Hannah McNamara

That's the phrase used by most internet marketing gurus when it comes to creating additional income for your coaching practice.  I've yet to meet a coach who doesn't agree that having additional products to sell would be beneficial to their practice – even if they haven't got a plan for doing it.

After all, it is common practice for service businesses to offer an up-sell in addition to the services provided.  For example:

In the consumer market:

• Hairdressing salons encourage us to buy their preferred brand of hair products
• Dentists recommend the toothbrushes and mouthwashes in stock at reception
• Gyms promote their own-branded backpacks, water bottles and towels

In the business market:

• IT consultancies offer support contacts so that they are on-call to help you with any queries or issues
• Website designers will often include a hosting package with your site so they have had a residual income after the initial work is done
• Sales trainers supply books, manuals and CDs to help their delegates continue to learn by referring back to their materials again and again after the course

Given that almost every other type of service business knows about the need to ‘productize' why do so few coaches do it?  I think it's because coaching is, to a certain extent, reactive.  In most of the service businesses listed above, the service provider is doing something for the customer that they can't do themselves – cutting their hair, filling their teeth, designing a website or training their staff.  With coaching we believe that the coachee is the one doing the work, coming up with the ideas and ultimately generating the results.  All true.

What does this mean for creating products for your coaching practice?

While we usually do react to the topics our clients bring to sessions and go with the flow of conversation rather than guiding them down a particular path, there are certain things that you go through with more than one client.  You might have developed your own coaching tools, exercises and homework for them to complete.  You might find yourself using particular stories and metaphors repeatedly.  You might have written articles offering tips or suggestions on how to set goals, uncover values and limiting beliefs or how to come up with positive affirmations. 

Rather than only using these in one-to-one sessions, how about putting them together into a product for your clients?  Your clients pay for this information already, so there is a pretty good chance that people will be willing to pay for the same information delivered in a different form – as a product.

What could You turn into a product right now?