in a group. So I’m seeing prices in masterminds at $497 a month, or even higher because you’re getting an hour session with that person in the month. You’re also getting two 30 minute sessions with group calls as well. So I would say that covers on average, just to conclude the pricing that you see a three-month program, typically for $1000 or$ 2000 for a novice coach?
Michelle: I would say that’s usually right in people’s comfort zone. The cool thing about being your own boss is that you can give yourself a raise. I always say, evaluate that every three months.
Rachel: Let me just say, if a coach is charging $550 an hour, I’m taking out my calculator guys. Let’s just say the month comes out to $1000. So we kind of have to look when we’re getting into that next stage, how many sessions are you including if it’s looking at $1000? Then you’re at a $3k program. If you want to add in that extra time to really give a buffer, I see coaches that are $3000+. At the end of my business, I was $2500 a month with a program that’s $7500.
Don’t Undervalue Your Services & Knowledge
Michelle: Health coaches have an abundance of certifications and knowledge. I see it all the time. Don’t underscore that. Every time you get a new certification, give yourself raised because that’s additional training. And to be honest, if you were in corporate and you were going above and beyond and getting all these different trainings and certifications, they would be giving you a raise.
Rachel: The biggest thing when we talk about that imposter syndrome is in the beginning, we’re scared to charge. I was charging $197 for the month and struggling, I don’t even know how I made 13k that first year. A lot of overwhelm, a lot of seeing people. But I was charging $197 a month.
It wasn’t until I really knew what I was offering in each package, who it was for, who was not for. You get to a point where you’re choosing. You know that somebody is not your ideal client, because doing the work with them is going to take you so much more time because you’re researching. It’s just not good. Anyway, outsource that to another coach friend.
Michelle: I knew what I was including. I didn’t have that shaky feeling when I would say my price was once I believed in it. That’s the other thing is that as a new coach, or even as a seasoned coach, maybe it’s a new program, but do beta testing. Try to get clients even if you have to go at a lower rate to just build up that repertoire of success stories in your mind. I think that’s so important for when we’re working starting prices, and the ones that we are up-leveling to.
It’s so important to know what you specialize in, what kind of results you can give your clients, and what they get out of it. It’s hard to put a value on that, but we shouldn’t undervalue it, that’s for sure.
Rachek: When we think about how to make $60k, $85k and $100k, it’s $597 a month for 10 clients. That comes out to be $71,640 for the year. So it’s when we really get down and dirty. You think $597, Oh, my God is somebody can pay for that? But when you really think of how much you’re giving, go back to what’s included, see how you’re going to package that brilliance to really make it pop and make it a no brainer. Most importantly, know what you’re offering and why because that confidence will come in with that clarity comes confidence in our offers in our packages and our pricing.
Michelle: I always looked at the angle from car payments. People buy and lease cars all the time and car payments can range anywhere from a couple $100 to way more than that. They buy it because one they need to get from point A to point B but also because it is the vehicle that’s going to get them around. They’ll still spend extra expenses. Let’s say they’re buying into coach that’s gonna get them from point A to point B. They still get gas to fuel it, they would go to the grocery store and buy their food. It’s the same concept. If they know that it’s going to help them, they will buy it. And there’s proof that people are doing that every day.
Gain Confidence & Clarity So You Can Charge Your Worth
Rachel: Too often in the beginning, we have all of those really big fears: am I going to get hired by anyone? A big thing that happened for me in that two-year mark when I was struggling to figure out what exactly I was doing and spending a lot of time creating my own programs. And having little kids is I really needed to get to that place where all those fears were running me. I remember the day where I was just like, Screw it. I’m going all in with this. I’m going to charge my worth, I’m going to figure out for each ideal client this pathway that I have for fixing your gut, for detoxing your body, this pathway for food allergies. Just when I got super crystal clear, that was when not only did I feel that I could charge my worth. But people were coming out of the woodwork.
Michelle: Just putting that energy out. And then people receiving that and seeing it so they know she believes in what she’s selling, I believe in it, too. I think that’s super important.
Rachel: What would you say is your biggest advice for pricing?
Michelle: Value yourself. If you really struggle with valuing yourself and believing in yourself, work on that a bit before really setting your price. And if you have to get a coach to help you with that but also reach out to other peers and health coaches and groups and ask them, get some feedback. This is what I plan on offering, what would you charge? Feel people out if you need to build that confidence because you have to value yourself to charge a decent value. If you’re not doing that, chances are there’s some self-belief stuff going on.
Rachel: I love that you brought that up. Because I know for me, self-worth issues have always been really big my big deep work. And that money mindset. I know, some people don’t deal with that internal fear of self, not that internal fear that they won’t get hired. Some people get they have, they’re fearful, but they’re not disabled. And I knew I knew that self-worth stuff was really a biggie for me. And so I always say even if you need to go and hire a health coach to take you through that journey, your business coach or work on the mindset part, but especially that self-worth because the moment that you own our own that and you honor that the price is just going to flow out of your mouth and that confidence will come out.
Michelle: Absolutely. I hired a coach a long time ago to help me with that, because I never realized that I struggled with so many deep-rooted issues from just being a kid when it comes to self-worth and value. So sometimes we sit with things that we don’t even know we have until it shows up in our business.
Rachel: That’s why I always say building my health and wellness business was the best therapy that I ever went through. Because it will pull on every string that says, oh, no, I don’t think you can do this. You’re not good enough. You’re not smart enough. All of those Negative Nellies It takes a lot of rewiring. I know most importantly it is in our work to be able to really shine.
