Joanna shared today that many coaches aren’t struggling because they lack skill… but because what they’re selling isn’t clear enough to buy. If someone landed on your offer right now, would they instantly recognise themselves in it, or would they need to work it out? Joanna walks through why offers often fall flat and how to turn what you do into something people can clearly understand, connect with, and say yes to.

Timestamps:

00:00 – The real problem

00:01 – Format vs outcome

00:02 – Selling the transition

00:03 – Why structure matters

00:05 – Simple offers win

00:06 – Let your offer evolve

00:08 – Designing around your life

“People don’t buy coaching because of the format. They buy because they want something in their life to change.” - Jo Lott

Take one offer you have right now and rewrite it so someone can see the before, the after, and the journey in one sentence.

Useful Links

The Clear Yes Workshop — 22 April, 1:00–2:30 PM (BST)

Learn about The Business of Coaching programme

Signature Solution Course

Download the Free Digital version of Coaches' Planner (NEW edition 2026)

Free Essential AI Toolkit – 2 Must-Have Prompts for Coaches

How to secure more coaching clients' free training

Download the 12 ways to get clients now

Connect with Jo on LinkedIn

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If you’re kind enough to leave a review, please do let Jo know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: joanna@joannalottcoaching.com

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Once a coach has some clarity on

their niche, the next question is

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about what exactly am I selling?

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And this is where many coaching

businesses can stall because coach

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training teaches you how to coach.

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But it rarely teaches you how

to turn that into something that

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people actually want to pay for.

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Many coaches default to

the simplest description.

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Something like I offer

one-on-one coaching sessions.

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And technically that is true, but from

a client's perspective, it doesn't

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tell them very much about why it's

gonna be valuable in their life.

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So it tells 'em about the format, but

it doesn't tell them about the purpose.

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It doesn't emotionally compel them to buy.

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And most people don't buy coaching

because of the format of one-on-one or

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group or however you decide to do it.

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They buy coaching because they want

something in their life to be different.

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So either they want to move away from.

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A problem that they are having

or sometimes because they want to

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move desperately towards a future

that they can see for themselves.

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Usually it's moving away from a problem.

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So for example, I wanted to film

YouTube videos, and after eight hours

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of trying to film a YouTube video.

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I gave up frustrated that I was

never gonna get this sorted out,

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and then somebody that I'd worked

with previously messaged saying,

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do you have any video needs?

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It was perfect timing because

I had a problem and yes,

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therefore I did have video needs.

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So often we want to solve problems.

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That's what we will pay to do.

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So when you are thinking about that

coaching offer of yours, one of the

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most helpful places to start is here.

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What transition is your

client moving through?

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Most coaching begins

at a moment of change.

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So maybe they want to leave their

job because they hate their boss.

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Maybe someone is.

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Starting a new job and

feels really unsure.

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Maybe for the first time they have to

manage a team and they just don't know

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how to do that and to get that authority.

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When you can create a journey that

takes people from where they are

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now to where they want to get to,

that is what they will pay for.

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So instead of saying, I offer

leadership coaching, so you might

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want to say something like, I help

new leaders navigate their first.

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Time in management and excel

in their first 90 days.

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Or instead of saying, I offer career

coaching, you might want to say, I

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help professionals who feel stuck

in their careers to really figure

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out what they want to do next and

take those first steps towards it.

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Now that person listening can picture

the journey that you will take them on.

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They can recognize whether it applies

to them, and that offer becomes so much

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more easier to say yes to 'cause it's

connected to the goal that they want.

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Another important part of creating

a strong offer is the structure,

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because meaningful change rarely

happens in a single conversation.

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So I always recommend not selling single

sessions of coaching because it's not

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financially viable for you, but it also

doesn't create the change that that person

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wants over time because as we know, most

things take a lot longer than we think.

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So you want to work with someone

over the period that will

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actually change their life.

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Through those reflections, them

experimenting with different ways,

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creating new behaviors, and that's why

coaching offers work well when they are

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usually over a period of maybe three

months, maybe six months, but that long

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enough period for real change to happen.

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That also feeds into something I talk

about often, which is getting great case

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studies, because whilst you can have

an amazing one-off coaching situation,

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you can rarely create the change that

people can talk about in a case study in.

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One month or one session.

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For example, inside my program, the

business of coaching, this is something

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I help people to build step by step.

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So we take that transformation that

the person wants and we turn it into

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a clear journey with checkpoints.

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So your clients will really

start to see that, for example.

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Okay.

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I get, if I'm stuck in my career and

I start to know my strengths, know the

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industry and learn how to interview

well, that I might be able to get a job.

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So if we can tell people those

checkpoints, they can start to see,

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okay, this person's thought it through.

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It sounds like they have a plan to

get me to where I want to get to.

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It's still coaching, but now it has

a structure that people understand

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because the problem is most people

have never been coached and therefore

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don't understand the power of coaching.

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And when we package it up into something

that people understand enough to pay

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for, then your business will take off.

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Something else worth remembering

is that your first offer

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doesn't need to be complicated.

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Often those simple offers

are much easier to explain.

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So one clear problem, one clear person,

one journey that you will take them

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on, that is enough to begin with.

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So you don't need to create a full

offer suite for every eventuality.

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If you've never sold anything,

then just start with one program.

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Eventually you'll start to see,

okay, do people need something less?

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Do they need something more?

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But if you create too many options,

the client won't be able to make a

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decision about which option to choose.

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It's also really important for

you to get to know that offer.

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You will start noticing patterns.

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You will start seeing what conversations,

create the biggest shifts for

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your clients and understand really

deeply what they need, and then

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eventually you will make that offer.

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Amazing.

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I love that.

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My program, the business of

coaching, has been running

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for four and a half years now.

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And it started as a three month program.

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I then learned enough to realize that

three months was not enough to do

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all the things that we wanted to do.

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Made it a six month program.

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And in fact, it's often now a program

people stay in for years because

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business building is ongoing and there's

always gonna be changes happening.

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But if I had tried to perfect that offer.

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Four and a half years ago, without

going through the journey, I wouldn't

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be in the situation that I am now with

an offer that I absolutely love and

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gets incredible results for my clients.

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It's also really important to

think about your business model

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when you're creating an offer.

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I deliberately went down the group

program route because I work school

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hours, so I have really limited

time to work, and although you can't

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always do that right away because

you need to build that lead flow.

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It was an intentional decision that I

wanted to do that so I can have time with

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my kids, time for my marketing time to

create this video and podcast for you.

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And that really meant intentional

designing of offers that work.

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With those rhythms.

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I also made my program term time only.

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So now I get to have all of the school

holidays off, including a full six

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weeks off at summer, which is heavenly.

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And all I do is I extend the

length of someone's support.

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So, for example, they pay for six

months support and then I'll add on two

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weeks for Easter, six weeks for summer.

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So they don't get penalized

because I work term time only.

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And in fact it usually works well for

most people because they don't want

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to work over the holidays either.

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So really think about that person,

the result that they want, as

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well as that business model

that will actually work for you.

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So if you are currently thinking

about your coaching offer, here are

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three questions that might help.

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Firstly, what problem or transition

are you helping someone move through?

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What kind of journey

will support that change

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and how can you best describe

that journey Clearly enough that

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someone recognizes themselves in it.

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One thing that can be really helpful

is dividing it into three phases

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so you can actually articulate it.

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So even if you have six or 12 coaching

sessions, don't feel like you need

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to say First session will do this.

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Second session will do that.

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See if you can summarize it into

three easy phases that people

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understand enough to buy into.

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When someone hears your offer and

thinks this is exactly what I need,

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then they will pay for that offer.

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If you are in the place where you are

having discovery calls and people are

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saying it's expensive, then they're

probably not connecting it to a real

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problem that they have in their life.

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So it might be about you going

back to that offer, really thinking

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about what your offer promise is.

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If the word offer promise scares

you, think of it as this offer is

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designed to help you get into a

career that you love, for example.

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So you can't guarantee that that person is

going to get into a career that they love

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because there are no guarantees in life.

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But you can guarantee that you

have designed your program.

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For that aim, and I know that you

know your stuff and you will be

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caring about your client and wanting

to do your best for them, but

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they do have to meet you halfway.

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If you would like help creating your

own coaching offer, I have created

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a free resource called 10 Steps to

Create a Signature Coaching offer.

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You will find the link in the

description or the show notes.

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And I hope it helps you map out an amazing

offer to get out there and sell today.

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I hope today's episode was useful,

and like I say at the end of

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every episode, trust yourself.

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Believe in yourself, and be the wise

gardener who keeps on watering the seed.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):

Thank you so much for listening to this

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episode of Women in the Coaching Arena.

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I have a mess of free resources on

my website joannalottcoaching.com.

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That's Joanna with an A

and Lott with two T's.

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joannalottcoaching.com.

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And I'll also put links in the show notes.

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Let me know if you found

this episode useful.

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Share it with a friend and

leave me a review, and I will

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personally thank you for that.

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Remember to trust yourself, believe

in yourself and be the wise Gardner

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who keeps on watering the seed.

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Get into the arena dare, greatly and try.