Why Free Sessions Don’t Work
I remember going through coaching school back in the dark ages (2005 which was before most people knew what coaching was) and they taught us to give free sessions (aka “sample sessions”) as a way to get clients. When I gave away free sessions, only 5-10% of my “prospects” would hire me. This was a new skill for me, but having come from a sales & marketing background, I was shocked at my lack of efficacy. But then I found that my coaching colleagues had similar results, even the ones with more experience than me when they gave away free sessions. Needless to say, I stopped doing them and changed my strategy (more on that later)
I was shocked to hear from a recent coaching client of mine that they still teach this practice in coaching school as a way to get new clients, and that she had the same type of results (or lack thereof) that I had back in 2005. After gathering feedback from clients and colleagues of mine, I’ve come to the conclusion that free sessions don’t work as a client enrollment strategy. Yes, I have gotten some clients through this strategy (and maybe you have, too). However, I would guess that the people who have hired you from free sessions already knew they were going to work with you as long as the free session met their expectations. And this is why I believe this is true:
1) When we give our gift away for free, people ascertain that our time and our gift is not that valuable – Of course there are some people that will value you and truly appreciate the generosity in your heart by giving them your gift for free, but most people aren’t wired that way and assume if you are giving your gift away that something is amiss – that you need (vs want) clients, that you are an amateur, etc. They may be fully conscious of this or their subconscious may be at work , but it will still effect them from saying a powerful “yes” to working with you.
2) When you give a free session you give a taste of what it would be like to work with you and it doesn’t do justice to the huge transformation that is possible – I have experienced (as well as given) amazing coaching in as little as 15 minutes. Coaching can be transformational immediately (and so can most healing modalities) However, most of us need reinforcement to battle our issues and get through our blocks, challenges and physical/mental limitations and a long term commitment to working with a coach or healer can insure that sustainable long term change happens. It’s hard to give a small taste of an amazing buffet and have it really do it justice.
3) If you do amazing work in one session, some people will freak themselves out and disappear – When we discover what is possible on the other side of our blocks and challenges, sometimes we want to hop back into our comfort zone because we don’t know how to handle it. This can happen with people that have a free session with you that is really powerful. This has happened to me and it had me scratching my head before I realized what had happened. Some people are just not ready to pick up what you are laying down.
4) When you give a free session, it feels like a bit of a bait and switch to say “sooooo…would you like to work with me?” – In a free session, it isn’t part of the design for you to talk at the end about whether you want to do more work together, so it’s awkward (unless the client gushes about the experience) to bring up working together. And it is particularly difficult to start talking about your 3 month or 6 month package – it is just too big of a leap.
So how do I enroll clients that are potentially interested in working with me?
I teach my clients to do powerful discovery or introductory calls/sessions instead of free sample sessions. These can be dual purpose calls – like having a Business Breakthrough Session like I offer to my potential clients – where you help them identify specific challenges that you help solve, paint the gap between where they are and where they want to be, and the cost that this gap is having on their life/business/health/stress/balance, etc. I also get them connected to their “big why”, which is the reason they deeply desire to have the transformation that you could help provide for them.
I also I tell my potential clients (and teach my clients to tell their potential clients) that they will walk away with huge clarity and value from our session whether we choose to work with each other or not, and that this will be an opportunity for us to mutually explore whether we would be a good fit to work together. Although this approach is a perfect hand-in-glove solution for coaches, this also has worked like a charm with my other types of clients (wedding officiants; personal trainers; therapists; consultants; shamanic healers, etc) with some careful crafting of the right questions to ask. Note the language I used. This is not them test driving whether they will hire you, it is a mutual exploration on whether this is the right fit. This shifts the power dynamic and sets the foundation for a mutual respectful relationship.
Additionally, I recommend you ask them some pre-qualifying questions. You will be spending 30-45 minutes with someone and you want to make sure 1) their is potential there for you to really help this person and 2) that they are willing to spend 5-10 minutes answering some questions (hint – if they aren’t, they wouldn’t have hired you if you had a discovery session with them). You can check out my questions here if you want a sense of the type of questions you could ask.
I plan to write more in an upcoming post on how to craft a set of questions for your discovery sessions that really align with your gift and the transformation you provide. So make sure to join my newsletter or subscribe to my blog if you want to hear more on the subject!
What will you do differently as a result of what you read in this blog post? What questions or comments do you have? I am all ears!
With appreciation,
Tara
Hi Tara,
I completely agree. I never felt comfortable with the concept of giving my time away before even knowing a client. My time is a gift that I place a high value on! So I do something quite similar to your suggestions, charge a small fee for my intro session and tell the client if they enroll in a package within 7 days of our session, the fee is absorbed into the package price. For referrals, I will waive the fee. Thanks for discussing this topic. I believe if the coaching industry tries to standardize some of these practices, it will inject more credibility to the industry.
Thanks, Gina! There are many business coaches like me out there that are trying to standardize better practices in the coaching realm. I agree that it will boost the industries credibility and effectiveness when we do so! Thanks so much for taking the time to write! Warmly, Tara
Terrific information! It always felt odd to offer a free coaching session and you have identified why that is so. This is an excellent column that will simplify the process of offering coaching services. Thank you so much!
Lynn
Thank YOU for taking the time to write to me 🙂 So glad it was helpful!
Thank you Tara, for this really helpful article, just in time. I have been coming up with these exact same conclusions in the past couple weeks while I am in the midst of doing a free offer: Joy Support for Grieving Hearts. Funny.. you said “a taste of an amazing buffer and have it do justice.” Yes. I agree. I’m not disappointed, though, because just doing this is the one thing that has finally gotten me “out there”.. inviting more and more new people into my neighborhood, and my CLARITY has skyrocketed.. who I am and what is my gift and for whom. I can speak now. So I am going to follow your posts along with my other work in ELA and start setting up speaking engagements for signature talks, workshops. I’m also seeing a mini summit, then a bigger summit. I have to creep with Lisa edging me into actually doing each step until I can walk. I’m getting there. And the biggest thing your post confirmed was that seeding feels like a bit of bait and switch.. esp when I am telling the deeply bereft attendees that nothing will try to dissolve the sacredness of their grief! I’ve been there. I know what words feel horrid. I need to just allow this free gift to be a free kindness, a time together not to get a taste, but to experience 6 ways to see who they are in this period of grief time.. period. It is doing SOME good, and some may walk away with what they need to continue growing. But I need to make a direct effort now to broadcast so my DRCs can find me. I think this article helped my inner entrepreneur step into my truth! Thank you!
Hi Di!
I do think that giving free sessions in exchange for something (learning/experience, testimonials, feedback) can be a great strategy when you are starting out. As long as it feels like an equal energy exchange and that you aren’t giving away your gift. It sounds like for you, there is a deeper exchange that happens with these sessions that you crave for these people. It’s beautiful work that you do. I’m glad this helps evoke the inner entrepreneur in you!
Warmly,
Tara
Awesome article Tara. I agree with inviting someone to fill in a questionnaire about what they’d like to receive, achieve and work on in a complimentary break through or discovery session.
I also love the feedback about letting them know that whether you work together or not, they will receive a lot of value and it gives coach and client the opportunity to see whether they are a good fit. I always ask at the end of a complimentary break through session whether they are ready to hear about how I work with people and what I have to offer. They always say yes because I prep them in the beginning of the conversation with something like: “this is an opportunity for us to see whether we’d be a good fit in working together and at the end I can tell you more about what I have to offer. Is that alight with you?”
I learned to always keep it a conversation with the client when talking about working together instead of a run on sentence that goes on for five or more minutes! Check in with them to see if they understand what you’re saying and whether they are still with you!
Thanks,
Sarah
Beautiful strategy, Sarah! Thank-you so much for sharing what you’ve learned that works so well in your business!
By the way, I cannot wait until your TEDx Video goes live!!!
Happy Holidays!
Thank you for this. Just a heartfelt thank you!!
We love heartfelt thank-yous! Thank YOU for taking the time to do that!
I really loved this, Tara! I have never converted any of my freebie clients and I agree that it’s far too much of a jump in most cases. I also wanted to say that I really appreciate the mindset of mutual exploration to see if it’s a fit.
While I agree with some of your points, I have to weigh in with a different opinion. I’ve built my business by offering 30 minute free consultations and I don’t regret a single one of those calls, nor do I feel like I gave away my gifts.
But a “consultation” is different than a coaching session; the whole point of the consultation is to determine if we are a good fit for working together. Sometimes there’s a bit of coaching that sneaks in there, but the real purpose is just to get to know each other.
This approach has worked very well for me. I convert 90% of those whom I talk with and I never actually have to ask that awkward, “So, do you want to work with me?” because they ask ME, “So, how do we get started?”.
Maybe the answer isn’t to NOT offer anything for free, but to change the content of that free offer so it both feels more comfortable for you AND is more engaging to your clients.
Hi Lesa
Thanks so much for weighing in! I agree that a free consultation is very different than a free session. I, too, offer a free consultation for my potential clients where it is clear we are talking about possibly working together to see if it is a good mutual fit. We are on the same page 🙂 I agree that with the right approach, you should get 90% “yes” for clients you want to work with. Thank-you for sharing!
Hi Tara –
I know this is an old article, but I just came across it after your ICFLA webinar. I want to clarify – when you say you do a Breakthrough Session, you are saying that you charge a fee for that session, right? Not just that you changed the title from “Free Sample Session” to “Breakthrough Session”.
Hi Gabriella
You can charge for these but the intention is for them to also be complimentary but these have a specific format and agenda – it is not just a free coaching session where the person comes with whatever issue they want to discuss. So even though this Breakthrough Session is complimentary, it is not the “giving a free session” that most coaching schools encourage. Does that clarify this? Thank you for your question!