Why You'll Want to Create a Funnel of Products
and Services for Your Coaching Business

By Sue Bond

This next statement will not surprise you...

Everyone who visits your website or finds out about your services will not hire you as a coach.

Say only 2% of prospects hire you as a coach, what happens to the other 98%?

Do you have other products and services they can purchase at a lower price?

Do you have an ezine visitors can subscribe to so you can develop a relationship with them?

Let's face it. $250+ a month for a coach is a big investment for most people. Especially if they've never experienced the benefits of coaching before.

While some prospects will intuitively know that you're the right coach for them. Others will need to get to know you better before spending their hard-earned money. You need to prove you're credible. That you can support them to get what they want.

But I offer a free complimentary session...

The complimentary session is one of the best ways for people to experience coaching. Not everyone who visits your site or reads your marketing piece will take action to sign up for the complimentary session the first time. Or the second or third time.

The reasons may vary. The prospect may not understand the benefits of coaching or what a complimentary session is. Or they may be in a hurry. They may just be having an off day.

So what's the solution?

One solution is to create a funnel of products and services.

A funnel? Keep reading … it will make sense.

Mentally picture a funnel. The funnel is larger at the top, where the liquid is poured, after which the circumference decreases.

What does that have to do with your business?

You need to have products and services at different levels in the funnel. The more hands-on or involved you need to be in providing the service, the higher the price.

You need free or less expensive offerings that a large number of prospects can access. A percentage of these people will buy your next priced product or service, such as a teleclass or 2-tape audiocassette program. A percentage of these purchasers will buy the next priced product or service, such as group coaching or teleclass series. And a percentage of these purchasers will buy our in-person seminar or personal coaching etc.

The funnel approach allows you to increase your sales by selling to more people and by selling more products to your customers.

Having more than one price level of products and services allows more people to buy from you than if you only had one higher priced item.

You can increase the size of the sale by offering bundles of products and services or by suggesting other items the purchaser might find useful. This can by done automatically at the point of sale with some shopping carts, or in a series of automated follow-up emails. Obviously there are many, many more ways to increase your sales and the funnel approach is just one.

A Funnel for Coaches May Look Like This:

A funnel of products or services for a coaching practice could include some of the following items at various price levels*:

*Note: The fees and products/services in the above example are for illustration purposes. You need to decide which fees and products/services work best for your business.

Hint: People learn by seeing (visual), hearing (auditory), or experiencing (kinaesthetic). You'll cater to more people if your funnel of products and services includes at least one item for each learning style. An ebook for the visual learners, a real audio or CD for the auditory learners, and a seminar or boot camp for the kinaesthetic learners.

The Win-Win of the Funnel Approach

At the top of the funnel are the free or less expensive items, such as ezines or free teleclasses. An ezine or free monthly teleconference call are great ways to entice a visitor to give you their email address. This allows you to build your list and more importantly, build a relationship with your list. You've probably read that it takes a prospect at least 7 exposures to you before they finally remember you. An ezine or series of free calls is one way to do this.

You must deliver quality, useable content and/or coaching in your contacts with the people on your list. This builds trust and credibility. Over time, when the need is there, some of your prospects will buy your products and services. They may even tell their friends and colleagues about you.

How do you know what products and services your prospects want?

Before you start creating new products and services, find out what your prospects want. Most people create the product only to find out that their target market isn't interested in it. It may not address the readers most pressing challenge or the price point may be off. Then they either have to find a new target market that does want the product or ditch the product.

It's much easier to give your market what they want.

Observe your current and past clients. Do the same challenges repeat among them? Why are your clients attracted to you? Do you help them solve a specific challenge? If so, you can create a product or program that will leverage your time. But keep reading before you run off and start creating...

You can ask your list what their biggest challenge is. If you don't have a list, you can find out what your target market wants by visiting online forums and discussion boards they frequent and reading the posts. What is their biggest challenge? Is anyone providing a solution to it?

Or look through magazines they read to find ads that repeat week after week (they wouldn't repeat if they weren't selling). What is the challenge they are providing the solution for?

Again, find out what challenge your target market desperately wants, and is willing to purchase, a solution for. That tip alone will save you tons of time and frustrations.

Start with the End in Mind

Before you start creating any products, consider the following:

What are the intended results you want to achieve with each of the products and services in your funnel?

It's vital that you determine this before creating or offering the product or service. Your answers will influence your marketing strategy.

For example, you may offer a free ebook as an incentive for website visitors to join your ezine. You deliver quality content in your ezine as well as a product offer. As well you include links inside the free ebook that upsells people to your other products and services.

Or you may sell your ebook and send the purchaser a series of automated follow-up messages. The first email would let the purchaser know how to download the product and include trouble-shooting instructions. The next couple of emails could support the purchaser to maximize their use of the product (especially if it's software). In one email you could invite them to join your ezine. And in a later email you could recommend a related product or service to the purchaser.

Some people may consider the second email and beyond spam, as they never asked to be subscribed to a series of follow-up messages. You could state in the first email how many emails are in the series of follow-up messages and your reason for sending them. Let the person know they can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link. Always include a link at the bottom of each email so people can unsubscribe.

As well, how can you re-use the content you create? If you write an ezine, consider compiling the volumes into an ebook that you sell. Or reformat the content from an ebook and offer it in an ecourse. You can tape a teleclass and offer it as an audiocassette. Look and see what other people are doing. Ask them what kind of success they're achieving with their approach. They may tell you and they may not.

Take action today!

If you currently only offer 1 to 1 coaching and want more clients, consider adding one or two items to your funnel. At the very least you're giving your prospects more opportunities to get to know you and eventually some will do business with you.

Ready to Build Your Funnel?

Check out Multiple Streams Of Coaching Income by Andrea J. Lee. Or feel free to read my book review first.

Thinking about becoming a coach? Find out what you need to know about coach training, certification, and the business of coaching before investing money into becoming a coach. How to Become a Coach.

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