Comments on: Get More Clients With Your Complimentary Coaching Sessions http://www.coachingmillions.com/770/get-more-clients-with-your-complimentary-coaching-sessions/ Help More People with Coaching, Make More Money Coaching, Live your Ultimate Lifestyle Fri, 3 Sep 2010 18:40:53 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Eileen Laskar http://www.coachingmillions.com/770/get-more-clients-with-your-complimentary-coaching-sessions/comment-page-1/#comment-190 Eileen Laskar Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:12:49 +0000 http://www.coachingmillions.com/?p=770#comment-190 I used to give away free career assessment sessions. My hope was that the clients would have a foretaste of what I can offer and sign up. They ended up asking all the questions and by the end of the 60 minutes or so, they did not need me. I changed and started charging a minimal fee ( committment of $30) and my enrollment went up. After about 1 year, I moved up to cover the opportunity cost ( what elase would I do with that one hour?) and my enrollment doubled, and this has become an income stream. I would not advocate for free coaching sessions. I am currently implementing Milana's Coaching millions system where I write FREE articles with a confident call to action , upload them on my site and circulate the link to my mailing list and this works for longer. I just converted a client through an article done in March. I find this approach giving me the neded credibility and leverage too! I used to give away free career assessment sessions. My hope was that the clients would have a foretaste of what I can offer and sign up. They ended up asking all the questions and by the end of the 60 minutes or so, they did not need me. I changed and started charging a minimal fee ( committment of $30) and my enrollment went up. After about 1 year, I moved up to cover the opportunity cost ( what elase would I do with that one hour?) and my enrollment doubled, and this has become an income stream. I would not advocate for free coaching sessions. I am currently implementing Milana’s Coaching millions system where I write FREE articles with a confident call to action , upload them on my site and circulate the link to my mailing list and this works for longer. I just converted a client through an article done in March. I find this approach giving me the neded credibility and leverage too!

]]> By: Milana http://www.coachingmillions.com/770/get-more-clients-with-your-complimentary-coaching-sessions/comment-page-1/#comment-182 Milana Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:35:42 +0000 http://www.coachingmillions.com/?p=770#comment-182 Hm...Interesting strategy. It's kind of like asking for a commitment. Definitely will change the caliber of prospects, Ellen! Hm…Interesting strategy. It’s kind of like asking for a commitment. Definitely will change the caliber of prospects, Ellen!

]]> By: Milana http://www.coachingmillions.com/770/get-more-clients-with-your-complimentary-coaching-sessions/comment-page-1/#comment-180 Milana Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:32:22 +0000 http://www.coachingmillions.com/?p=770#comment-180 Offering free sessions - especially when they really work for you in terms of conversion - is great, Sahar! What I see many coaches do, though, is use these sessions as their primary way of getting new clients. That's the first (and only) thing they offer as a way to demonstrate their value. Impossible to grow beyond a certain level, so it's a great idea to add other ways to convert clients, as well. Perhaps with an educational product or a teleseminar :) Offering free sessions – especially when they really work for you in terms of conversion – is great, Sahar! What I see many coaches do, though, is use these sessions as their primary way of getting new clients. That’s the first (and only) thing they offer as a way to demonstrate their value. Impossible to grow beyond a certain level, so it’s a great idea to add other ways to convert clients, as well. Perhaps with an educational product or a teleseminar :)

]]> By: Sahar K. http://www.coachingmillions.com/770/get-more-clients-with-your-complimentary-coaching-sessions/comment-page-1/#comment-179 Sahar K. Mon, 31 Aug 2009 06:00:31 +0000 http://www.coachingmillions.com/?p=770#comment-179 I do offer free coaching sessions and my conversion rates are high.I also, lead a woman's gathering www.meetup.com/thebrightsideoflife and Rafael 2 free coaching consultations each month, and that seem to be working well. But I do agree, now that my business is taking off, I could see myself charging for the first session. I do offer free coaching sessions and my conversion rates are high.I also, lead a woman’s gathering http://www.meetup.com/thebrightsideoflife and Rafael 2 free coaching consultations each month, and that seem to be working well. But I do agree, now that my business is taking off, I could see myself charging for the first session.

]]> By: Ellen Finkelstein http://www.coachingmillions.com/770/get-more-clients-with-your-complimentary-coaching-sessions/comment-page-1/#comment-176 Ellen Finkelstein Mon, 31 Aug 2009 01:33:38 +0000 http://www.coachingmillions.com/?p=770#comment-176 I've seen offers where coaches charge $1 for the first session and then put people on a recurring credit card charge at the regular rate, so the person has to cancel if he/she doesn't want to continue. What do you think of that? I’ve seen offers where coaches charge $1 for the first session and then put people on a recurring credit card charge at the regular rate, so the person has to cancel if he/she doesn’t want to continue. What do you think of that?

]]> By: Chris Bowles http://www.coachingmillions.com/770/get-more-clients-with-your-complimentary-coaching-sessions/comment-page-1/#comment-156 Chris Bowles Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:33:02 +0000 http://www.coachingmillions.com/?p=770#comment-156 I've started to go for a "half way" deal - I offer a half price first session. I thought this might be less of an incentive than a complementary first session, but this doesn't seem to be the case. By doing it this way, I feel that I'm giving people a chance to try me out, whilst also getting paid something for my time! I’ve started to go for a “half way” deal – I offer a half price first session. I thought this might be less of an incentive than a complementary first session, but this doesn’t seem to be the case. By doing it this way, I feel that I’m giving people a chance to try me out, whilst also getting paid something for my time!

]]> By: Deah http://www.coachingmillions.com/770/get-more-clients-with-your-complimentary-coaching-sessions/comment-page-1/#comment-155 Deah Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:23:18 +0000 http://www.coachingmillions.com/?p=770#comment-155 Milana, I completely agree! And I just learned that conversion rates are higher for prospects becoming clients when first sessions are paid, and that retention rates are higher, too -- those clients stay longer / buy longer term packages. ~ Deah Milana, I completely agree! And I just learned that conversion rates are higher for prospects becoming clients when first sessions are paid, and that retention rates are higher, too — those clients stay longer / buy longer term packages. ~ Deah

]]> By: Milana http://www.coachingmillions.com/770/get-more-clients-with-your-complimentary-coaching-sessions/comment-page-1/#comment-154 Milana Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:58:41 +0000 http://www.coachingmillions.com/?p=770#comment-154 In response to "Charge or Not Charge?" question posed on Twitter: The reason I don't suggest giving away free coaching sessions is because it implies that you'll be demonstrating coaching. But remember, nobody cares about the process of coaching, so don't waste your time explaining what coaching is, how it works, or what it feels like. By charging people for a consultation or a strategy session you're attracting people who are truly interested in working with you, you're weeding out tire-kickers, you're demonstrating your value, and you're getting paid for your time. Imagine how many hours you’d have to coach for free to get a single client. Considering that you need to offer 5 free coaching sessions to get one client, you're basically spending two and a half hours to get one client. And if you are using it as your primary closing technique, this could mean 10-15 hours a week of free coaching sessions. Not the best way to spend your time AND absolutely impossible to grow and scale your business! Just my 2 cents :) In response to “Charge or Not Charge?” question posed on Twitter:

The reason I don’t suggest giving away free coaching sessions is because it implies that you’ll be demonstrating coaching. But remember, nobody cares about the process of coaching, so don’t waste your time explaining what coaching is, how it works, or what it feels like.

By charging people for a consultation or a strategy session you’re attracting people who are truly interested in working with you, you’re weeding out tire-kickers, you’re demonstrating your value, and you’re getting paid for your time. Imagine how many hours you’d have to coach for free to get a single client.

Considering that you need to offer 5 free coaching sessions to get one client, you’re basically spending two and a half hours to get one client. And if you are using it as your primary closing technique, this could mean 10-15 hours a week of free coaching sessions. Not the best way to spend your time AND absolutely impossible to grow and scale your business!

Just my 2 cents :)

]]> By: Twitter Trackbacks for Get More Clients With Your Complimentary Coaching Sessions [coachingmillions.com] on Topsy.com http://www.coachingmillions.com/770/get-more-clients-with-your-complimentary-coaching-sessions/comment-page-1/#comment-152 Twitter Trackbacks for Get More Clients With Your Complimentary Coaching Sessions [coachingmillions.com] on Topsy.com Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:14:03 +0000 http://www.coachingmillions.com/?p=770#comment-152 [...] Get More Clients With Your Complimentary Coaching Sessions www.coachingmillions.com/770/get-more-clients-with-your-complimentary-coaching-sessions – view page – cached The questions a life coach asks can determine the difference between getting a new coaching client, and not. — From the page [...] [...] Get More Clients With Your Complimentary Coaching Sessions http://www.coachingmillions.com/770/get-more-clients-with-your-complimentary-coaching-sessions – view page – cached The questions a life coach asks can determine the difference between getting a new coaching client, and not. — From the page [...]

]]> By: Stuart Kaufman http://www.coachingmillions.com/770/get-more-clients-with-your-complimentary-coaching-sessions/comment-page-1/#comment-150 Stuart Kaufman Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:53:09 +0000 http://www.coachingmillions.com/?p=770#comment-150 After telling them how I can help them, I ask "Would you like my help?" After telling them how I can help them, I ask “Would you like my help?”

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