Life Coach Business Building School with Debbie Shadid

EP 288 - The Real Reason You’re Not Selling Your Coaching…

• Debbie Shadid, Business Growth Coach for Life Coaches

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The real reason you’re not selling your coaching business might surprise you. If you’ve been showing up online, talking about your offers, and still not selling your coaching, this episode will help you understand why.

So many coaches think the problem is their price, their niche, or even their content strategy… but most of the time, it’s not that at all. 

In this episode, I share the real reason why your coaching program is not selling. I'll walk you through the simple shifts that will help you: 

  • Attract clients who are genuinely interested in your coaching
  • Talk about your offer in a way that feels natural (not “salesy”)
  • Understand what potential clients really need to hear from you before they buy
  • Build confidence in selling your coaching (even if you’ve never sold before)
  • Stop second-guessing your offer and start booking more sales calls

Once you understand what’s really keeping you from selling your coaching, you’ll see that it’s not about working harder or posting more. It’s about alignment, clarity, and connection.

Ready to become the go-to coach in your industry? Register for our upcoming LIVE workshop here: https://coaching.debbieshadid.com/workshop

Free Resources for coaches:

Tools I recommend for coaches:


Connect with me (Debbie):

Website: https://www.debbieshadid.com 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debbieshadid/

🎙️ Listen to the podcast: Life Coach Business Building School

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/life-coach-business-building-school-with-debbie-shadid/id1502118085

If you find this episode helpful, make sure to subscribe for more videos to help you grow your coaching business: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz6RS8kQGMLJqJrK9uKdjtg 


Disclaimer: Some of the links shared in this description are affiliate links. This means that if you choose to purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend tools and resources I use and trust to support your coaching business.

Tired of spinning in indecision about what to post, how to sell your coaching, or explain what you do? This is your moment!

Join me for a live edition of Fast Track + VIP coaching experiences where you'll get real-time feedback on your niche, offers, and marketing, plus the clarity and support you've been looking for.

Spots are limited and enrollment closes soon.

Let’s connect → DebbieShadid.com/scheduleLet’s connect!

#DebbieShadid #LifeCoachBusinessBuildingSchool

If you're not selling coaching right now, you probably think it's because you don't have enough followers. Your social media posts aren't working. Maybe you think your offer is the problem, or you're working on lowering your price. Or you're trying to finish a course to get ready to sell. Let me tell you none of those things are the reason why you're not selling. You're actually not selling because you're avoiding it. And I also know that there's a good chance that you are busy working on your business. this is the work that we do inside of the business building boutique. If we don't know each other, I'm Debbie Shadid I've helped thousands of coaches not only build, but grow profitable coaching businesses. And today we're gonna talk about selling because if you don't sell your coaching, there are no clients to coach, and you're never gonna make money. So let's talk about how to change that. Now, I know that it feels really productive to be working on your Canva graphics, to be working on your website, to be working on a course, but I wanna tell you, you must spend equal time selling as you do, working on your business. And the truth is that work you do on your business, feels really good. You get that dopamine hit because you're like, wow, I'm learning so much and I'm creating things. And I know how important that is because that is what we do with our clients all the time. But also the truth is, if you are not selling, there is something else going on. Let's talk about what that might be. I'm gonna talk about two ways to think about selling your coaching. First of all, I want you to think about alignment. Are you in alignment with your business? Now we're gonna start talking about niche. I know I talk about niche a lot, but it is that important. I wanna make sure that you are aligned with your niche. how do we do that? First of all, I hope your niche is you a few years ago. I hope you are the person that has had the transformation that you are coaching around, because if that's you. you're gonna have a much easier time selling your coaching because you know what it was like to be you and you know what it's like to be the person who feels different, who has had that transformation, who has now the life that your ideal client wants. That's why it's important to have that niche that you really understand. If you are that person that's had that transformation, that's had the coaching, the self-development work that has really taken the time to dive in and do the work that creates the transformation. you know the pain points, the struggles, and you know what it is somebody can have, once they have the transformation. It is really important to make sure that you can communicate that effectively. Ideally, you are bringing somebody to a consultation, and I like to call it a comfortable conversation, but you are bringing them to the consultation. Prepared to buy because they're like, she really gets me. She really knows what's going on. She understands the pain points. She knows what I desire, and she's painted this picture of a transformation that I really want. I can see what I'm missing out on. One of the great things about you really knowing your niche clients so deeply is that you want to connect with people. It's like there's this trust that is being eroded in the online space because all of this AI stuff, and now there's AI twins, people don't even know who they're talking to. But when you really understand your person and when you can talk about what your situation is that connects with a client that is speaking to those things that your person is worrying in the middle of the night. That's when you build trust. That's when somebody can say, that actually really is me, or She really does understand me, so please make sure that you have that alignment. And it doesn't just start with a niche. Alignment is also with a brand image that you display. That's why so many of us can coach around similar things, and you will attract your ideal client. They're attracted to you by your image, by your essence, by your presence. Then we talk about that marketing message, That whole message that you are building your business around. Somebody is connected through that. Again, that's another piece of alignment. Then we talk about your offer and your price. All of that is in alignment with your niche, Your Your branding your marketing message, your offer, and your price. you have to be in integrity with those. You have to feel good about those. You have to know that what you're offering is worth the investment of somebody to pay you for coaching. You have to be coaching on something that you know you can do well. Now granted, I know that you haven't had a lot of practice at this point, or you wouldn't be here listening to this, but to find something that you say, you know what? I know more than that person about this thing, and I know I can help 'em. I've got the life experience, the coach training, whatever it might be, to be able to help them go from here to here. That's how you create confidence. this is the first important piece in being able to sell. if you don't have all of those things in place. I would go back to ground zero and start there with your niche, and then build your business or rebuild your business from there, or make adjustments. Now let's talk about that comfortable conversation that you might be avoiding. You might be avoiding this conversation or consultation because you're like, I don't like selling. I feel pushy when I'm selling. I don't like to be sold to, I don't wanna sell. What is your story around selling? Because we probably need to clean that up first. maybe you should think about a great experience that you've had when somebody sold you something. What was that like? I'm gonna bet you would say, I felt comfortable. I felt like they spent the time to hear me, like they answered my questions. I felt like I could trust 'em. How do you create that for somebody coming into your business? How do you create that kind of presence that somebody's wow, I do trust this lady, or I do feel comfortable with her. I do feel seen, I feel heard. What do you need to do to have somebody experience that with you? And then also look at what you don't like about selling, and then whatever that list of things is, here you get to decide how you want to sell. Now, I do wanna encourage you. Selling does involve you asking for the sale. It does involve you collecting money or else it's not selling, You have to do those things. But when you love your niche, when you know that transformation is so good, you can begin to reframe that and say, look, I know what is on the other side of them working with me. I believe that coaching is priceless, but how do you put a value on the transformation that you provide when you're really clear about that, when you think through it, and maybe even just journal about this, like what happens when somebody has the transformation that I can provide? How does it affect the person who has the coaching? How does it affect their kids, their spouse, their partner? Their social life, their health, their career. Think of all the ways their life is changed. try to put a dollar amount on it, if you can. This is an incredible exercise that you can do To really prove to yourself the value of what you have to offer. I also love to tell people to make an evidence bank. This is evidence that your coaching works even if you have not actually been paid for your coaching. I'm gonna bet over the years you've been told many times like, you're really good at this. The advice you've given me is great, or you're really good at helping people. Or maybe you've had people engage on social media with you, or you did some practice coaching that somebody loved, whatever that is your evidence bank. Every time somebody follows you on Instagram or wherever you are, that's evidence that somebody's interested in you. Write that down so you can prove to yourself and we know that's gonna show up. that what you're doing really is of high value. Let's talk about competitors for just a moment, because if you have a lot of competitors, that's good news. don't worry about the competition. People are attracted to you because of your niche, your brand essence there's always plenty of space for you. Let's talk about this comfortable conversation that you're gonna have with people, what that's gonna look like, and let's assume that you are bringing people in to the consultation, understanding something about you that they already have some trust for you, Because that's created from the very first moment they engage with you. In this comfortable conversation. You're first gonna have that get to know you section. You're gonna find out what's happening for 'em. Tell me how we connected, It's good to know how much they know about you before you start asking them what's going on, because that helps you know how much you're gonna need to explain about your services, about your coaching, maybe they were referred by a friend and already know what you have to offer, and they're nearly ready to buy when they show up on the call. That's very possible. So find out how we connected. Then you wanna go in that discovery phase. This is what I think makes the coaching that I teach different. I like to think of my selling as authentic selling, where you again, have a comfortable conversation to help somebody discover for themselves why they need to hire you. the second phase of your conversation is to have this discovery time where you're asking questions that help see for themselves. She is asking me questions that are revealing some things to me. I'm seeing some things that I didn't notice before, or I'm answering questions that are showing me that there's a gap, like that I have some issues or that this is a problem or that I do need to work on this or that I do need support or that I'm not meeting my goals because of this. However you ask those questions, it's to show them for themselves where the gap is. Then you're gonna move on to talking about what this rainbow result is. I like to think of that as, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow after they do coaching with you. What is available to them at that point? And that's that painting the picture of what they desire. But you do have to find out what they actually do desire. So often people have no idea what they desire. They really don't know what it is. If you ask them, Hey, tell me what it is you want, they're like, well, There's a lot of that kind of hy hawing around. If they know, then great. If they don't know, then there's an opportunity for you to ask my favorite question, which is if I run into you a year from now and everything about this situation. Is better than you could have ever imagined. Tell me what it would be like. Like we sat down and had some coffee. Tell me what you would tell me, and that gets 'em out the facts of what their goals are into storyland and they begin to tell you about what it is that they want. You can ask further questions. how would you be feeling and what would you be doing? And what would you look like? It depends on your niche, but this is a great way to find out what it is that they really want. At this moment once you have gone through the pain points, you know what their problems are, you've discovered what they want. I want you to do a recap. This is basically like you would do a life coaching call. You do a recap. Okay. This is what I understand. Am I missing anything? Is there anything else that you'd like to share? It's just like that conversation where you mirror back what somebody just said and now they're hearing it back. Which is also evidence to them, oh, this does sound worse than what I was thinking it was because you just painted the picture back to 'em. you've reflected back to them what they said, and then they get to add to that like, oh yeah, this is something else I should add that always happens. That's what I find to be the case. now we've gone through that discovery period. At this point in the conversation, you might find out that you have the wrong person on the call with you. You might find out like, okay, this person needs therapy, not a coach, and so you wanna tell 'em that, based on what you're saying, I don't think I'm the right person to help you. This is an interesting idea because as new coaches, all we think is we're gonna have a consultation and we're gonna sell 'em. And you're not even considering that you might not wanna work with them. If you hear a little voice in the back of your head going, don't talk to this person, she's gonna drive you crazy. That's your clue to not make an offer to them. We always think we have to offer our coaching to everyone because of course they're here to buy. Guess what? You don't have to offer your coaching to everyone, really you're doing yourself a good deed and a good deed to them too. If you don't offer coaching to 'em, if they are not a fit or if they're going to annoy you, let's be honest, If there's somebody that you're like, oh, she's gonna drive me crazy, but I've got to sell my coaching. Then you probably shouldn't make an offer to him, and that's a time to just say, you know what? Based on everything I've heard, I don't think we're a fit to work together. It's been super fun to talk to you, but I wanna make sure that you get a coach that's best for you. Maybe you can make a referral to somebody else, Wish 'em well. Give them a resource. Tell 'em to stay connected with you. Thank 'em for being there and for connecting with you. And then send 'em on their way. that's really doing them a favor and it's doing you a favor too. if you get to the point where you're like, okay, I'm gonna make an offer to 'em, then it comes to the point where you start to fill the gap. Now I wanna pause and say, the reason why I'm talking about authentic selling is because I wanna tell you about how I learned how to sell and it was pushy and it was convincing, and it was arm twisting. Those are all things that I don't want you to do, and I'm pretty sure that're all things that you don't like being on the receiving end of. let me tell you about the way that I learned to sell online and why I'm passionate about having that comfortable conversation, I hired online sales coaches and I actually worked with two of 'em. And although I had been selling my entire life and was very successful at sales. I somehow thought that selling coaching online was gonna be different. And that's because I had watched YouTube videos about selling, and heard about this. You have to have a script and you have to have, this way of selling. And these coaches that I hired really taught me how to sell in a way that didn't feel like we were having an honest conversation It felt like my only objective was to make money and sell a high ticket offer. I didn't like any of that. I only wanna sell coaching to people that really want it. I don't wanna make it all about the money. The money for me would come as a result of selling the right people coaching. if you feel pushy, you should check yourself. Why am I feeling pushy? that might be because you don't love your offer because you don't like your price, because you're talking to the wrong person, but that's why I like to have this comfortable conversation. When I learned how to sell with a script from these coaches, we would get to this offer, part of the sales conversation. And it would just get messy. It would turn into this thing where you're trying to convince 'em to buy, or you're trying to get them to ask you, desperately needing your help. And I don't like that. what I recommend, the thing that felt best for me was to say, okay, I hear where you're at. I understand your pain points. I see what you want. And now if you believe you're a fit this is an opportunity for you to say, you know what? I'm so excited. Because I wanna share with you the way that I can help you. I know you, I know what you've been through. I know how to create transformation. And again, you wanna choose your own words and help this be something that flows out of you easily. But I've got a signature solution for you. This is my area of expertise. I'm so excited about what can happen for you. Let me walk you through the process of how I can support you. That is so much more fun and the other person is inspired then, They don't feel like, oh God, here it comes. She's gonna gimme the sales pitch. Now it's let me share with you how we could work together, what I could do for you, and then we can decide together if it's a fit. That is so much easier and will reduce that pressure that you feel. have that explanation period of how you're gonna support him. Make sure that you tie back into that initial conversation where they were sharing what the problem is. They were telling you why anything else they've tried hasn't worked. They've shared why it really matters. They have given you that information To help them make a good decision. They've shared with you the dreams, their desires, That's all part of what's gonna help them make that good decision. You talk about what their life's gonna look like, what the path to getting that result is gonna be, and then you make the offer, When I say make the offer, you ask direct questions, You want to get a yes or a no. You don't wanna just have somebody be hanging out there. Honestly, that means you didn't do your job on this sales call. Remember, you're only probably gonna have one chance to get to this point in the conversation, that's not to say that you can't try to sell 'em again, but this one chance to really either get them to stick around for later to buy from you or to buy from you right then. it's important to say, I want to talk to you about my offer. You make the offer and you say, okay, this is how we move forward. You present the price and you present it comfortably and confidently because you know that it's a price that you feel an integrity with. I'm gonna pause for a moment and tell you, this was a massive mistake that I made. I listened to this sales coach that I hired. She said, you should sell high ticket coaching. I suggested a price that I felt good about and she said, oh, no. You should be selling it for more than that. I believe what she said. I did not trust my own gut And every time that I offered the price. I felt yucky about it. I had a bunch of backtalk. a bunch of chatter going on in my head like, that's too much. You shouldn't be charging that much. And I made a mistake and it cost me a bunch of sales. And here's the deal. Maybe I sounded great on the call. when I presented the price because I'd practiced it, but the truth is people can sense when you have a disconnect, make sure that you feel good about your pricing, and I actually recommend that you can even start at a lower price, get good at selling at that price, and then raise your price until you get really comfortable with the high price. That is actually probably at least my experience was. How you might sell your coaching better. Once I lowered the price to where I felt comfortable, I sold to practically every person I talked to. It was that easy when I was in alignment with the niche, the offer, the price, all of it. make your offer, tell the price, and then wait, You've said the price and they have to process it, and they might say oh, but you don't need to read anything into the, oh, That, oh is just a word. It doesn't mean that they're saying you're too expensive. It's just them processing what you just said. You'll get better when you get more experienced at this, but just allowing that time, just a moment. It'll feel like a long time, but to let them think, okay, how am I gonna pay for this? Or how am I gonna explain this to my spouse? am I really gonna do the work this time? These are all thoughts that they're having and they just need a moment to think about it. Then you can say, tell me what's coming up for you. I love that question and a lot of times people are like, well, I just didn't know. It's yeah, I understand. If you've never bought coaching before, maybe you didn't know what it was gonna cost just let them talk that through. be there to hear 'em, answer their questions, validate how they feel. I remember saying to people plenty of times, yeah, I get it. I didn't know what it was gonna cost to hire a coach either, But once I did, it's a great investment. Expect a price objection and be prepared to answer it. I hope you never get one, but here's the deal. expect it and be prepared because we wanna make sure that if you have that opportunity to have this beautiful sales conversation, you have this discovery period where they see what's going on. I wanna make sure that you can help 'em through the objection. So there's gonna be a potential price objection. There's gonna be I have to think about it. You wanna be prepared to handle that too. How much time are you gonna give them? Maybe you give them an incentive for getting started on the call so you don't have to follow up. Be prepared for every objection if they have to talk to their spouse. I understand. That's a great way to answer that. Then let's talk about what they're gonna say. Let me help you through that. What I typically find out is that the questions they say their spouse is gonna have are the questions that they actually have. A lot of times when I say, let's work on answering those questions together, let me answer those questions for you. Let's get you comfortable. if you really wanna move forward, have that conversation with your partner. Your spouse, that you're able to answer those comfortably and seriously. Sometimes people say, you know what? I don't actually need to have that conversation now. I'll just go ahead and pay. I'll explain it to 'em later and it's because I answered their questions. be prepared for those objections. Another objection would be time. I don't know if I have enough time. How much time is this gonna take? Or the time to start, this isn't right. This is why it's important for you to have written down. Why now is the right time? Why they need your help, They've answered those questions earlier. This is when you go back to that and you say, now look, let's be honest here. We just went through this and you said, now is the right time because of this. Tell me what's coming up for you. You can keep coming back to that same question, so make sure you work through that. Alright, let's assume that you get a yes, When you have a yes, you should have a link ready to pay immediately. Get their first coaching call within 24 hours. I recommend set up so that the person doesn't go have that buyer's remorse of like, oh, great, I have to wait a week. If they can't get a call with you the next day, then say, I've got some homework for you to do, I'll check in with you tomorrow via email. Get them busy in the process. Get 'em started on their journey to the result that they're looking for. get the payment, get 'em on your calendar. Get 'em the Zoom link. Make sure they know what to do. If it's a no, a no is not forever a no. It might be, I have to think about it. If it's, I have to think about it, schedule a follow up call. Tell me what you need to make a better decision. What can I send you? And then schedule a time for a follow-up. most of the time that's not a problem. They'll come back to the follow-up, they'll let you know what the status of it is. If it's just a no, here's what I want you to know. Send a follow up anyway after it's over, Thanking them for the time that they gave you. Giving them a recap of, I wanted to share some notes back from our call. Here's what I said. Here's what you wanted. Here's how I can help you. It'd be my honor to help you. Maybe you share some more insights. Maybe you share a story about another client who was in the same position, who got this transformation. Follow up with them Continue to follow up. You will have people that meet you on day one, that schedule a consultation and buy coaching from you. You'll have people that need more time with you. They will meet you. They'll listen to your podcast. They'll come to your free trainings. They will ask their friends about you. They'll lurk around and watch you on social media and never engage with you. But they will be looking at your Instagram. reading your stuff on LinkedIn, Then maybe they'll schedule a call. Maybe they'll come to a bunch of your free trainings and still not schedule a call, but you just don't know when their no is going to become a yes. They might do all of that other stuff in between. a no. Could turn into a yes at any moment. you could have somebody meet you the very first day and buy from you, but it also might take a couple of years. be prepared for all those ways. When you love what you do and you want to serve and your why is driven by you making transformation, keep that at the forefront of your mind, and all of this will come together. It's a matter of getting more people in your world, more eyes on what you do, more marketing that will drive people to your consultations. as you do that, there'll be more people that are either saying yes to you today that are saying maybe. They're saying no, that can still become yeses later. It's like it's a cycle that you're gonna take people through. I hope this was helpful to you. to recap, there are two parts that I talked about. I talked about the niche, the alignment with your message, with your brand, with your offer. Every piece of that, including your pricing and then having that comfortable conversation, checking yourself to make sure that you don't feel pushy, asking yourself why you feel that way, and cleaning that up. And then having a conversation that you script, not a script that you got from somebody else. Taking the time to make sure that you address the objections, and then just loving people as they make a decision. go sell your coaching. I want you to serve a lot of people. Get good at this. Make sure you record your calls and watch them back, and make sure you learn from yourself on this. There is a skill to being really good at this, It doesn't take a lot of work, but the more preparation you have, the more practice that you do. I used to practice my sales calls. I would practice with peers, I would practice with friends. I would watch myself back on practice calls and on real consultations so I could get better at it. Alright, that is it for today. I wanna invite you to join me for one of my workshops. Head over to debbie shadow.com/. Workshop. I'm gonna leave that link in the comments or in the show notes. You guys, I always have great opportunities for you to connect with me, to learn more from me, to follow me and engage with me. I hope you do that. Have a beautiful day. Go sell some coaching and have your own comfortable conversation where you can help somebody discover how powerful your coaching can be for them. Have a beautiful day. Bye-bye.