What's your strategy for negotiating coaching fees?

When you negotiate your rates as a coach, you compromise your integrity. It creates an uneven playing field, where some clients get a "deal" while others pay full price for the same level of expertise and transformation. By sticking to a non-negotiable pricing structure, you're sending a clear message: your coaching services have great value, and what I do is worth the price. This builds trust and shows that you're committed to fairness and transparency, qualities that resonate with clients who are genuinely interested in the value you provide.

A $2m problem requires an appropriately-priced solution. It may take you a few Clients until you develop the mindset - the swagger where you can confidently share your monthly fee with gravitas and walk away if the terms are not right. Ultimately you have to decide what kind of coach you will be. But choose carefully because the consequences can be incredibly awesome or incredibly regretful. Choose your mindset carefully because your mindset shapes your Client’s mindset.

Setting the tone to your professional services is crucial to establish respect and trust in your abilities. Some examples of how I’ve designed my services:- you could offer alternatives to your usual 1:1 sessions to enable those who haven’t tried coaching before to experience group coaching and set a lower fee due to volume of participants. It may also be that you’re targeting particular sectors such as charities and social enterprises - you could offer a different fee to reflect the benefit they bring to society/ the environment as well as a way to acknowledge their financial constraints. Always be aware of what fee(a) your geography will tolerate by doing your research!

I help my Clients create and unleash extreme value. Accordingly, I engage in a combination retainer and value-based approach. Demonstrate and quantify your value and you will find yourself indispensable and referred. I do not believe in long-term contracts. Who wants to be stuck in a relationship you would chew your arm off to get out of? And I carefully choose my Clients and will fire them if they demonstrate they are interested - not committed to transforming.

Price and Value are very different things. Everybody finally wants a deal. Via social media and website, I ensure that my experience and the results are seen by prospects. During the discovery call, I strive to serve them powerfully by delving deep into their needs, offering valuable insights, and leaving them genuinely moved. This personalized experience and my commitment help to dispel any doubts they may have. Coaching isn't something people typically budget for. Therefore, I make it a point to align the coaching process with their personal vision of success. I create a clear roadmap of how we will work together in the future. The whole process helps clients understand the true value beyond just the price.

If a Prospect lacks the capacity to grasp the value you are expected to create you have one or two problems. 1. You failed to discover a quantifiable pain point and communicate effectively. 2. The Prospect is interested - not committed to adjusting their trajectory in a better direction. Interested people do what is convenient. Committed people do whatever it takes. Life is too short for interested people.

While I(!) agree completely, this "Gentlemen" attitude only works if the client's purchasing agent has (more or less) the same point of view, if not, it won't get you anywhere. While negotiation isn't (rather: shouldn't be) a confrontation it can quickly become one when the purchasing department's policy dictates that first move is to set a target that is half of your price. The stage is then set and you know it is now about survival of margin rather than sound business. Win-win is only possible if both parties want it and unfortunately most companies have made sure that the technical area no longer can influence purchases with their priorities, this making sure that "savings" are made that essentially make projects much less viable.

It is all about mindset - yours and theirs. Your Prospect’s mindset… They either have a problem they feel intense pain as long as that problem exists or they fail to grasp value. Most people know the price of everything and the value of little. Avoid these people and for the love of God and all that is holy and decent in the world - avoid those who do not understand value. Your mindset. You are either confident and aware of the value you bring or you are not. Your mindset is infectious. If you cannot bring gravitas and the appropriate swagger, do not expect to convince your ideal target persona.