Hey there wellness entrepreneur, welcome back! Today we’re going to talk about how to create a health coaching program or wellness coaching package. If you’re a healthcare provider, and you want to have wellness services, you can call it whatever you would like if you don’t consider yourself a coach. However, I think coaching label applies to a lot that you can do as a health care provider and wellness practitioner – that might be a topic for another time. In fact you might love this blog.
This is the template you need to create your signature wellness program.
A Glimpse Of What You’ll Learn In This Blog
Today, we’re just talking about how to create and sell that wellness package or wellness program – as a health care provider that does do wellness services, as a yoga teacher that wants to package and have programs beyond just teaching yoga classes. Or as a yoga teacher creating a package for your private sessions.
This is also applicable to the health and wellness coach. Specifically, this episode is for one-to-one health coaching services, how to program and package that. Some questions and topics we will go over are why you should sell these health coaching programs and packages instead of one-off single coaching sessions, how to price this wellness program and package, should you give discounts, sow long should it be, should you do a group wellness program or one-to-one, and so much more. We’ll go over all these things in this blog because this is a big, hot topic.
We will also be talking about the dilemma on doing virtual or in-person packages, how to put together your own unique wellness program, and how will you ensure when you do put boundaries and criteria to your wellness programs. We will go over things like how long it’ll be, what are the results your clients will get, and how will you ensure that your clients are achieving those wellness goals. So this is going to be a meaty topic, make sure to bring out paper and a pen. In fact, if you’re reading this, after the time that the podcast for this was released, make sure to head to the show notes. There will be a free opt-in – the framework – on how to create a wellness program and package because I get asked this question a lot via Instagram, Facebook Messenger, in the Facebook group, via email – I get a lot of wellness practitioners reaching out asking about criteria for a wellness program and package so now you have it. Here you go and you’re welcome. This is my summer gift to you or whenever you’re listening!
How Will Selling Or Offering A Package Benefit Your Patients Or Clients?
So first off, let’s establish why you want to sell these programs, these packages, instead of one-off single coaching sessions. I have a question to ask you that you can write down the answers because it’s going to differ practitioner to practitioner. Here it is.
First Question You Need To Ask Yourself: How Will This Benefit Your Physical Therapy Patients, Yoga Students and/or Health Coaching Clients?
How will it benefit them to sell the package – a program -instead of a one-off session? So let’s answer it first from the client’s point of view because, again, I see this over and over again, I know you got into the industry to help people. And sometimes when we’re doing something uncomfortable in our business that yes, does benefit our business, does benefit our paycheck, benefits the lifestyle that we want to live, it’s still important to realize that most of the time when you make business decisions, that also has a dramatic positive impact on your clients.
If you can write all that out and come back to it day after day after day, it’s a great redirect for your brain when your brain wants to throw out resistance and obstacles as to why or it’s impossible to make this new change.
So ask yourself this question if you find yourself having resistance when talking to people that are interested in your private one-to-one sessions, whether that be a student coming to you at the end of your yoga class and asking, “Hey, I’d like to work with you more, I really like to improve my flexibility or strength,” or, “Hey, I’d really like to heal this low back issue,” or “I would like to heal and get more energy, because now my chemotherapy has ended.” All these sorts of questions, you want to be prepared with an answer of, “Sure. That’s great. Your next step is this.” Maybe it’s a consult call, or maybe you just chat with them for a few minutes, but you want to know exactly why you’re going to sell them or offer – make an offer – for your wellness program, versus just coming in for one session.
The Answer: One Session Isn’t Enough
That’s my go to – a lot of the time, it’s very hard. I don’t actually know, if it’s possible to get many of the long-term results your clients want and desire through one session. Think about it for yourself.
For me, the first session is an evaluation – an intake to find out. And this is whether I’m working with someone as a patient to overcome pain, a wellness client where they want to improve energy and sleep better and dial-in their personal health to explode in a positive way as an entrepreneur. This is also true for my business coaching wellness entrepreneurs I work with. The first session is always establishing their goals of where they want to go, what’s standing in the way. And then I do an intake of everything that they’ve tried before in the past, what didn’t work, what worked right. I have a whole evaluatory process of what I do in that first session. And typically, in that evaluation, I like to slow down, have the luxury of time to unpack years probably of patterning, of habits, of unconscious thinking. This isn’t judgment to the client or the patient, this is the work to unpack all these layers, so we can get to the root and then figure out what types of new patterns and habits made me to be brought in, what can be let go of, what needs to be processed, what needs to be rebuilt. It can seem like a lot, but that’s why if you have the luxury of time, the process can actually be simple and doable for anybody.
However, if I were to all try to get someone unpack all that and try to get someone a dramatic result in that first session, I would feel a lot of pressure. And I know this because as a physical therapist, as a yoga teacher, as a wellness practitioner, I used to try to do this. I used to lead yoga trainings and anatomy trainings for yoga teacher trainings for many, many years. And I would always offer a special for the students to come work with me for one session and I would hope that they would buy a package on the backend. But I would start with this one session for them to learn more about their bodies, their health, or their teaching business and I would get a lot of students that will come in only for this one session. As a result, I would try to cram as much as I could into one session.
This didn’t serve me because I would be hustling, racing around, then I would have to churn and burn because I’m always having to bring in new students, new clients, new patients because one person would come in and I have to have to do all this energy and this work to get the intake, to figure out what they want, to help them get a result. Then, it’d be the next person and it’s the same process again.
More importantly, it didn’t serve the students that were taking me up on my one-session offer because they would usually leave the session with a ton of information. They leave with so much information possibly that they would be overwhelmed themselves and ask the question, “Where do I start?” So, I’ve changed that.
The First Session Is Just The Start Of The Process
The first session is just the start of the process. Now, I only offer six-month packages. So with that first session, I have the luxury of time to ask a lot of questions, to learn about this person’s history, this path – the way that they think, the way that they do things. It can get so much foundation of where they are and where they want to go. And typically, that person will receive a micro-transformation through that first session.
They will get a homework to feel better whether it is in their mind, because they have tangible steps to move forward in their business, or exercises or actions for their health. Regardless, I always give one takeaway, one homework, assignment, in that first session. That’s it.
Where in the past, I used to give a whole sheet. They would leave with this whole sheet of homework and outline – pretty much – of things to do over the next few months. I guarantee, there’s a small percentage of people that actually follow through because most people kind of fall off along the way. This is especially true when they’re given a ton of information but no one’s supporting them along the process when the brain wants to talk them out of it. It’s normal, we’re just human beings.
What To Remember When Offering A Program
It’s remembering that when you’re offering a program – whether it’s three months, six months, the length of time that you’re selling the result – you’re not selling 12 sessions, 24 sessions, hour-long, 45 minutes, however long it is. The price – which we will talk about next as well – is associated with the result that your client, your patient, will be paying for. If you keep that in mind, that the benefit of having a package is to help guarantee that result that they’re going to pay for, where if you were to sell one off sessions, for example, for $200, and they’re paying $200 here, $200 there, it still adds up. And if they’re not in the container of support, they might not necessarily get the results that they desire.
Where if they are in the container that you created to help guarantee the results and they sign on to that right from the very beginning, there’s a higher likelihood that they will get the results. Then, you’re actually showing up as that practitioner that you wanted to be – the whole reason why you got into the wellness field in the first place: to help people. Now you’re actually helping people because you have a container designed to help those people get the results.
And it also serves your business, because you’re going to create when you’re selling programs, versus one-off sessions where people come and go here and there – unpredictable – creates unpredictable revenue. It’s hard to budget. You don’t know how much money is coming in at a given time. You can’t plan ahead. Oh, so and so and so are going to have to re-up their conversations. Their programs are going to come to the end. Maybe you can decide to raise your prices at that point, or just have a conversation with them. Have they met the results? Why or why not? Talk with them about going forward and re-upping for a new package. It’s a much easier conversation than just trying to schedule sessions, and always trying to bring in new people.
There’s a saying in the business world, that it requires more energy and effort to continuously be bringing in new clients and new patients versus having your revenue be from yes, new clients, new patients, and existing people that love your services and are loyal to your brand and you and keep wanting to work with you over and over and over again. That’s the more sustainable way to build a business. And the only way to really develop that is to have a foundation of a signature wellness program, or package, instead of just offering one-off sessions.
If you’re looking to work on this specifically uniquely to you and all your accreditations or certifications, your degrees, and how to create a signature program or package that’s unique to your offering and your niche. This is exactly what I do in the Awaken one to one program during the six months. Well the very first session, in fact, we create this program and then we spend the next six months marketing, selling, delivering all while implementing the ideal lifestyle and schedule that you desire. So if you’re interested into that, just use the link in the show notes to connect with me. You can hop on a call and we’ll go over exactly what you’re looking for and find out if you’re a good fit.
Pricing Your Programs
We’re going to talk about the pricing of this program, this package. Now let’s say you’re on-board. Ask yourself this: “Okay, I get it, I want to sell a program, a package, versus one-off sessions. How much should I charge?”
The first thing to figure out is, what is the result that your client, that your patient, will be paying for in the end? If they decide to work with you, for example, for three months, six months, maybe a whole year, what’s the result that they’re going to get during that length of time? This is also something I figure out in the very first session when I work with someone. I ask them, “Okay, what’s your goal?” and all roads always lead back to that goal.
Every session that I’m working with someone, I have their goal at the top of my own note-taking. So, it’s always right there flagged. And in fact, I have two goals that I usually work with someone. It’s usually because I work with primarily wellness practitioners, entrepreneurs, we have a number goal -their revenue goal – but we also have a CEO goal. So, who do they want to be as a wellness entrepreneur? What is their CEO goal? What self- concept do they want to create along the way? And in the beginning of each session, I’m always coming back to this goal, whether they’re wanting to fine-tune their schedule, to have more time with family, care for themselves more, have more energy, and it’s always coming back to this goal. I ask them questions like, “Okay, how was your schedule this week?”, or if that revenue goal is their top priority, I ask them, “All right. What was your revenue like this week?”, “How did the consults go?” , “Were there consults?” It’s my true north whenever working with someone.
Understand What You Can Offer To The Wellness World
It’s understanding your unique gifts that you can bring to the wellness world. Maybe you’re really great at helping beginner yoga students, for example, refine their practice in a safe way so they
can build strength and flexibility, so they can practice for their life. And you offer beginner yoga classes, slow flows, deep stretch, slow-moving classes, so they can tune in and listen to their body, to really build that flexibility and strength. And you can offer, for example, one to wellness programs to dial this in specifically for a person, where maybe they realize that they sit at the desk, so their hamstrings, their Psoas, their quads, their neck, are pretty tight. They’re in that slump Asana position most of the day, and they would like to reverse that because they kind of have a nagging, low back issue.
Or maybe you find, “Oh, I am great at that specific type of student. I know how to use props and I’m really good at being creative in terms of sequencing and allowing the student to access poses through a variety of ways, through their own body modifications and proper usage.” So the result is, they understand more about their bodies, so they can practice yoga safely, they can enter any class now whether it be an Ashtanga, or Vinyasa flow, without worry of injury. They know how to modify for themselves, they know how to practice at home, they understand how to discern in their body the discomfort of building strength and flexibility versus the discomfort that’s actually pain and could be leading to injury. You excel at that. So that could be a result, for example, and if you were to work with me, we would dial that into simple sentences so you can explain to your students at the end of classes, when someone came up to you, maybe during Facebook Lives or in posts, you know how to say it simply and succinctly.
So, if that was the result, and let’s say, a yoga student might choose to work with you for three months. What is the price where you could be confident in delivering that result? In fact, what is the price that would make the result that they would get an undercharge. Meaning, it’s an amazing deal. You will over-deliver. They will be surprised and delighted from all that they get for the price that they’re paying you.
This does not mean that you have to give a lot of deliverables or have a fancy portal. The over-deliver is the result. Maybe they even surpassed their goals or they hit their goals faster than they thought was ever possible. That’s an over-deliver. So, what is the price that can make your program an undercharge? And I learned this from working with Stacey Boehman and her 200k. I’ve also learned it from Brooke Castillo from being part of her life-coaching scholars program. I just love it because it’s very different than what I’ve experienced in the health care provider model, or even the yoga teacher model. Most of the time, I hear practitioners complaining and worrying that they’re giving away too much for free, that they’re burnout, they’re tired, they’re worried about not charging enough. They know they should raise their prices, but they’re scared to do so.
If you’re pricing your wellness coaching package or program – signature program – this way that you’re confident that they’ll get the results, it’s an undercharge. So, for example, when you sign on with me, as a wellness entrepreneur to grow your business profitably, sustainably, get the schedule you desire, bring-in more consistent revenue, the price that you pay me is an undercharge. Because, there’s so much potential you can make from working with me. I have many practitioners that make their money back in that first month, and then the remaining five months are all profit – that is an undercharge.
I also have some wellness entrepreneurs that are starting from the ground up, or working a full-time job as they’re growing their business. And so maybe it does take longer to earn their money back, maybe it takes all of six months. But then, they have the process to generate reliable and consistent income with a more dialled-in schedule so they can enjoy life while working full time and growing their business. That it’s an undercharge because they just repeat it over and over and over again to make thousands of dollars for the future. And even if they decide to re-up and work with me again for another six months, so they’re paying again, it’s still an undercharge because that next six months, a lot of the times, they make their both rounds that their money back in the first couple months. And then again, we steamroll forward.
How To Make Your Health Coaching Program An Undercharge
So, for you, how can you make your program an undercharge? Now here’s the other side, you have to be careful because if you do feel like you are burnout, tired, exhausted, or maybe even I mentioned this in a previous podcast, that you’re starting to resent your people, it might be a sign that your program is too low of a cost.
So, there is a sweet spot, making sure that it’s an undercharge. Your people are going to get the results, they’re going to be happy and raving loyal clients, and you’re bringing enough revenue to pay the bills, you’re not experiencing resentment, you don’t feel like you’re working all day, with nothing to show for it at the end.
If you are working session to session to session, and you’re not having any profit to take home, that is a sign that your prices are too low. And a lot of times, when wellness entrepreneurs first start working with me, I look at their numbers. Often, it’s small changes like this, just dialing in on the numbers of the length of time of their program, the cost of their program, we refine all these and then they have so much more confidence, they start making money quicker and faster.
So, find your sweet spot. And it might be through trial and error, that you figure out that ideal price for now. Because at some point, you will want to raise it again, that it’s an undercharge, it’s an amazing deal for your people, they’re going to be surprised and delighted and at the same time you’re going to be profitable, so you’re filling your cup, as well.
Should You Give Discounts?
The next question I often get pertaining to the price is should you give discounts. For example, let’s say you’re going to charge $150 for a 60-minute session, if someone purchase it as a one-off, and then if they buy a package, you’re going to lower the cost to $100 for 12 sessions for three months. So that 12-session package, three months package is $1,200.
This way of looking at your program, your package, is still in the time for money trade instead of focusing on the results that your clients are going to pay you for. So, you want to shift your mind from devaluing your service by discounting so much. In fact, I often tell people don’t even offer that one-off session, just make all the sessions $150. What’s the total at the end of 12 sessions or three months and the way you describe it is selling the result, selling the goal. And, if you’re feeling like you want to give more value for that three months that someone might choose to work with you, how can you add more value? How can you add bonuses maybe that are a value at instead of discounting and devaluing your services. There is a difference.
So for example, when a wellness entrepreneur signs on to work with me for six months, once a month, some bonuses and value adds that they get are two workbooks. The first workbook is so-called to help them learn how to trust their intuition, to make faster and quicker business decisions that they trust, believe in, they feel confident in to also help dial in their schedule, so they have more time with family, more time for self-care rituals, for example, these are just some things in that so-called workbook. They also get the structures and systems workbook where I have processes in there – the Ignite marketing framework, the processes to sell, the processes to go through consults, or gather testimonials. There’s a bunch of processes and systems in this book to help simplify and streamline things in your business for you.
These workbooks complement the online portal my clients also get. They also have access to any workshops paying or free, they can access anytime, unlimited amount of time where even my free workshops, for example, I usually only allow a limited time replay. People on my program can watch it again and again as many times as they want.
They also have access to any paid workshops I’ve done in the past. And again, they can watch it for however long as they want. And a lot of people love those workshops, because it’s a great summary of the work we do in sessions, or great reminders. So, these are some of the value-add, some bonuses my clients get as part of the six-month package with me. Now, they’re not required to hit the results. So don’t feel overwhelmed if you don’t have any deliverables such as those. Maybe, you can create some easy simple wins and bonuses such as a 90-minute onboarding sessions to go over their goals and create that plan. In fact, that’s what I help some of the wellness practitioners that I work with – to create these value adds. And it’s not to have the student or the client or the patient have more work. No one wants more busy work, no one wants more things to do outside of their sessions.
This is the work that’s bonus. It’s not required. The meat of the work is the coaching calls or when they’re actually with you in a session. This is the work that if they want to hit their goals faster in a shorter amount of time that they can choose to do to hit the result quicker. That’s why it’s a value-add, that’s why it’s a bonus. And the longer you’re working in your business, the more bonuses and deliverables you’ll create just naturally of doing the work I find of marketing.
So, for me, I have an endless amount of supply of workshops I’ve taught through the years that I can add as bonuses or freebies I’ve created. I just have so much content since 2016, of being consistent in my business, marketing, selling and delivery, I can swap things out, add things in, I have so much flexibility and diversity, where I can swap my bonuses to keep the audience engaged and maybe run specials if I’m doing open and close cart of something for example, in my signature program. Or wanting to run a Mother’s Day Special for example. I’ve gotten away from offering discounts over holidays and instead offering value-adds. It just makes so much more sense for my business.
How Long Should Your Wellness Program Be?
Should it be three months, six months, maybe six sessions? Maybe a whole year? I know several wellness practitioners that have year-long care packages.
Truthfully, it doesn’t matter. Again, it comes to the result, the goal that you’re offering your clients, and maybe the experience that you have as a practitioner. How long will it take for your clients to hit their goals? What’s a reasonable amount of time?
So, for example, again, my wellness program for the wellness entrepreneur to grow their business profitably and sustainably, I guarantee that will refine their schedule so they do have more time with family and they can get the energy that they want. I will also guarantee that at the end of six months, they will have a framework for marketing, selling, and delivery where they can know reliably that they can bring in clients, convert them, and also deliver the results that their clients are looking for.
It’s a process they can repeat over and over again for years to come to create $100,000. In fact, it’s the process that I use to create six figures in my own business. And if they decide to continue to work with me, we just keep increasing the revenue goal and streamlining their business.
So, for you, what can you guarantee your clients in the amount of time that they work for if they work with you for a whole year? At the end of that year, what will they achieve? They work with you for three months, what will they achieve?
Sometimes this can get confusing. Again, this is work thatI work on the wellness entrepreneurs with, but for right now, just decide, what results can you offer for your program? And what is the appropriate length of time that it would take for a client to achieve those results when working with you?
Should You Offer A Signature Group Wellness Program Or A One-To-One Wellness Package?
That’s up to you. What I’ve learned personally, I’ve moved to group and on-demand programs too quickly. And the other mistake I’ve made in my business is trying to offer too many things at one time without having the foundation for it.
So sometimes there are reasons as a CEO or wellness entrepreneur that you might decide to move to group, without having to demand the volume of several people and working one-to-one for years. There might be reasons as to why you want to do that and it doesn’t matter as long as you like your reasons. But, you have to also understand that with a group program, you do need a certain amount of people watching and following you. So, you have a group of three or five people that are willing to say yes to your offer right now all at the same time, and start at the same time. But, there is benefit to doing one-to-one first while you generate a strong following so you have enough people in your world to say yes to your offer at the same exact time.
But ultimately, in the end, it’s up to you, and what you want to prioritize in your business. You might prioritize starting group while sacrificing possibly the amount of revenue you’re making right now while you figure out how to make a group program work. However, if you’re looking for revenue, you might decide to stick with one-to-one. There’s no right answer. It just depends on the numbers of your business and what you decide right now as a wellness entrepreneur makes most sense.
The other mistake I’ve made in the past is thinking that one-to-ones were the reason why I was feeling so tired. I had too many one-to-ones in my schedule that I couldn’t keep up with so I had to move to group. I can tell you from personal experience, if you’re feeling that way, you just have to work on your mind. Through a year of coaching and figuring this out and hashing it out, I’ve now come to the point where I can handle a lot of one-to-ones in one week.
It’s still not crazy high volume therapists, I guess it’s relative where I’ll never have 35, 40 one-to-ones in one week. I’ve known practitioners that can handle this. But the number that I do have in a week, 20, for example, is much higher than it used to be where I still have my energy at the end of the week. And I know how to do this now. In fact, it’s what I help a lot of wellness entrepreneurs work with are their schedule and their self-concept to handle more one-to-ones without sacrificing their energy and feel like they’re overworking.
Should Your Wellness Program Be Virtual Or In-Person?
Again, there’s no right answer. I do a hybrid. I do some sessions online, I do some sessions in my shed. And I alternate throughout the day. You might do a hybrid, you might pick to do virtual or in-person only. That comes to, maybe, the best way that you can achieve the results for your people and the lifestyle that you want to live. Figuring out the answer to both of those questions will help decide if you should be virtual, in-person, or hybrid.
Conclusion
Now, how to put it all together. It comes back to the result, the promise that you’re offering, that you’re making to your clients, and develop your own intellectual property, and what is the framework, the process, to help them get there.
That’s some of the work I do in the one-to-one programs right now. I also will be releasing soon the Radiant Being Wellness and Yoga Teacher Training Mentoring, where we do dial in your practitioner skills, which can help to develop your unique framework and processes to help get there.
But for now, you can write it out. What is the framework that you currently teach people? If you were to work with someone for three months, what might that framework be? And you want to make sure you’re not so rigid, where you’re saying session one, we’re doing this, session two, we’re doing that, that there is no room for flexibility, there is no room for the client to come to the call and say, “Today, I would like to work on this because I’m really struggling with this.”
That’s another mistake I’ve seen a lot of wellness entrepreneurs making – making their process, their framework, so rigid, where step one, step two has to be done at this length of time, that they’re directing and controlling the sessions too much, that the client feels like they can’t bring their struggles, and where they are in their life to the call.
So, you want to leave an open room for flexibility, for the client to bring their goals, and what’s bothering them in the moment so you can work on that.
And then how will you ensure that they do achieve their wellness goals? This comes with experience. As you walk more and more clients and patients through your simple framework, it also comes with experience of getting out there and marketing and selling your program, getting better about talking about it. Know that the perfection – and that’s elusive – of bringing all this work together could sometimes come very quickly, depending on how long you’ve been doing this, or sometimes it can take a period of time to hash out all the different parts. And it comes with a little bit of trial and error of just getting out there and doing it.
I promise, if you just get out there, start exactly where you are in defining all these areas of your signature wellness program, over time, you will get better, faster, at getting your clients, your students, your patients, the results that they desire, you’ll get better tracking your ideal client, your ideal students, and you’ll get better at making offers of your program, describing it more succinctly – it will all comes together in time.
Don’t compare where I am in my business, since starting it in 2016, to where you are. Just focus on you, where you are. Make that the marker, the gate, for where you’re going to start the journey on the path of growing that strong foundation of your wellness program. It will come faster, easier, and with more success over time.
And when you get to that point, that means you’re ready to solve a new problem – maybe hiring in your business. You solve one problem, and you create another so take your time, make it fun, have it be enjoyable, make mistakes, laugh at yourself, and keep going.
Of course, if you need help with any of this, I’m happy to help you. I’m here for you to sign up for your free chat with me, your free consult call and we’ll go over your specific goals and create an easy, doable plan to get you to where you want to go.
All right, I’ll see you next week. Bye for now!
