The Myth of Competition

According to Wikipedia, “Competition”?is a?rivalry?where two or more parties strive for a common?goal?which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss.

Since I get this question a lot when working with clients:

“What about the competition?”

I’d like to shed some light on the myth of competition in regard to our coaching and consulting (or expertise) industry - based on my experience working with over 1000 coaches and consultants in the past 10 years.

There are 3 common myths we're about to uncover.

Competiton Myth No 1: There are too many Coaches or Consultants already.?

Especially since Covid the amount of freelance coaches and consultants in the market has drastically increased, in fact 25 % of all startups are in business services and coaching or consulting has a major share in these 25 %.

The demand however has never been greater for expertise in the business sector:

According to ICF’s global coaching study 2020 (link HERE), the fast-growing coaching industry of $2.85 billion USD worldwide has increased 33 % above expectations in the last 3 years.

And the 2021 ICF global coaching study (link HERE) regarding the impact of covid on coaching clearly shows that while the delivery format may have shifted to more online delivery than in-person, there’s a clear expectancy that the demand will increase:

Which simply means:

The demand is increasing, but what about the fees? Based on the ICF study there’s an expectancy of decreased coaching fees:

Now the logical conclusion to increased demand and pressure on prices leads to competition Myth No 2:

Competition Myth No 2: I have to negotiate on price

Negotiating on price (offering more for less) has 2 significant flaws:

1. It’s not sustainable – how long can you continue to decrease your prices?
2. People lose sight of what’s really important about coaching: The coaching results.

While it’s easy to compare coaching fees when they are charged by the hour (f.ex. Coach X charges only 150 EUR/ hour compared to Coach Y at 250 EUR / hour) the hourly coaching rate becomes irrelevant when you are selling outcomes rather than time for money.

Because people simply pay more for outcomes than for coaching time. It’s the expected results and outcome what sells them into coaching – more often than not.

So how do you create an outcome focused package, based on your expertise?

If you want to learn how we have been doing it for the past 5 years, join us for the upcoming complimentary online workshop: “How to create compelling offers people love to buy” to get a head start in the 3 most important ingredients of compelling package offers.

Competition Myth No 3: Many other coaches are offering the same thing I do

Again, if people compare you simply by looking at hourly rates and your main area of expertise (f.ex. team coaching, business coaching etc) – then yes, there are many others doing what you do.

Let me give you a bit of a perception shift on this myth though:

4 years ago, I attended a personal development training in Spain and the trainer gave us a simple exercise:

Color a black and white drawing of a man.

The crew then gave us 2 very boring crayons to do the assignment: black and white.

After the coloring exercise the trainer asked us to walk around the room of about 100 participants and compare our drawings with the goal to find one that is exactly as ours.

Needless to say, it was impossible ??. There were so many variations of coloring with black and white, different patterns people applied to their coloring and some were even taking their own colors to add more variety (after all: nobody told us we were not allowed to…)

My point is: With something as simple as coloring a given picture, none of the 100 participants were alike. Every single drawing was unique.

Now if we shift back to your coaching or consulting:

When you consider your experience, expertise, life lessons, upbringing, training, personality, preferences, tools etc and throw that into the mix the simple fact is clear:

You (and your expertise) are unique.

There’s absolutely no one on this planet who is (and coaches) the way you do.

The conclusion? There is no competition.

And when you have a unique coaching or consulting product to offer, with an outcome focused package and message, it’s first of all impossible to compare to others (hence: no competition) and secondly it compels people to buy.

And - circling back to the Wikipedia description of competition - there’s neither rivalry nor win/lose scenarios when you offer your own unique coaching or consulting package.

If the above resonates with you, then get started creating your own compelling offer in our complimentary workshop “How to create compelling offers people love to buy”

What’s the outcome of our workshop?

To utilize the market’s increased demand for coaching and consulting without compromising your income.

And have an offer that sells, easily.