Ep #28: The Power of 3 Pricing Boundaries in Your Coaching Business

Hey coach, have you ever wondered what to do when someone asks you for a discount on your coaching or asked you for a special payment plan or anything like that? It can definitely feel like an awkward moment. But I'm here to change that for you.

I'm Kendall. Tune in because in today's episode, I'm going to share with you three simple boundaries that you can implement today in your coaching business so that you can stand behind your pricing with grace and leadership, like the coach boss that you are. I'm also going to clarify the distinction between standards and boundaries, which is so important, and something that a lot of coaches don't truly understand. It's all here for you in this episode of The Money Coach School Podcast. Let's dive in.

Welcome to The Money Coach School Podcast. To really excel at coaching women, you have to be skilled, confident, and even fearless at money coaching. If you're passionate about women holding genuine money power and love supporting women entrepreneurs, then this is the show for you. Now, here's your host, money feminist Kendall SummerHawk.

Hello, beautiful coach. This is such a good episode that I have here for you. Of course, I think every time I talk about pricing it's a great episode. It's one of my all-time favorite ways to incorporate money work, thought work, mastering your emotions, raising your sense of self respect, and creating an empowered self-concept. So all good things to talk about with your pricing.

So today, we're going to talk about pricing and boundaries, which are so needed and so much easier than you may have realized. Now, this is a powerful piece of work I'm sharing with you here today. So you're going to want to pay close attention. The good thing is, it's really, really simple.

Coaches already typically struggle with boundaries because they think that holding a boundary somehow means that you're not a nice person, or that you're going to hurt someone's feelings. So they feel uncomfortable standing up for what they want or telling someone nope, that's not going to work for me. I get it. I am a former people pleaser, and I hate telling someone no. To this day, I hate saying no, it can feel incredibly uncomfortable.

But that's because most coaches are going about setting boundaries in totally the wrong way. Today, I'm going to show you how to reverse that. I'm going to show you how to create boundaries that are easy to hold. We're going to focus on boundaries related to three key areas of your pricing here today. Because playing loosey goosey with your pricing boundaries, that is going to cost you in lost time, lost money, lost confidence, and a lot of drama that you just don't need in your coaching business.

On the flip side, having clear boundaries that you can stand behind in these three areas I'm going to share with you here today is how you stand in your power with grace and strength from day one in your business. Or as you add your first client or as you add your 10th client or your 100th client. It doesn't really matter. Pricing boundaries are how you create trust within yourself. That, my beautiful soul, is how do you create a coaching business that you are 100% in love with.

So I'm going to clarify for you the difference between standards and boundaries so that there's no confusion about that because they are two different things. Then I'm going to give you three boundaries that you're going to want to integrate into your coaching business so that you're not caught by surprise the next time a client or a potential client wants to push on those boundaries.

All right, number one, let's get clear on the difference between standards and boundaries. Because this is the key to upholding your boundaries easily. So the way to think about standards is this. Standards are the level of expectation you have for yourself and what you want. Standards are very, very closely related to your values.

So, for example, my core values are honesty and integrity. So the standard I hold myself and everyone in my company to is that we are trusted and trustworthy. I hold us to the standard that we are consistently open, honest, ethical, and genuine. We do the right thing, and we do the right thing even when it's not the easy thing.

That's why I have this incredible reputation that I do in the coaching industry. It's why we have the trust of our clients and the respect of my peers. So I think of standards as my way of being or living my values. Again, standards of a level of expectation I have for myself and everybody in my business.

Now boundaries are how you uphold your standards. So, for example, my standard with my pricing is that we charge what we charge. We don't discount. We don't trade. We don't make custom payment plans when someone wants to enroll in certification. Our standard is we charge what we charge. So you can hear how clear and simple that is. So our boundaries are easy. I actually just named a bunch of them.

If someone asks can they pay a lower deposit to get started? The answer is no because our standard is we charge what we charge. If someone asks if we can lower the payment plan amount and extend it for longer payments, the answer is no because we don't monkey with the amounts. If someone runs into a payment issue once they're inside certification, we definitely work with them, but always coming from the standard that we charge what we charge.

So our energy around this is confident because we're standing on the solid foundation of our standard. Our energy is also compassionate and has a yes feel to it because we know we don't have to be hard assed or defensive or angry or apologizing in upholding our standard. It's like we can relax into being in rapport and relationship with our clients inside a certification because our standard is we charge what we charge. So there's no emotional heat to any conversation we have about it. It just is what it is.

So to summarize on clarifying standards and boundaries, standards are the level of expectation you have for yourself, and boundaries are how you uphold your standards. So from a hierarchy standpoint, standards come first and then they're upheld by boundaries underneath them.

All right, so now let's talk about three boundaries that you definitely want to have with your pricing. Boundary number one, don't discount your coaching. So the standard here is you charge what you charge. Someone asking or trying to get you to lower your coaching fee is not an option that's on the table. You don't need to apologize and say I'm sorry.

You can just say something as simple as discounting isn't an option. What I do have as an option is a shorter term coaching program that's a smaller investment if you're open to hearing about that. So a very, very simple script. If you heard how, there's no apology in there. It's simple. It's direct. It's respectful for both the person hearing it and respectful for me as the coach.

By the way, coach, if you want over 15 scripts for knowing how to talk about money and if you want my step by step method for how to talk about money easily and comfortably without the money drama, then definitely check out my new training Mastering Money Conversations, and I'll link to that in the show notes.

All right, boundary number two, don't discuss the investment before its time. There is a right time and a wrong time to discuss in your coaching fees. The right time is after you're clear what challenges your prospective client wants to solve and what results that they're looking for. Not just a result today, but what their ultimate results are.

In other words, what challenges do they no longer want to be experiencing? What do they aspire to experience instead? Discovering and outlining that can happen in 15, 20, maybe 25 minutes of a conversation, or it can happen and back and forth in the DMS as well. But giving a price prior to that is always a mistake.

The standard here is you decide when to discuss money. The boundary is simply not doing it before it's time because remember, your boundary upholds your standard. So when someone asks early on in the conversation how much you charge, definitely be honest, be confident, and let them know you have a few different options and that you'll be happy to share those and what the investment is once you've asked a few questions first. In other words, don't give the amount first.

All right, boundary number three, don't take it personally if someone says you're too expensive. First of all, hearing that does not mean there's anything wrong with your pricing. Yes, you're going to be, quote unquote, too expensive for some people. You're also going to be too low for others. What matters is that you are crystal clear what results are possible for someone when they coach with you. I talk about this in a number of different episodes. I'll link to those in the show notes as well.

This is the beauty of choosing to become a business coach for women entrepreneurs because the results you coach clients to create, they're easy to identify and easy to talk about.

All right, so let me give you an example. Our standard is our certification trainings are worth 10 times the tuition. Our standard is a woman coming into certified coach training can experience a full return on investment with just two, three, maybe four clients. Our standard is someone coming into certification can start making money within the first few weeks of training if that's what she chooses to do.

So we absolutely do not take it personally if someone says we're too expensive because we know we're worth every penny and worth so much more. If you have a standard that your pricing reflects a return on investment, then upholding that standard with a boundary of not taking it personally is easy to do. No drama, no emotional heat, no defensiveness. If you're not crystal clear about the results clients get from coaching with you, then that's a place where you need to do the work because not knowing that is keeping you from feeling 1,000% confident in what you are charging.

Every one of these three boundaries with your pricing is going to make you feel confident and secure about what you're charging. They're going to help you feel connected and confident talking with potential clients. This is you having a standard of standing in your power with your pricing. Don't you just love it?

Now I founded my company to start a revolution. That revolution is to create a world where women hold genuine money power. We are women. We are soul driven. Your pricing is just another manifestation of your relationship with money. So get clear on your standards regarding your pricing. Remember, your business gets to run your way.

Then anytime someone is asking for something different than how you have your pricing set up, just run it through the filter of your standard. If it doesn't fit, it's a no. You can be fully in the space of positive yes energy even as you say no. That means no defensiveness, no blame, no guarding, no apology. It just is the way it is.

So if you want more support around this topic of discussing money, definitely check out my mastering money conversations new training. It's a really quick training that will give you the skill of masterfully handling any type of money conversation with all of that grace and ease and leadership that is so you. Plus I give you over 15 scripts, and you get to hear me model each of these for you so you can catch all of the nuances of voice, tone, and energy. All right, my beautiful soul. Thank you so much for tuning in. I will see you here next week for our next episode on all things money and coaching.

Thank you so much for tuning into this week's episode of The Money Coach School Podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast, make sure you follow so you never miss an episode. Also, I would so love and appreciate if you would leave a 5-star review. Your review supports women just like you in discovering all of the juicy tips and insights I’m sharing here on how to coach women on money.

And if you want to learn how to excel at coaching women on money, definitely go to KendallSummerHawk.com and check out the wealth of money coach trainings that we have for you. Thanks so much for being part of this money coaching movement and for tuning into the show every week.