Background
Over the years one of the most frequently asked question we’ve been asked is how much to charge for coaching. The answer isn’t simple and we’ve written about some of the fundamentals and what plays into answering this question elsewhere on this blog.
However, along the way I’ve discovered a number of factors that (should) play into how much I charge for my services. Many of these factors I hadn’t taken into account during the first 5 years of working as a coach and when I finally did I found it quite easy to increase my prices. In fact, since fairness is such a strong value for me, I felt compelled to put my prices up. And since increasing or setting prices is such a sensitive point for many coaches (both new and seasoned), I wanted to share this list with you.
Let me know what you think and whether there are any others that we might want to add to this.
I’d also LOVE it if someone out there with a lot of love for Excel could actually create a formula out of this. I know the word is in the headline but I really don’t have the skill- or mindset to tackle that undertaking. If you are the kind of person that could create a mathematical formula out of these (often complex) factors, please talk to me! 
But without further ado, here it goes:
- Your level of experience and coaching skills (e.g. years of training, level of accreditation, number of certificates
- An amount that you’re comfortable with and which you can say/pitch confidently
- Client’s potential ROI (return on investment) –> the value that the client is likely getting from the work
- Market rates or what the competition (you care about) charges
- What resources the client has access to (e.g. their salary, assets, savings, wealthy relatives, sponsors, etc.)
- The cost of acquisition (cost of advertising, time spend networking, writing proposals, tickets to events, etc)
- How much you’ve invested in your coach training (incl. supervision, events and other activities that helped you form)
- How much you might earn if you weren’t a coach or if you would spend your time doing something different
- What it takes to get or keep your client really committed to the process (the best fees a bit of a stretch for your client)
- How much you would like to earn or how much you need to earn to get by/be comfortable/live the life you want
