How to Extend the Lifecycle of a Coaching Client

In this episode, your hosts talk about how to extend the lifecycle of working with coaching clients looking at the ladder of business offerings and how to get clients in the door, to continue working with them in different capacities throughout your offerings. They break down mindset hurdles for selling to clients that have already been sold. 

Here’s what you’ll learn: 

• The ladders Em and Lex offer in their own businesses
• Supporting clients through many phases of their lives and businesses
• Ways to come up with conversations to sell to clients you’ve already sold
• Continuing support for clients as you work with them with a different offering
• Tips on making sure the invite to continue working with them is in place
• What the ladder is and you present it to your clients 
• And More!

Follow Em & Lex on Instagram at @readysetcoachprogram

Learn more about the Ready Set Coach Program at Readysetcoachprogram.com

Learn more about Six Degrees Society and THEPRBAR inc.

Transcript

How to Extend the Lifecycle of a Coaching Client - Podcast Transcript

Speakers: 

Lexie Smith, Emily Merrell

Lexie Smith  

I am elects

Emily Merrell  

to imperfect six figure business coaches, co founders and friends who decided to combine our superpowers to bring to market something we wish we had. When we entered the world of coaching,

Lexie Smith  

a real non BS intimate and fun community built with integrity, intention, and a few glasses of wine. In this podcast,

Emily Merrell  

we get real, real

about life, business relationships, and what

Emily Merrell  

it really takes to find your version of success in the world of coaching. Are you ready, Lex?

Lexie Smith  

I'm Sarah M.

Emily Merrell  

Let's coach.

Hi, lurks. Hi, hi. Hi,

Lexie Smith  

how are you?

Emily Merrell  

I'm good. I'm glad I'm not speaking in accents this session.

Lexie Smith  

Oh, yeah. If you haven't heard that podcast episode, I wish I could tell you which one it was. But I remember some great slash horrific accents. What are you doing this weekend?

Emily Merrell  

I am going to San Francisco this weekend. If weather permitting, my mom keeps sending me screenshots of the news in the word like apocalyptic. We're next to each other. The rain is supposed to be really, really, really, really severe. And so she's, I don't know if this is a mom thing. And maybe we will grow into this too. But she's like the weather reporter before I leave the house, your mom to be like,

Lexie Smith  

Oh, on Tuesday before we flew out for Oregon, the only reason I knew to change my flight was because my parents texted us that they're watching the weather and that there was an ice storm coming. And they're the only reason we changed our flight. And basically, I'm agreeing. Yes,

Emily Merrell  

yes. Yes. It's like that's all they do is watch the news. And, you know, the weather and my mom's like, Are you sure you're going to California still, but look, the rain? rushing river was 30 inches, but now it's 44 inches. This is apocalyptic? Like I got

Lexie Smith  

generational as well. I think our parents around the same age. And so I think that became you know, our age we consume news a little bit differently, but hell, I could bite my tongue and who knows?

Emily Merrell  

Who knows? What about you, Lex? Are

Lexie Smith  

you doing anything this weekend? I was okay. You guys are gonna see the mess. If you're watching this on YouTube. That is my office right now. Do you see this? Okay, and that's actually not a diaper box that's deceiving. But basically what you're looking at is a bunch of decor. Because daughter in law of the year has planned in his hosting a dual 70th birthday party for my mother and father in law for 60 people. I mean, there's frontals there's catering. There's so many craft projects and so that is what I'm doing this weekend hosting that

Emily Merrell  

while Lex say yes. Less. Yeah.

Lexie Smith  

No, it'll be fine. It'll be fine. They deserve it. I just there's a lot going on in the world in my life right now and it kind of snuck up on me but I will say I'm very proud of some of the clever things I did and one thing I will share before I get to squirrel is so again themed Wild Wild West and I bought a bunch of rice krispie treats which I was going okay context Wild Wild West they're very that's very them that's very then their horse people that love that stuff. Anyways, I was gonna make rice krispie treats but I did say yes less and just bought some. And I'm going to stack them and have a little sign that says hay bales can see it.

Emily Merrell  

Like they have to call it out though with the sign. Yeah, yeah. hay bales.

Lexie Smith  

Well, otherwise, it's just rice krispie treats. But no, no, that's

Emily Merrell  

amazing. hay bales. We this is totally random. And while we're here, I finally did my nails the other day. And my sister has a gel manicure thing that she does at home. So I used to gel manicure thing at home. So fun hack if you want to give yourself gel manicures at home without spending the 35 bucks going to the nail salon. And I think it did it. It was my first time but I did a pretty decent job. But

Lexie Smith  

the thing I like about Joe manicures is that they last long. And they last longer than a regular manicure. And that's so relevant because today we're talking about how to extend the lifecycle of a coaching client.

Emily Merrell  

Really good transition. I just teed you up so beautifully. Wow.

Lexie Smith  

We're synched up on this case. To repeat we are talking today about how to extend the life cycle of a coaching client. So Emily, we please kick us off.

Emily Merrell  

Yeah, and I this this is actually a topic that I was really excited to talk about. Because this morning as you know I'm neighbors with my sister so I see her pretty much every single day because my whole family is entrepreneurial. My sister is a career coach on the side and she was talking about getting this one off session with this college student making like 500 bucks for two hours. And I was like, well, it shouldn't end there. Once he gets starts interviewing and he's graduated from college, you should upsell them into like the interview and the resume review session. And then once he gets his first job, you should upsell him then into the first 90 days supporting him as he onboards his first corporate position. And so the idea came to me lacks that we should talk about this with our on our podcast, because a lot of times we see this mistake happen all the time, we're coaches have one offer. And then they say goodbye to the client. And then they start hunting for a new client and the scarcity kicks in and all the fun stuff. But why not extend the longevity longevity of one client?

Lexie Smith  

Off? What do you guys think of it this way? Right? One of the one someone is your client, you've surpassed one of the biggest hurdles in the buying process, which is establishing know, like and trust. Once you work with the client, assuming it's been a positive experience, they know that they know you, they like you, they trust you, you don't have to go through that again. So really, they can be the absolute easiest to resell or upsell or sell into something new. Now, Emily, and I will give you a bunch of examples today. But I want to kick us off with our program. Ready Set coach. So we have a core hybrid group program, it's four months, right? It's great, learn how to start or launch your coaching revenue stream. At the end of four months, the ladies have a lot of information and they're at the point where they're ready to launch or they're really ready to go to market with whatever they've created in our four months together. We then have created in ReadySet, Coach grad program that supports them in a different way, but meets them where they're at. And so rather than just saying bye, guys, good luck. See, right, we invite them to continue to work with us, which is to both benefits, right? We already know them. We know their their business well, and we're providing them a very specific solution.

Emily Merrell  

Yeah, and I think we've also can, we can say that we've done that in our own business as well. Or a lot of our clients both from my company, six degrees society. And from Lexi's other company, the PR bar, they've also been sold into Ready Set coach and or from ReadySet coach been sold into one of our businesses. And I think that's been a really cool thing to to not end the relationship just when the four month program is over.

Lexie Smith  

So here's a question for you guys. Right to start thinking about, look at your current offering. Where do you end? So let's say you are a relationship coach, and your main program, or your first goal is to get them to get a boyfriend? I don't know, once they have the boyfriend or girlfriend, you do you? Um, what's next will is what's next, navigating that relationship is the next goal marriage, maybe phase two, or the next thing that you could invent or offer or container you can build is going from boyfriend to fiance? I don't know. Don't quote me on this. But she's good. I mean, I know the question of where are they at? When they end your current container? What's their new problem that they need solved?

Emily Merrell  

Yeah, and I think I really like the dating example. Because a lot of times, I do know, a lot of dating coaches as well. And I've worked with them in the past with a lot of the program is focused on the the reflection and the self discovery, and then leaving them high and dry when they're actually beginning to date is such a missed opportunity. So supporting them as they navigate the dating world and giving them that community. So it doesn't have to necessarily be a one on one offering. This is also an opportunity for you to create something that is less expensive than your initial offering, but also more quantity of people.

Lexie Smith  

Yeah. And it really can be crafted to again, uniquely solve a new problem. So let's give them a bunch of examples. First, Emily, I'd love for you to share some of your personal client transition examples with six degrees.

Emily Merrell  

Yeah, we have I have a perfect example with one on one client who she was amazing. She's amazing. And she actually joined already set coach program. I was working with her one on one but I saw areas of opportunity where she would really benefit from working with blacks and also work within this program and have this community and community and support so we were able to to invite her into this next program while also still working with her one on one through one on one coaching. I also have examples of people who came in through my community which is a low hanging fruit $60 a month for events And they got to know me, they got to understand who I was, they got to trust me, they knew that I was in authority. And so when I launched a mastermind, it was an easy way to get them into, again, a low hanging to get price. And then they wanted more support for me. And then they went to one on one coaching. So it's been nice to be able to see there's there's no perfect formula. But there's been many different ladders of how people have have worked with me for a good amount of time.

Lexie Smith  

No one can see us on the podcast, I kid you not everyone, the Word Ladder popped into my brain as it exited Emily's mouth. And that was, is that a moment? Boo? Okay, yes, it's a ladder. It's such a great way to think about it. What is your ladder? So Emily, I love your ladder of membership, right? They get to know like and trust you there's a lot of value, then what's the next step up, they can come and work with you. There's a variety of ways they can work with you from a mastermind to one on one to Ready, Set coach. Right. So i t's a progression. It's a stepping stone up a ladder. So really, what is your ladder? Right? That's the question we want you to be brainstorming on.

Emily Merrell  

Halo Lex Yos Did you know that we're starting our fourth cohort are ready set coach in February.

Lexie Smith  

Obviously, I knew that Emily. But if you didn't know that, you can head online to learn more at ReadySet. Coach program.com. The link is in our show notes.

Emily Merrell  

And I want to also add, and this is something that I wasn't I didn't figure out until later in the game. And I really, really urge you to think about your program, and how can you even ladder on your program. So with ReadySet coach, we have a basic offering. And then we also have a VIP offering. So are there any ways that you can take your existing offering, and then add an additional layer to it? So say you're launching a mastermind and it comes with one call with you during the five month mastermind? Could you add on a VIP offering where they get a monthly call with you during the five months, so they're getting five calls versus the one call. So thinking about things like that with things that you've already built, but just adding an additional revenue stream onto it.

Lexie Smith  

Beautiful. And you know, we do this again, with ReadySet. Coach, we have that base offering. But we also have an upgrade to make it a hybrid program with one on one coaching. So again, just another example, I'll share with the PR bar, one of my ladders, which is a little bit different now as I've evolved, but my original OG first favorite ladder was get them in the door. At a one off strategy session, I called them a happy hour. From the happy hour. If it made sense. I then sell them into my four month program called Pop fizz Clink. And then if that all went fine and dandy from there, I'd sell them into my third and final offering, which was wine club, which became more of a one on one retainer coaching. Basically, yeah, so just to reiterate, I went from a one hour one off call at a smaller price point into a four month curriculum based one on one program to that third ladder, that third offering curriculum was out the door, it was more of a standard coaching retainer. So three life cycles. And I have actually three clients to this day who went through that ladder and are still with me to this day.

Emily Merrell  

I love that I love seeing that the trend the growth of one client and also being able to support them through many stages of their lives.

Lexie Smith  

Yeah, that's really powerful. One thing I feel like it's a challenge. And let's talk about this briefly is the mindset issues of feeling scared or icky, or some sort of way about selling to a client that you already have a relationship with? So what are some ways to come up with that conversation and do it in a way that feels good to basically sell someone you've already sold?

Emily Merrell  

I think being from the get go letting them know that there's going to be continued support. So one of the things that I do with my one on one clients, I say it's a four month container, but most clients so I plant the seed right from the get go. I say most of my clients continue to work with me monthly following our four month commitment. They already know on the back of their head that like oh, this is four months, but I have an opportunity to continue working with her so that that feeling of what's next is already been addressed at the forefront. What about you Lex

Lexie Smith  

love it and you know, I'll call myself out on this because this used to be a very big mindset hurdle and block for me. And my whole perspective on it changed. This was about a year and a half ago when I didn't invite a client into a grad program because I got shy because I got scared about selling her and And she came to me and said, I mean, I don't want to put myself out there too much if you're full, but like, is there any way that I could still work with you? And I was like, Whoa, how dare I assume someone that she almost was offended? Right? It she was taking it as I didn't want to work with her. She thought that I wasn't wanting to extend the invitation. So the point of that being is, it's an offer, it's yet again, another invitation, you're giving them a new solution. And so it's actually a really positive thing, if you can wrap your brain around it that way.

Emily Merrell  

Yeah, I like that. I like that a lot. And that it is an invitation. And if you don't invite them, and if you've listened to our other podcasts about selling, they don't know what they don't know. So I always love to use the example if Taylor Swift is coming into town, and I saw pictures on Instagram, and you guys all attending Taylor Swift without me, I'd be pissed. Just like, I'd be pissed if I was working with you lacs. And I saw that you were still working with that other client I knew you were working with, I'd feel that I wasn't worthy of your time. So obviously, not every client is the perfect longevity client. But you want to make that invitation. Because at the end of the day, they don't have to say yes to do to you. But they do want to know that the invite exists. Yeah, and

Lexie Smith  

there are different ways that invitation can take place based on the type of ladder you're building. For example, if it's a ladder that starts with a digital product, and sells into a one on one coaching call, even some of that can be automated, there can be emails you put into place. So it doesn't always have to be a big, lengthy sales talk. We're not always talking about just one high ticket to another high ticket. So really opened your mind about what the full lifecycle really could look like. It could be joining from your Instagram feed to your newsletter to an online store to a one on one coaching client then to your program. Right. So really, like the sky's the limit with that ladder.

Emily Merrell  

Yeah, I think that's that's a really good point. So lax, you want to wrap up and tell them their homework for today?

Lexie Smith  

Yeah, so we want you guys to build a ladder. Okay. We want you to take your core offering, and have that be your middle step and come up with what is a step below. And what is the step above it? What could that be? And we want you to prove that you've done your homework and either comment if you're watching on YouTube, or DMS on Instagram, if you're listening on the pod,

Emily Merrell  

I love it. And as always, we'll see you next time on The Ready Set coach podcast

by

Emily Merrell  

if you're enjoying the ReadySet coach podcast, please leave a review wherever you are listening. For more information about Ready Set, coach, Visit Ready Set coach program.com