Perceived Value of Life Coaching

Life coaching is, without doubt, one of the most fulfilling and rewarding careers that exist. After all, what can be more inspiring than helping other people to find their passion, rise above mediocrity and achieve things that they otherwise would not?

Yet many life coaches have difficulty marketing themselves and putting a fair value on what they do – and this can tarnish the natural lustre of an otherwise very appealing vocation.

Marketing and selling is not something that comes naturally to most coaches, or, for that matter, people whose work falls in the broad categorisation of imparting what is often called the ‘softer skills’.

Despite this, surprisingly, many life coach training institutes choose to focus on coaching skills and pay lip service to helping coaches market their practices and sell their services.

[box type=\”shadow\”]“Communication is the core of your marketing and if you know how to leverage it, you will be able to elevate the perceived value of your products and services so people are willing to pay higher price for as soon as they see it.”

– Eric Tsai[/box]

The Perceived Value of Life Coaching (continued)

 

Fair exchange and value

At New Insights we encourage our coaches to explore and uphold the principle of fair exchange, which we define as the giving and receiving of an equal measure of perceived value.

Then we get them to spend quality time reflecting on the value they add to their clients and the perceived value of life coaching to their clients.

‘Perceived’ is a key word here.

For example. you may perform a service that adds significant value to your customers or clients but if that is not your honest perception then you will continually undervalue what you do and leave yourself out of exchange (and frustrated). And vice versa of course.

Key to staying happy

Whatever you do for a living, one of the keys to staying happy and contented lies in:

• understanding the real value you deliver;
• communicating that clearly to your target market; and then
• delivering the value that you have promised to your clients.

Quality of training

For life coaches, the nature of the value they can deliver is strongly linked with the quality and integrity of the training they have undergone.

New Insights training includes license free access to a well researched 13 session coaching system which gives coaches the structure they need to run professional sessions without compromising their flexibility or style.

What life coaching means

Life coaches have to understand that relying on the term ‘life coaching’ is wholly insufficient when it comes to explaining or communicating what they do. The general public have all sorts of different opinions about what life coaching means, some very uninformed and/or misinformed.

No surprise then that life coaches need to work on raising the perceived value of their services in their promotional efforts.

With this in mind, here are some of the questions we believe life coaches should be asking prospective clients:

“If you find it difficult to organise your life … and I can show you a powerful way to set, break down and then achieve inspiring goals in a realistic time frame … what price would you put on that?”

“If you have a lifelong dream that has remained just that … and I help you to realise it … what price should you put on that?”

“If you struggle to make sense of the world around you and your place in it … and I help you to uncover and come to terms with your authentic life purpose … what would that be worth to you?”

“If you feel, within yourself that you are not living up to your true potential … and I show you some tools and techniques that will help you to do just that … how much would you invest in my time?”

Priceless

The truth is – and I’m reminded of the advertising of a certain credit card company – that the services of a really good life coach are priceless.

Delivering value through P-AKSE

And that brings me to my final point which is about delivering the value you promise to deliver.

To be a really good life coach and to command serious fees you certainly don’t need to have or pretend to have the ‘perfect’ life, whatever that may mean. You definitely don’t need to be a master of speaking or presentation skills and you don’t need to be someone you aren’t.

You simply need to have a passion for people, to be self aware with a commitment to highly ethical conduct and to be well trained in the theory and practical application of life coaching.

At new Insights we e call it P-AKSE (Passion, Awareness, Skills, Knowledge and Experience). You need to have the passion for people. Our training will deliver the rest!

 

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