Are you ready to turn your private coaching into a group coaching program?

Things You’ll Learn in this Episode of Sidekick to Success:

• It may be time to increase your rates rather than create a group program
• You may not be ready to create a group coaching program – just yet
• The 3 questions you need to ask yourself before you create a group coaching program

Group coaching programs are a great way for you to scale your coaching business in a sustainable way.

Creating a group coaching program not only allows you to scale your income and help more people, but it also allows you to free up some time in your day to do other things that are important to you.

Now, if you’ve been thinking of turning your 1:1 coaching program into a group coaching program, it’s important that you first figure out whether it’s the right time for you to do so.

You see, just because you’re getting a bit too busy for comfort – doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s time to create a group coaching program. Even if you’re consistently creating amazing results for your clients.

This may just be a sign that it’s time for you to increase your rates – rather than create a group coaching program (and I’ll create a separate podcast on this topic soon.)

You see, group coaching programs sound like a great idea, but they may not the right choice for you.  Well, not now anyway. And if you’re not ready you may end up creating a group coaching program, only to have it fail.

Here are 3 questions you need to ask yourself before you create a group coaching program:

Question #1 – Does my coaching provide a clearly defined outcome?

One-to-one coaching can be very different to coaching a group.

With private coaching, there’s more room to explore the individual’s emotional blocks and thought patterns and the outcome can be quite open-ended.

But, group coaching programs need to have a clearly defined outcome – whether that’s a business outcome, health outcome, personal outcome, it doesn’t matter. The outcome needs to be definable and tangible.

You need to be able to say “If you join my group coaching program, you will get this specific result”

Your prospective group coaching clients need to be able to say – “Yes, that’s the outcome I want!” because it’s super clear to them – exactly what they’ll get out of the program.

So, if your one-to-one coaching is more open-ended, you’ll first need to take some time to figure out what your best and most clearly defined outcome could be for your group coaching program.

The second question you need to ask yourself is…

Question #2 – Do I have enough experience coaching this outcome?

If you’re just starting out with coaching, you may want to wait a while before creating a group coaching program.

In order to create a robust group coaching program, you need to have a proper understanding of your client’s most common challenges and problems – and this understanding only comes with experience.

Without experience, you may find coaching a group overwhelming and this may not provide the best experience for your program attendees, or yourself.

So, aim for at least 6 months of consistent private coaching on your topic before considering a group coaching program.

This takes us to the third and final question you need to ask yourself before you create a group coaching program.

Question #3 – Do I have an audience to market my program to?

Filling a group coaching program can be challenging if you don’t already have an audience.

This audience could be a following on social media – or a list of email contacts you can promote your group coaching program to.

If you don’t already have an audience, you’ll need to take the time to build one before you can promote your group coaching program.

Building an audience will either take time – if you do it organically. Or money – if you use paid ads.

Even well-established coaches with large followings may struggle to fill their programs and this isn’t a reflection of their ability or expertise – it’s purely because only a small percentage of people will need the program at any given time.

Even with paid ads to promote your program, the average conversion rate — which means the rate you’re able to convert your audience members into buyers — is notoriously low. An average rule of thumb to follow when it comes to conversion rates is around 1 to 3%.

So, that means if you have an audience of 1000 people – it works out to be just 10 to 30 people who’ll sign up for your program.

Now that doesn’t mean that you have to have a massive audience before you create your program. If you have a highly engaged audience the conversion rate may be higher – but it’s good to keep these numbers in mind when you do create your program.

So, no matter where you are in your coaching business – just starting out or an experienced coach – it’s important that you consider each of these points before creating a group coaching program.

To recap the three questions you need to ask yourself are:

Question #1

– Does my coaching provide a clearly defined outcome? Remember, you need to be able to say “If you join my group coaching program, you will get this specific result”

Question #2 – Do I have enough experience to coach this in a group setting? If not – you may NOT be able to provide the best experience for your program attendees. Which is not ideal for anyone.

Question #3 – Do I have an audience to promote my program to? If you don’t, you may struggle to fill your program which defeats the object of scaling your business with the program.

So, if you’re not quite ready yet – give it some time. Then when you ARE ready you’ll be able to create a far more powerful, effective and profitable program than you would if you started before you were ready.

And, if you’re able to answer each of these 3 questions with a resounding yes – then what are you waiting for? It’s time you created your group coaching program.