Top 5 Mistakes Online Coaches Make (and How to Avoid Them!)

Hey Friend!

When you are getting started with your online coaching business, it can be hard to know exactly how to make it work. I want to save you a lot of wasted time so we are going to be digging into the top 5 mistakes online coaches make and how to avoid them.

Whether you want to get started or you’re already a coach, this is going to help you:

• Get more clients
• Make more conversions
• Make more money!

Testimonial

Well hey, there Stef this is Emily McDermott from the Moms Overcoming Overwhelm Podcast. Tomorrow is a special day for me because it’s my birthday and the one-year anniversary of my podcast. I took the leap and purchased CYC and PPU back in January of 2022 with the goal of launching my podcast on September 15th. Then after the August boot camp, I took another leap and joined P2P just as I was about to launch. It was the best decision I ever made. Now one year in I’m at 58,000 downloads, I’m a 1.5% top globally ranked podcast, and I’m ranking consistently in 34 countries and counting. My Facebook group has over 200 moms who are decluttering their homes, heads, and hearts and I’m getting coaching clients directly from the podcast and the group. I’m a writer at heart and thought blogging was my path, but you opened up my eyes to how podcasting helps me make income and impact and now I can’t imagine doing anything else. Thank you so much for your guidance and support and for how to partner with God to build a business I am proud of. I am forever grateful to you!

Podcasting helps you make income and impact!

Emily has 58,000 downloads plus coaching clients directly from her podcast. She began with Clarify Your Calling to figure out what she wanted to do and bring into the world. Then she moved into Podcast Pro University and learned how to launch her podcast which she did successfully. And then she moved into Podcast to Profit to learn how to monetize and she is doing incredibly well on the other side of that.

Friend, if you want to join the Stefanie Gass school there is a course to support you in your journey no matter where you are. If you are like Emily and want to make money with online coaching, then keep reading to find out what you want to avoid as you move forward.

We are talking about the top 5 mistakes online coaches make and this is truly related to what I see as my students come in and we get them going on their brand new coaching business inside Podcast to Profit or whether they come in with a coaching business and want to uplevel, this is the stuff I see over and over again. I want to help you not make these mistakes and make that money a little bit quicker and get those leads a little bit faster and just cut down the learning journey.

Mistake 1: Not Focusing On The Person You Serve In Your Marketing and Messaging

This looks a lot like “I am a coach, and I do this, and this is where I’ve been.” We forget that what creates sales, trust, and conversion is creating content and copy around the pain points your person is experiencing. Shift your marketing from you to them.

• What are they saying?
• What do they think they need?

Creating a personalized message around your ideal avatar is going to completely transform the marketing. When they feel like you are speaking directly to them because your marketing is on point, you’ll find the clients come straight to you.

Mistake 2: Over or Underpricing Your Services

I have some coaches come in and they tell me that they are priced at 20 bucks and I have to explain that as a consumer there is an alarm that goes off when we think that something is underpriced. We start to worry about:

• The quality not being high enough
• Why you are priced so low?
• If you aren’t that good of a coach.

These are the questions that your person might be thinking or asking. Making sure that you are not underpriced will you get your leads in your online coaching business as well as get you more money for your time.

Overpricing can hinder you as well

Pricing yourself at $200 or $300 an hour before you have created that demand is definitely something that can hinder you as well. That’s why I created a strategic pricing roadmap that I created for my Podcast to Profit students so you know exactly what to price your online coaching services and when to raise those prices.

Mistake 3: Building Bigger Packages Without Demand

Sometimes my coaches or even coaches I’ve seen online focus on selling bigger packages without building the demand. On their sales page, they have way too many options to book calls with them. What you are doing when you have so many options is just creating buyer confusion.

In Podcast to Profit (P2P) I teach you when to use the discovery call method and when do we not. Then I also teach you when we get to add packages to our offers. There’s a very fun and simple roadmap that I have my students follow that way you have a beautiful step-by-step scaling process to your online coaching offer. There is a rhyme and reason as to why we use discovery calls and when, why we start with one-hour calls, and when to upgrade and upsell into those packages.

Don’t create buyer confusion with too many options

Everyone is going to choose free. Sometimes we don’t need to have those discovery calls anymore once we’ve created that light demand. I teach you in P2P when to use discovery call methods and when not to. There is a very simple and fun roadmap that I have my students follow, that way you have a beautiful step-by-step scaling process for your online coaching offer. There is a rhyme and reason as to why we use discovery calls and when, why we start with one-hour calls, and when to upgrade and upsell into those packages.

Be mindful of not having so many options before you have cultivated that demand.

Mistake 4: Not Creating an Organic Lead Generation Funnel

Social media might not work for your online business like you thought. Maybe the followers aren’t coming or the ones who do come are disengaged and not buying.

Instead, I suggest working on an audience creation funnel like podcasting. This option is going to bring leads that are looking for a solution ( not just scrolling Instagram) which makes it so much easier to sell your coaching offer. It brings in the sales and brings in the leads.

You’ve got to focus on building your organic lead gen funnel and my absolute favorite is podcasting. If you don’t have a podcast and you want to learn more, head to my free workshop Podcast for Growth. It’s a 40-minute visual live workshop that teaches you how this whole thing works.

Mistake 5: You Forget the Upsell

When you have these clients that are coming in, you have to remember it is the easiest time to convert someone into the next step. They are so excited to work with you and move forward. In that discovery call, upsell into the hour. Or after that hour call, upsell into the package. Then when they finish that package, upsell them into the next package.

Don’t ever forget the upsell. That is the secret sauce to keeping people on the books and continuing to get them a result. How amazing to be able to get to work with you on a continued basis! Often this is something we tend to forget thinking our work is done. But in reality, our work is never done. There is always the next step we can take to help our clients.

Now You Can Avoid The Top 5 Mistakes I See Online Coaches Make

I hope that this has given you a little bit of a roadmap of how to NOT make these mistakes.

If you need help setting up an online coaching business that is going to absolutely flourish then I recommend you come and apply for Podcast to Profit. This is my 6-month group coaching program for podcasters. If you don’t have a podcast, you can put that in your application and we will get you set up with Podcast Pro University and Podcast to Profit for an incredible steal of a price. We’ve got you covered! Come apply! I will teach you exactly how I was able to create a multi-six-figure coaching business in less than 24 months. I give you all my tools and everything I did to do this.

And just like Emily in the testimony, you’ll be able to bring in leads and sales straight from your podcast. A dream come true!

God bless you and may God keep you safe, give you guidance, walk beside you, and lead you. May the Holy Spirit be present in all the things you do every day!

I pray this blesses you!

Xo,

Stef

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Before you go, be sure to watch the free workshop!

This free workshop is for you if you want to grow an online business in less time.

It will teach you how to explode your audience without the social media hustle, make consistent sales using a podcast, and plan, record, and launch a podcast with ease!

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