5 Steps to Create a Signature Coaching Program That Stands Out + Template
As a coach or aspiring coach, you probably know that your clients need personalized attention and guidance to achieve their goals.
But how do you stand out from the competition and truly help each client succeed at the same time? The answer lies in creating a signature coaching program that reflects your unique style, expertise, and approach.
In this article, I’ll show you how to create a signature coaching program that gets clients results and sets you apart from other coaches.
What’s included in this post:
- Benefits of Creating a Life Coaching Program
- Defining Your Signature Coaching Program
- Identifying Your Ideal Client
- Designing Your Coaching Framework
- Developing Your Coaching Materials
- Measuring Your Success
- FAQ [+ free template]
Benefits of Creating a Life Coaching Program
Many new coaches make the mistake of selling 1×1 coaching appointments and treating each coaching session as an isolated event.
While there is a value in meeting each coaching client where they are and serving their specific needs, this approach isn’t actually the best way to work with clients or grow a successful coaching business.
Instead, consider wrapping your coaching services and all of the coaching tools you’ve learned into a signature program.
A signature coaching program is the step-by-step framework for how you help your clients achieve the transformation you promise. It should reflect your unique skills, your approach, and the needs of your ideal client.
A signature coaching program will help you and your business:
- Standout from the competition: Having a signature coaching program will set you apart from other coaches in their niche. Because it showcases what is different and effective about your work, it becomes easier for clients to choose to work with you.
- Attract dream clients: A signature program speaks specifically to your ideal clients. The people who need your expertise and who are most likely to benefit from your approach will be drawn to it, especially when it’s packaged and marketed in a clear, concise way.
- Help more people get better results: A signature coaching program can support multiple clients’ needs. And, it helps you streamline your approach and work more efficiently and effectively with each client. Not to mention, your signature program can be tailored to work with individuals, groups, and even classes and workshops.
- Promote variety and flexibility: A signature program can be translated into a number of smaller programs, offers, and resources. Clarity around your signature program will help you diversify your offerings and reach more people with workshops, eBooks, courses, and more!
- Expand in reach and impact: A signature program can help make marketing, developing content, and sales easier. You’ll feel more clear about what you offer and how clients get results, making you more confident as a coach. Your ideal clients will sense your confidence and also feel more confident in their choice to work with you.
Step 1: Defining Your Signature Coaching Style
Before you can create a signature coaching program, you need to define what makes your coaching unique. To do so, you will be:
- Identifying your coaching style and approach: Are you a motivational coach, a strategic coach, or a transformational coach? What is your philosophy, and what are the values that guide your coaching practice? (Not sure yet? Check out our list of 21 types of coaches)
- Identifying your coaching niche: What are the specific areas of expertise that you bring to your coaching practice? In what specific areas do you bring the most value to your clients? (Not sure? Check out our list of most profitable coaching niches).
- Identifying your coaching outcomes: What specific, measurable results do you help your clients achieve? What are your ideal clients’ most desired outcomes? For example, are you focused on helping your clients improve their productivity, confidence, or relationships?
Want to explore your unique coaching style, strengths, and gifts? Click here to take our life coaching style quiz!
Step 2: Identifying Your Ideal Client
Once you’ve explored what sets your coaching different from your competition, you need to identify your ideal client. This involves:
- Understanding your target market: Who are the people that you want to work with? What are their desires, interests, goals, and pain points? By understanding your target market, you can tailor your coaching program to meet their specific needs.
- Creating your ideal client avatar: Create an example of the specific person that you would love to work with. What is their story? What are their goals, challenges, and aspirations? By creating an ideal client avatar, you can tailor the details of your coaching program and marketing content to speak directly to them.
- Identifying your client acquisition strategy: What are the channels that you will use to attract your ideal clients? Will you use social media, email marketing, or networking events? How will you communicate the value of your program through the outlets you choose? By identifying your client acquisition strategy, you can ensure that your coaching program reaches the right people.
Step 3: Designing Your Coaching Framework
Once you’ve identified your signature coaching style and ideal client, you need to design your coaching framework. This involves:
- Defining your coaching process: What are the steps that you will take to help your clients achieve their goals? Will you use a specific coaching model? What methods will you use to help your clients achieve their desired outcome? By defining your coaching process, you can ensure that your coaching sessions are structured and effective.
- Setting your coaching schedule: How often will you meet with your clients, and for how long? Will you offer in-person coaching sessions, virtual coaching sessions, or both? Will your program take place through one on one sessions, group coaching, or a combination? By setting your coaching schedule, you can ensure that your coaching program is convenient for your clients.
- Setting your coaching fees: What will you charge for your coaching program, and how will you structure your fees? Will you charge by the hour, by the session, or by the package?
Step 4: Developing Your Coaching Materials
Once you’ve designed your coaching framework, you need to develop your coaching materials. Developing your coaching materials includes:
- Creating your coaching worksheets and exercises: What tools will you use to help your clients achieve their goals? Will you create worksheets, exercises, or assessments? These supporting materials can help ensure that your coaching program is interactive and engaging.
- Developing your coaching resources: What resources will you provide to your clients to support their coaching journey? Will you offer books, videos, or online courses? Your coaching resources help ensure that your coaching program is comprehensive and valuable.
- Creating your coaching contract: What terms and conditions will you include in your coaching contract? Will you include a confidentiality clause, a termination clause, or a refund policy? By creating your coaching contract, you can ensure that your coaching program is professional and legally compliant. It will also help you be extra clear about what your clients can expect from your program, and what they cannot.
Step 5: Measuring Your Success
Once you’ve launched your signature coaching program, you need to measure your success. This is an often-overlooked step, and involves:
- Tracking your coaching metrics: What measurements will you use to track the success of your coaching program? Will you track client retention, client satisfaction, or revenue? By tracking your coaching metrics, you can identify areas for improvement and measure your progress over time.
- Getting feedback from your clients: What feedback would be most helpful from your clients? How will you use it to improve your coaching program? Will you use surveys, focus groups, or one-on-one feedback sessions? This can help you ensure that your coaching program meets their expectations, and give you a great resource for testimonials and social proof.
FAQs:
Q. How do I create a coaching program that stands out from the competition?
A. To create a coaching program that sets your coaching business apart, it needs to be clear, finite, actionable, and valuable. In other words, your potential clients must be able to immediately see how your program will benefit them, how long it will take, and what transformation they can expect. Even though your program will offer many value points, challenge yourself to focus on one, clear transformation for one specific group of people.
Q. Do I really need a signature coaching program?
A. Creating a signature coaching program can help you differentiate yourself from other coaches in your niche, attract more clients, and deliver better results. It offers structure for how you will guide your clients from where they are now to where they want to be. A signature coaching program will provide you a level of clarity that will help you have confidence marketing your services and growing your business.
Q. Where can I find a signature coaching program template?
A: You can use our coaching program outline below:
1. Overview
Name of Your Signature Coaching Program:
What is the goal of this signature coaching program? (One, key transformation you are promising):
Briefly describe the ideal client this program is for, including their pain points and challenges:
List 5 ways your coaching program will help your ideal client achieve their desired outcomes:
2. Coaching Framework
How long will your signature coaching program be?:
How often will each client interact with you, and how (ie: individual sessions, group sessions, etc.):
Determine a primary goal for each week or month of your program and an objective for each session:
- Month 1 Primary Goal:
- Session 1 objective:
- Session 2 objective::
- Month 1 assessment:
- Month 2 Primary Goal:
- Session 1 objective:
- Session 2 objective
- Month 2 assessment:
- Month 3 Primary Goal:
- Session 1 objective:
- Session 2 objective
- Month 3 assessment:
3. Coaching Materials
List any worksheets, workbooks, templates, and other resources you will use to support your clients’ learning and growth:
Indicate which stage of your coaching framework will correlate with each resource. In other words, when will your client receive or complete each resource?:
4. Marketing
Outline a marketing plan to promote your coaching program and attract new clients. Ask yourself where and how you’ll connect with your target audience.
5. Measuring Your Success
List the measurable goals for your coaching program:
How will you tracking each clients’ progress and results?:
Not Sure How to Start?
Creating, marketing, implementing, and testing your signature coaching program can be an overwhelming process.
It’s why so many coaches start their life coaching businesses trying to work with clients without the support and structure of a coaching program… and don’t achieve the level of success they really could!
At Brave Thinking Institute, we know firsthand how important a program is to creating the levels of success most aspiring coaches strive for. It’s why we provide every one of our certified coaches with a complete, proven program– one that we’ve tested and refined over decades of working with clients in the coaching industry.
And, we include everything a coach would need to run workshops, group programs, and one on one clients with our signature program, including curriculum, materials, guides, and more!
If you feel like this might be of benefit to you, I want to invite you to apply for a free, 90-minute strategy session with one of our experts. Not only will they help you refine your vision for your coaching business and what specific things you need to create that business with success…
But they’ll also be able to offer insight on the specific program we equip our coaches with, what’s included, and why, to see if it might be the solution that would be a good fit for you.
Click here to schedule your free session.
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