How to Announce a Coaching Price Increase

How to Announce a Coaching Price Increase

When you’re ready, Mike recommends a direct message to every current client. If you were doubling your rate from $250 to $500, it might sound like this: you’ve been working together for months, it’s been great, and in 90 days your rates are going up for everyone. The new rate is $500, but because they’ve been with you, you’re only taking them from $250 to $400. And if for some reason that truly creates a hardship, let’s talk.

Matt Reynolds of ReynoldsStrong added why the 90-day window works. Clients aren’t going to quit while their price is still the same. They may be annoyed for a moment, but by the time the new price arrives, they’ve already accepted it.

Mike also shared two ways to make increases easier. First, don’t wait until you have to double your price. A small annual increase, like $50, is much easier to absorb than a big jump after years of no change. Second, if your rates are already reasonable, let clients lock in the current rate by prepaying six months before the increase. You can even add an incentive, like a walking pad or a kitchen gadget, for clients who commit.

The biggest fear is losing clients. Mike offers simple math for that, too. If you raise prices 33% on your current clients and a third of them quit, you make the same money and do a third less work. You can’t want more income without accepting some risk. Loyalty means the client keeps working with you, not that they keep the same price forever. If you were still worth $100, would you hire yourself?

Let the Pricing Math Back the Raise

A clean announcement is easier when you know the raise is necessary. Mike runs the same exercise with every coach who comes through his in-person workshops, and it takes about two minutes. Write down three numbers:

1. Your monthly income goal.
2. The number of clients you can realistically fulfill.
3. The average amount each client pays you per month.

Now divide your goal by the number of clients you can serve. That’s what each client needs to pay you, on average, for your goal to be possible.

One coach shared his numbers live: a goal of $25,000 a month, capacity for 75 clients, and an average rate of about $240. Twenty-five thousand divided by 75 is roughly $333. At $240, the goal can’t happen. As Mike put it, “your math doesn’t math.” And because the current average is $240, every new client would need to pay well above $333, likely around $550, to pull the average up, unless existing clients pay more.

According to Mike, only about 5% of coaches who do this exercise find their numbers actually work. Once you see the real numbers, a coaching price increase stops being something you want to do and becomes something you have to do. If you want to go deeper on setting the number itself, see our guide on how to price online coaching.

Another trap is pricing your coaching based on what you would pay. What you value is irrelevant to what someone else values. Some people buy the nicest golf clubs and play every day; others won’t rent a set. Just because something is easy for you doesn’t mean it’s easy for someone else. Charging more often raises the client’s perceived value of the coaching.

Make the New Rate Worth Paying For

Pricing is only half of it. The other half is what clients get. Mike borrows from Alex Hormozi’s grand slam offer: build something so good your ideal client would feel stupid saying no. Ask yourself honestly whether you’d say no to your own offer. If you would, rethink it before you raise the rate.

Your core offer should be made of pieces a client would want even if each were sold on its own: check-ins, custom training, communication, form checks, text access, or even an in-person visit to train with you. Then you give clients everything at a single price, so each piece adds value they couldn’t buy separately.

Two rules stand out. First, never sell a one-off call. If your coaching is $300 a month and a single call is $100, a client can buy four hours of your time for the price of your program. You’ve devalued the most valuable thing you have. Second, don’t sell training and nutrition separately. Package your services into tiers, so access to you only comes inside the larger offer. For more on designing something you can actually deliver well, read how to create a coaching offer you can actually deliver.

Your Offer Has to Support the Higher Price

Mike shared AR Funnel’s own offer history as a cautionary tale. Their first full offer was $999 a month with two one-on-one calls plus group calls. It worked so well they went from zero to $60,000 in recurring revenue in four months, and then they were stuck. They raised the price to $1,500 and sold just as many, but still didn’t have the time. At one point, AR Funnel co-founder Bakker Shields was taking about 45 Zoom calls a week.

So they tried a $37 self-serve option. They spent 90 days building it, and three people signed up, and those three asked a lot of questions. Then they went the other way, added a $3,000 top tier, and three people bought it. The lesson: if your offer works, don’t change it. Raise the price or hire someone to help fulfill it. If you sell it too easily, you’re too cheap.

That’s why your offer needs to be scalable. You have to charge enough to hire help, whether that’s an assistant coach, someone to post your social media, or someone to help with sales, and still make the same money. Mike prefers not to go below a 50% gross margin and would rather have 60%. His rule of thumb for assistant coaches: if you won’t make about $300 from a client you hand to an assistant coach, raise the price and coach that client yourself. Always focus on profit first, because coaches who do $50,000 a month and bring home $10,000 eventually ask why they’re doing all that work. This choice also shapes how you grow, which we covered in scaling a fitness coaching business.

When to Raise, and How to Keep Pricing Simple

Mike’s answer isn’t tied to a client count or credentials. Raise your prices when you’re about 80% full or feel tapped out on time. In the beginning you’re selling value. When you’re getting full, you’re selling time.

He makes it personal by asking what an hour away from your family is worth. Once you put a price on that hour, it becomes easier to stop undercharging. And if you can’t raise the price yet, adjust what you give. Weekly calls can become biweekly. Monthly calls can become calls as needed, booked when you’re available, just like almost every other business works.

Complexity kills sales after a raise, too. Mike sees coaches with four or more versions of the same offer: calls or no calls, monthly or six months. Clients can’t remember them, let alone explain them to a spouse at home. His alternative sounds like this: the program is a six-month commitment at $500 a month, and if you pay for six months upfront, you get a month free and save $500. Which would you like to do?

That’s the key. One option invites a yes or no. Two options invite an A or B. Use round numbers instead of $997 or $999, and make the differences between options simple, like a basic and a premium tier, rather than two completely different packages.

Sell Pain and Belief, Not Features

Finally, Mike says pain is where the dollars are. People running toward a goal won’t pay much. People running away from pain will pay a great deal. That’s one reason pure strength coaching is a hard sell: there’s often little vanity or pain attached to adding 15 pounds to a bench. Guarantees are hard for strength results, too, and Mike doesn’t think most coaches need one. A guarantee matters when a prospect is skeptical, and your content, proof, and sales process should remove that skepticism before the call.

Pain is one side; belief is the other. Paint a clear picture of the result the client wants. Mike wants prospects about 50% sold before the call, because if someone shows up asking “So, what do you do?” you’re starting from behind. That nurturing happens in your content and follow-up long before the sales conversation. For more on that side of the process, see online coaching sales and how to get more online coaching clients.

Raise Rates With a Clear Plan

If you’re growing, stretched thin, and still short of your income goal, start with the three numbers. Divide your goal by your capacity, compare it to your average rate, and let the math make the decision. Then build an offer clients would feel silly turning down, keep the options simple, and give your current clients plenty of notice. Raising your rates isn’t greedy. It’s how you build a business that can pay you, pay your help, and still give clients your best.

To learn more from Mike, follow him on Instagram or visit AR Funnel.

If raising rates still feels hard, get clear on your costs, the value you deliver, and what your coaching should cost.