When you're new to the entrepreneurial coaching world, you will usually be told to start with selling 1:1 before moving on to group coaching programs.
In fact, there's a school of though suggests you should go straight to the group programs and charge anything between $497 up to $1497 for a 6/8 week program.
But aside from the pricing woes and all that worry about how much you should charge versus delivery/quantity/quality/value/blah blah - if you're brand fucking new - how the FUCK are you going to sell 10 spots at $1497?
Unless you've got a huge ad budget or 10,000 personal close friends who support you in EVERY way they can - it's a non-starter.
And you're going to end up feeling more than a little shit by not being able to pack out your first program - and then you're going to spend a year (or more!) in knots because you feel that it's something YOU are doing wrong - or that you YOURSELF are "wrong". (Bitter personal wasted experience talking here!).
But the thing is, to be able to go out and deliver that successful group coaching program, you need an audience - and you need to understand how all this shit fits together and works.
You're going to need to test out your ideas because you may well discover that one particular aspect of what you THINK you want to deliver/sell - actually turns your blood cold just thinking about it when it actually comes around to teaching it!
*I'm a techie - NOT a huge fan of teaching other people tech - but started out by doing that because I thought it made sense - even though it didn't excite me - and I would find myself grinding my teeth about it!
OK - so my suggestion? Start out by selling a "MICRO OFFER" - we're talking under $50 here. Create a small program - a bite-sized offer which is easy for your customers to say YES to because it's not a huge financial outlay when you're not a proven entity - but also that it gives you a chance to put something together, figure out how all the pieces fit together - and... at that kind of price, you won't need to give a huge amount of personal involvement.
In fact - if you do offer a personal follow-up at that price-point, you'll probably end up regretting it and dialling that back within a few months when you realise you're getting worn out and your calendar is fully-booked by people who've bought your MICRO OFFER already.
BUT (!!!), I am a HUGE fan of these MICRO OFFERs because you don't need to angle for a huge financial commitment from your (small) audience and every single fucking sale is a win!
... and! I sold these mostly to a cold audience. *A cold audience is one who have never heard of you before and you're totally new to them, but they're thinking "wow, this offer is sooooo cool, I can't say no"!
The best thing about selling one of these MICRO OFFERs is that once a client has paid you for your work ONCE - it makes them all the more likely to buy from you again. You may be the BEST BEST BESTEST coach in the whole wide world for your topic - but if people don't know who you are, then it's going to be an uphill battle asking them to whip out their creditcards for a $1497 offer.
You get paid in one go, no worries about split-payments or missed-payments. They either buy - or they don't.
Every single sale will boost your confidence and pay your incidental expenses whilst you're building out the rest of your business with a view to a longer-term approach.
Do you have a MICRO OFFER? I'd love to hear all about it - drop your comments below and show us what you've got! 👍