Coaches: Developing your offer ladder...A process for turning leads into paying clients

There's actually a tried and proven system that many online businesses use for turning leads into paying clients.

Before looking at what that system is we need to realise that just because we have a website which shows visitors what our coaching or consulting services are, it's highly unlikely those visitors are instantly going to reach for their credit card and subscribe to one of our programs or services.

The reason that first time visitors don't sign up straight away and become clients is because they don't know anything about us, other than the sales pitch on your website.

Sure, we do need a website or some sort of digital shop front so that people can find us and begin to do some homework on us. But this alone is unlikely to convince them that we're able to deliver something of real value to them so that they immediately part with their hard earned money.

So, what needs to happen in the mind of our potential clients (leads) before they will become paying clients?

Online marketing experts have long since discovered that there is a nurturing process which takes a person (a lead) who is potentially interested in, and needs what we have to offer through to become a paying client.

This process can be variously described as an offer ladder or sales funnel.

The offer ladder or sales funnel is a series of interactions the potential client has with us and our business.

As the business owner we embark on a relationship building strategy which gradually takes a potential client who knows nothing about us to the point where they have not only gotten to know us but based on our interactions with them have come to trust us.

The graphic below illustrates what this nurturing process typically looks like:

If we look at this online relationship building process in terms of how any typical relationship might evolve it goes like this...

We meet someone for the first time, chat with them for a minute or two, and then... they propose we get married! It just doesn't work that way does it? As any stranger typically would be, they feel quite cold about this sudden proposal and most likely you get 'no thanks'.

Yet what many online business owners expect will happen is acceptance of this early proposal just because they're promoting their course or offering a discovery call on their website (or promoting something in their Facebook group, or on Insta, or wherever).

At this very early stage in our relationship with clients it's natural for them to be wary....so, as in any new relationship we need to begin to share more about us and what we do. Hopefully as a result beginning to establish our credentials and credibility.

Based on what we do FOR that prospective client in establishing our credentials, and when we do this well enough, they may begin to warm towards us and begin to develop the belief we might actually be able to help them.

We must continue to develop the relationship by consistently offering real value and whereby clients in fact begin to experience some sort of progress with meeting their need or challenge.

Again, based on the value to the client of the initial coaching we provide, and the positive results they achieve as a result of our coaching, real trust in us as a coach begins to develop. And this partially explains why many satisfied clients will then become repeat clients and take up future service offerings that we put in front of them.

The following graphic shows what a typical offer ladder might be, along with some possible price points for your service offering as your relationship with the client develops from being a lead to a paying client:

If you would like learn more about how to set up an online group coaching program and to develop your offer ladder you can access my free training here.