How to price your first coaching package
Start with delivery capacity and a clear promise. Then check the published band for the buyer you serve.
A first coaching package can look profitable on a sales page and lose money in the calendar. Six sessions are visible. Preparation, follow-up, rescheduling, sales calls and the support promised between sessions are not. Count the whole engagement before quoting a price.
This is a worked decision process, not a new industry survey. Coaching Rates is published by Coachful, which sells coaching software. The rate bands linked below come from third-party research and practitioner samples described on the method page.
The short answer
Price a first package from the hours it actually consumes, the number of clients you can serve well, and the outcome the buyer is paying for. Use a relevant published rate band as a reasonableness check, not as a price to copy.
Build the price from the work
Describe the outcome and buyer
A career transition bought by an individual and a leadership engagement bought by an employer are different markets. State the client, their problem and the change the engagement is intended to support before looking up an hourly average.
List every delivery commitment
Write down sessions, preparation, notes, asynchronous replies, assessments and review calls. Include a realistic allowance for postponements. The package price pays for all of these, even when only the sessions appear on the offer page.
Calculate a capacity floor
Divide the income the practice needs by the number of packages you can deliver without exceeding your working week. Add business costs and a buffer before treating the result as a quote. This is arithmetic for your practice, not an industry benchmark.
Compare with the relevant band
Check the niche rates, experience bands and published package structures. A band can expose an implausible assumption, but it cannot know your audience, credential or conversion rate.
Test and revise after actual sales
Record what buyers accepted, what they questioned, how much support the engagement used and whether they renewed. Change the next offer from observed delivery and sales data rather than from a confident market average.
An illustrative capacity worksheet
| Input | Illustration | Your figure |
|---|---|---|
| Sessions promised | 6 | Enter your offer |
| Other delivery hours | 6 | Preparation, notes and support |
| Total service hours | 12 | Add both rows |
| Packages you can serve at once | 8 | Use your actual calendar |
| Maximum committed hours | 96 | Multiply, then compare with capacity |
Illustrative arithmetic, not observed coaching averages. Replace every input before using the worksheet to set a price.
Work the price through before you publish it
Suppose the six meetings are one hour each and preparation, notes and bounded message support add another six hours. At a required $125 per working hour, the twelve-hour delivery commitment needs at least $1,500 before acquisition costs, tax and a margin for overruns. If three discovery conversations take an hour each to sell one package, the same $1,500 now covers fifteen hours and returns $100 per working hour.
Eight concurrent packages commit 96 delivery hours across their full term, not in a single week. Divide by the planned programme duration and put those hours beside existing work. If the schedule cannot hold the commitment, raise the price, narrow the support scope or reduce concurrency.
Do not assume that an eight-session package is the right answer because it is easy to display.
Why the hourly comparison is incomplete
A package is a commitment to a period of work, not a disguised bundle of calls. If you multiply six sessions by a market hourly rate and include unlimited messaging, the additional labour is free by accident. State the between-session boundary in the offer and price that boundary deliberately.
The packages reference reports a 40 to 60% earnings premium for package sellers, but that is a practitioner estimate, not a controlled comparison. It does not establish that changing the label on the same six hours will raise your income. Better scope, retention and a buyer who values the whole outcome are plausible mechanisms; measure them in your own practice.
Common questions
Should a first package be cheaper than separate sessions?
There is no universal rule. Quote for the full engagement, including support and preparation, and explain what the client receives. A discount that makes the package unprofitable is not required.
How many sessions should be included?
Use the smallest span in which you can responsibly work toward the promised outcome. Six sessions is a worksheet illustration, not a standard. State how unused sessions and rescheduling work.
The verdict
A useful first price is defensible from your calendar and your buyer, and checkable against a relevant published band. Review it after real engagements reveal the true hours and outcomes.