One of the fastest, easiest, and most effective ways to build a successful coaching practice is through group life coaching.
Group coaching can be an incredibly powerful tool for coaches who want to make a bigger impact by working with more people. But most beginner life coaches decide to do it alone or rush into it with little guidance, which usually results in undercharging and overworking.
You could still be thinking about whether group coaching is a service you’d want to offer in the first place. After all, that would mean attracting more clients to fill your program. Talk about pressure, right?
But launching group life coaching can be light, fast, and easy with the right guidance. This post will go over how to start and run an effective group coaching session, so you can create transformational results in the lives of your clients on a larger scale.
Let’s turn frantic growth into fun growth, one step at a time!
What is a Group Coaching Program?
Group coaching isn’t just about packing more people into a session.
If it was all about filling more seats, it would be putting quantity over quality and volume overvalue. For instance, imagine using the same process for 1:1s in your group coaching calls. You could easily spend an hour on each person, which wouldn’t be the best use of time for anyone — not for you or your clients.
Instead, group coaching is all about optimizing your time investment.
Ultimately, it’s a more effective way to run your coaching business because you’re able to share the same principles with multiple people at once.
And since your time is a business investment, the more people you can work with, the more return on investment you’ll get from your group calls (and more testimonials)!
So, how do we maintain quality and value so that your clients can still experience transformational life coaching in a group setting? Let’s break down the benefits in our next section.
What Are the Benefits of Group Coaching?
- Increased impact, pay, and time freedom from coaching multiple people at once. This could be a part of your value ladder where clients who graduate out of group coaching can work with you 1:1 at a higher investment.
- Group coaching creates an opportunity to build loyalty, culture, and personal connection within a safe space and community.
- While 1:1’s usually have a more customizable schedule, it can be easy to miss appointments, move them around, and overall have less accountability. Whereas group coaching gives your clients structure without the intensity of a 1:1. Effective group coaching is also more structured and streamlined (which we’ll expand on later).
- Your client may have had a group coaching experience in the past where the community wasn’t properly curated and therefore created a negative experience. But as a trained life coach, you’ll have the opportunity to custom-build your groups and offer a much better experience for your clients.
Key Skills a Coach Needs for Effective Group Coaching
In order to have effective group coaching sessions, there are a few key skills that will help your clients achieve the transformation they desire:
- Time Management and Punctuality. Sticking to a set agenda and schedule tells your clients they can trust you to provide a reliable environment.
- Confidentiality. Being in a group may make people uncomfortable at first, but as you establish confidentiality, you’ll give your clients the reassurance that they are working in a safe space.
- Accountability. By creating intentional time to meet, share, and track progress, you give your clients a predictable action plan that they can rely on.
- Leadership. It’s important to set an example during your life coaching sessions. For instance, you can demonstrate leadership by instructing others on “how to share” and provide structure so that everyone knows what to expect.
[Bonus Tip] As people share, a good rule of thumb is to help them structure their responses. For example, during introductions, it can be easy for clients to trail off and share their entire life story. And as much as you’d love to hear their story, it will serve them and others better if they stick with the time they’re allotted and move the session along. Prevent the rabbit trails by inviting them to use a structure:
Ex: “Share your name, where you’re zooming in from, and one thing you’re looking forward to in this coaching program.”
These must-have life coaching traits work hand-in-hand with the coaching model we teach at Brave Thinking Institute: Evocative Coaching.
Rather than tell our clients what’s best for them (directive coaching), we help them find the answers they seek from within themselves. This method empowers clients to reframe problems and find solutions that come from their inner authority.
We use high-quality questions that result in paradigm shifts, overcoming victim mentality, and tapping into the potential within them that is far more powerful than any circumstance, situation, or condition.
This heart-centered, evocative approach to life coaching takes your sessions to a whole new level. Let’s break down what it takes to get there.
A Heart-Centered, Practical Guide on How to Coach In Groups
Our goal in this section is to make it as easy as possible for you to launch and organize your group coaching service. To accomplish that, we’ll set you up for success with the fundamentals of group coaching structure and pricing.
How Do You Structure and Facilitate a Group Coaching Session?
1. Ensure you have a curriculum everyone can follow.
2. Send a welcome letter to your clients ahead of time so they can get familiar with the flow of the session. This can be a physical letter or one you send via email (or both)!
3. In the very first session, add about 10-15 minutes extra to the timeline to allow for introductions and housekeeping items. Ex: If your sessions usually last for 60 minutes, let them know the first session will be about 70-75 minutes.
4. Begin your group coaching session with general information like how they can reach out to you, connect with the rest of the group, and encourage them to engage. You can outline the structure of the session during this time as well.
5. Move on to the icebreakers! Remember that your first session will be less about accountability and more about introductions and calibrating the group dynamic. You can also introduce the importance of having like-minded, supportive people around them (partners in belief) and invite them to connect with one another outside of the sessions. You can even create “connection-only” experiences to surprise and delight your clients. These events can include:
- Meeting other like-minded thinkers.
- Fun icebreaker exercises.
- Support, motivation, and inspiration.
- And masterminding around brave thinking questions.
6. During the weekly calls, move on to accountability, sharing progress, and celebrating wins.
7. As you prep your coaching session for landing, open the floor up to questions. This is a great opportunity for laser coaching or hot seats.
8. Closeout by letting them know what to expect for the next session and remind them about your office hours (if any), community connection, and next action steps.
This structure is a great foundation that I encourage you to customize for your own life coaching business.
Now, let’s talk about the investment!
How Do You Charge for Group Coaching?
Sales can be a tricky conversation for most beginner life coaches. But if you want to get better at sales, the first place to start is the heart.
When you offer your services, reframe “selling” as “sharing, recommending, and ultimately — serving.”
Think about a restaurant, movie, or experience you feel like your friend would absolutely love. When you share that experience with them and encourage them to check it out, there’s no anxiety or fear.
There’s no manipulation or feeling like you’re trying to convince them to do something they need to do.
You’re simply sharing something you genuinely believe will help them improve their life.
This is the mindset behind heart-centered sales. By reframing your sales, you’ll replace them with fun, empowering enrollment conversations that create more successful closes.
Group Coaching Prices
Group coaching typically costs less than a 1:1 session for a client. But since you’ll have more people in your coaching sessions, you’ll be able to scale a lot faster.
For example, let’s say your 1:1 program usually costs around $5000. For a group coaching program, you could charge $2700 with five available seats. That would create $13,500 from a single coaching program while adding more value to each of these clients with community, accountability, and fun!
You’ll also gain more exposure working with multiple people at a time who each have their own social circles, networks, and channels. Remember to encourage them to share their experiences and leave a testimonial if they desire.
When it comes to packaging, it’s best to charge upfront and reward full payment and fast action.
For example, your package could include 14 sessions (1 intro call, 12 coaching sessions, and 1 wrap-up call), acceptance into a private coaching community, and two free tickets to an upcoming virtual event.
Whatever your package is, remember to pack it full of value and give the offer a genuine sense of urgency.
At the end of the day, it’s all about coming from a heart of service. Your clients come to you because you offer something magnetic, compelling, and life-changing, and they want to be a part of it.
Your calling as a coach is as sacred as the dreams you help others achieve. And you deserve to make a bigger difference, in more lives, now more than ever. And your clients are waiting.
Expand Your Impact with Group Coaching!
By following the tips outlined in this post, you too can become masterful at effective group coaching. We’ve discussed the basics of group coaching and dug deep into heart-centered sales and evocative coaching practices.
Using these elements will help you scale your business with ease, fun, and flow. And the more clients you work with, the greater your impact and your abundance!
If you would like to learn more about magnetizing more of your dream clients, I encourage you to download this amazing free gift:
>> How to Enroll 10 New Clients in Less Than 90 Days
In this e-book, we reveal:
- The client attraction and enrollment secrets used by our most successful life coaches.
- A guide in conducting heart-centered sales.
- And the 8 steps life coaches take to grow a 6-7 figure coaching business!
Until next time, scale your impact, accelerate your growth, and make the difference you were meant to create in this world.
Think bravely and act boldly,
Mat Boggs
