Your premium positioning is under pressure. Here’s how to spot the warning signs and protect your business.
You’ve spent years building your coaching practice. The credentials, the client results, the reputation that justifies your rates; you’ve earned all of it. Your calendar fills months ahead. People seek you out specifically.
Something’s shifting though. Every LinkedIn scroll brings another certification announcement. Another platform promising to “match clients with the perfect coach.” Another procurement email asking you to join their approved vendor list. You’re not paranoid. Coaching is facing the same commoditization wave that hit web design, consulting, and freelance writing.
Understand these six signals and you can adapt before your premium positioning fades.
The shift from specialized expertise to interchangeable service happens gradually, then suddenly. These warning signs show the market treating coaching less like a professional relationship and more like a standardized product.
Enterprise buyers aren’t searching for individual coaches anymore. They’re routing entire coaching budgets through scaled platforms like BetterUp and CoachHub. These companies package coaching as a measurable product with large rosters and guaranteed outcomes. BetterUp reports 4,000+ ICF-certified coaches delivering 4M+ sessions across 750+ client organizations. CoachHub claims 3,500+ certified coaches in 90+ countries serving 1,000+ enterprise clients.
These platforms own the client relationship entirely. You become one profile in a database of thousands. Clients compare you on availability, specialization tags, and hourly rate. The years you spent building your reputation get reduced to dropdown menu selections. Clients filter coaches like they’re booking a hotel room; by price, ratings, and when you’re free.
The coaching industry added 16,000 practitioners in a single year. ICF’s latest global study counts 122,974 coach practitioners worldwide (a 15% jump since 2023) all competing for a piece of the $5.34B coaching market. Every month brings hundreds of newly certified coaches happy to charge $75 per hour while they build their books.
This flood makes standing out harder. Your prospect sees “certified life coach” attached to people charging anywhere from $50 to $500 per hour. They start wondering what actually justifies the difference. The credential that used to signal expertise now just means someone passed a course. You’re competing against volume, and volume always pushes prices down.
Most coaches expecting revenue growth say it’ll come from booking more sessions. ICF data shows 59% of coaches anticipate revenue increases driven by volume rather than fee improvements. When you can’t lift prices without clients shopping elsewhere, you’re in commodity territory.
You’re competing against coaches in lower cost areas who can profitably charge half your rate. Against side-hustlers who don’t need the income. Against people who haven’t calculated their actual costs and are accidentally running their practice at a loss. Matching their rates to stay competitive means working twice as hard for the same money.
Corporate buyers treat coaching like office supplies now. HR and L&D departments want single platforms with service level agreements and analytics dashboards. LinkedIn’s 2024 Workplace Learning Report shows learning priorities have shifted hard toward scalability and measurable impact. Gartner documents ongoing vendor consolidation as organizations cut costs and complexity across tech categories. Individual coaches don’t fit these systems.
You compete in RFPs alongside twenty other coaches answering identical questions about process, pricing, and deliverables. Your client champion inside the company wants to hire you specifically. Procurement insists on competitive bidding where the cheapest qualified option usually wins.
Prospects expect detailed case studies and ROI calculations before they’ll discuss working together. CIPD research highlights ongoing concerns with measuring learning impact. Gartner finds only about a third of HR leaders feel confident their current leadership programs actually prepare leaders. This skepticism means buyers want evidence upfront, not promises.
You need documented proof of past transformations with specific numbers attached. Your fifteen years of experience matter less than your ability to quantify outcomes in formats that satisfy procurement. Newer coaches with measurement systems built in from day one often look more credible than established practitioners who never felt the burden of proof like this before.
ChatGPT provides coaching-style conversations for free. Platforms embed AI coaches that deliver personalized guidance 24/7 at near-zero marginal cost. These tools handle goal-setting, accountability check-ins, and reflection prompts without human involvement.
Hybrid AI-plus-human models are spreading fast. The baseline product now includes always-on AI support between human sessions. Your carefully developed questioning techniques become AI responses. Clients get unlimited practice with your approach through software like Coachvox. Without this kind of tool, you’re losing ground to AI-enabled coaches.
The coaches maintaining premium rates have made themselves incomparable. These strategies rebuild your defensibility by changing what you’re selling, who you’re selling to, and how clients experience working with you.
Stop packaging your coaching as hourly sessions or monthly retainers. Define three specific business outcomes you consistently deliver—revenue growth, successful role transitions, team performance improvements—and price your work around those results. A $15,000 “Executive Presence Transformation” that takes someone from overlooked to promoted beats “$400 per session” every time. You’re selling where they want to go. They pay for getting there.
Build your offers as fixed-scope engagements with clear success metrics and timelines. Include the sessions, sure, but also the between-session support, accountability tools, and follow-up check-ins needed to deliver the outcome. Price based on the value created, not hours invested. A three-month program that generates a $50,000 raise justifies a $20,000 fee. Doesn’t matter if you meet eight times or twelve.
Consider performance incentives for certain engagements. Charge a base fee plus a success bonus tied to measurable results; the promotion, the funding round, the revenue target. This shifts the conversation entirely. Your competitor quotes hourly rates. You’re proposing a performance partnership. Different markets, different economics, zero price comparison possible.
Don’t call yourself a “leadership coach” or “executive coach.” Be the person who guides technical founders through their first CEO transition. The coach who prepares marketing directors for their VP role. The specialist who helps physicians open private practices. Specific, high-pressure situations command premium fees because generic alternatives don’t work there. This is how to niche down more effectively.
Choose a moment where the stakes are high and your experience is rare. Post-merger integration. Founder succession planning. Pre-IPO leadership readiness. First-time executives navigating company politics. These situations cost organizations hundreds of thousands in mistakes. Having someone who’s guided dozens through that exact scenario? Worth serious money. Build all your messaging, case studies, and content around this single situation.
Your depth of knowledge becomes your defence. You already know the common pitfalls, the political dynamics, the sequence of challenges they’ll face. Clients are buying someone who’s seen their exact movie before and knows how it ends. They’ll pay 3x what they’d pay a generalist because you’ve collapsed their learning curve and cut their risk in half.
Package your most successful engagement pattern into a signature program with a distinct name. The “Founder CEO Transition System” or “VP Readiness Program” becomes recognizable intellectual property that clients request by name. You’re not selling coaching anymore. You’re licensing access to a proven process.
Build actual structure around it. Create a diagnostic that qualifies clients and identifies their starting point. Map the journey into clear phases with specific deliverables at each stage. Develop tools, templates, and assessments they use throughout. Define success metrics upfront so everyone knows what winning looks like. This structure lets you scale through licensing, train others to deliver it, and create complementary products around it.
Name your underlying approach something memorable. Give it a brand that sticks in people’s minds. They can request your specific program by name instead of shopping for generic coaching. The productized approach makes the value tangible and the comparison harder. Your program has phases, tools, and outcomes. Generic coaching has conversations.
Document one client transformation in detail every month. Create a mini case study showing the specific challenge, your approach, the measurable result, and the client’s own words about the impact. Video testimonials work better than written ones because they’re harder to fake and more compelling emotionally. Quantified outcomes—revenue increased 40%, promotion achieved in 6 months, team retention improved 25%—beat vague praise every time.
Bundle each proof asset into a one-week promotional sprint. Write three LinkedIn posts highlighting different angles of the case study. Send it to your email list with the story of how the transformation happened. Record a 10-minute video walking through the approach and results. End every piece with a clear next step; book a consultation, apply for your flagship program, join your next cohort.
Create a curated group of clients and alumni who stay connected beyond individual coaching engagements. A private Slack channel, monthly group calls, or quarterly in-person gatherings turn your coaching practice into a membership. Members pay for ongoing access to you and each other, not just scheduled sessions. This shifts from transactional coaching to belonging.
Design community experiences where members create value together. Host working sessions where executives share playbooks. Run problem-solving circles where founders help each other. Build a shared library of templates, benchmarks, and case studies that members contribute to. The community becomes something that grows more valuable as it expands, independent of your direct involvement.
Charge separately for community access or bundle it with your flagship program. Annual membership fees of $2,000-5,000 create recurring revenue between major coaching engagements. Clients renew because the network matters as much as your direct guidance. They’re buying access to a peer group you’ve assembled and curated for them.
Train an AI version of yourself using tools like Coachvox to handle routine coaching conversations. Upload your best content, client materials, and teaching approach so the AI learns your voice and thinking. Clients get unlimited access to your guidance for questions, accountability check-ins, and applying your approach without booking your calendar.
Package your AI coach as an “access and velocity” layer inside your flagship program. Clients use it for pre-session preparation, between-session support, and implementation questions. Your live time focuses on breakthrough moments and complex decisions the AI can’t handle. They get more total support at economics that work for both of you.
Tom Sorensen is Thailand’s leading executive search consultant and uploaded 168 blog articles spanning five years of insights to train his Coachvox AI. He embedded it on his website and promoted it to his network as a way to experience his expertise 24/7. The AI became both a marketing tool showcasing his innovation and a resource providing guidance to candidates and clients outside business hours. His firm positioned itself as the most innovative in Thailand’s executive search sector while extending Tom’s reach without expanding his calendar.
Post on LinkedIn twice weekly with original thinking about problems your ideal clients face. Share proof from recent client wins. Offer commentary on industry trends affecting your niche. Record short videos explaining your approach to common challenges. Your goal is staying top of mind with decision-makers who have budget authority, not entertaining random followers.
Create a simple content rhythm you can sustain long-term. Monday: share a client transformation story or proof snippet. Thursday: publish your take on a current challenge or opportunity in your niche. Comment meaningfully on three posts from ideal clients each day. Host a quarterly live session where you teach something valuable and invite questions. Consistency beats intensity.
Track engagement from your target accounts, not vanity metrics. You want VP-level executives and founders saving your posts, commenting thoughtfully, and sending direct messages. Those interactions matter more than thousands of likes from people who’ll never hire you. When someone in your ideal client profile engages consistently with your content, they’re pre-sold before your first conversation happens.
Leverage social media to grow your business
If you know you need to up your social media game, check out this social media strategy article for coaches that actually addresses how to win clients there.
Identify three to five providers who work with your ideal clients at adjacent moments. Executive recruiters place people who need transition coaching. Business brokers sell companies whose new CEOs need onboarding support. Leadership assessment firms diagnose problems you solve. Build formal referral relationships where you share success fees or reciprocate referrals when appropriate.
Create partnership offers that make referrals easy and natural. Give partners clear language describing who you help and when. Provide one-pagers they can share with clients. Offer their clients special access or priority scheduling. Make the referral process simple; just an email introduction, no complex forms or approvals needed. Remove friction and referrals increase.
Stop scheduling standalone coaching sessions that feel separate from real work. Join their weekly executive team meetings as a standing participant. Embed your approach into their OKR planning process. Link your coaching to their 360 feedback cycles and performance reviews. Connect with their pulse survey data to track culture shifts in real time. Be where decisions happen.
Teach their teams your approach so coaching thinking becomes how they operate normally. Train their managers in your questioning techniques. Give their HR team your assessment tools. Turn your processes into decision-making templates they use in strategy sessions. Your coaching becomes how they run things, not an event on the calendar they schedule periodically.
This integration makes you harder to replace and easier to renew. You’re embedded in how they run the business. When your approach becomes their operating language and your Coachvox becomes part of their daily decision-making process, switching coaches means re-training the entire organization. That switching cost protects your position and justifies premium pricing nobody questions.
You’ve seen Coachvox mentioned a few times in this article. Here’s what you need to know.
Coachvox is the tool of choice for top coaches seeking to capture leads, add more value to clients, and scale their impact.
Try Coachvox today for free to see how AI can take your business to the next level:
The commoditization of coaching isn’t slowing down. More platforms will launch. More coaches will certify. More AI tools will handle basic coaching conversations. Procurement departments will get stricter. Clients will demand more proof for less money. You can watch this happen and hope you’re different enough, or you can act now while you still control your positioning.
Pick three strategies from this list and start this week. Document your best client transformation into a detailed case study. Define your signature program with a name people can request. Create your Coachvox AI to handle routine questions while you focus on breakthrough work. The coaches who maintain $200+ per hour rates five years from now are building their defences today. Your expertise deserves premium compensation, but the market won’t pay it unless you’ve made yourself impossible to compare.
It’s when buyers perceive coaching services as interchangeable and primarily compare on price and convenience. This happens when platforms standardise offers, outcomes look similar, and differentiation isn’t obvious.
Centralised platforms, oversupply of coaches, and AI-assisted delivery push prices down and make options look alike. As procurement consolidates vendors, differentiation must be clearer to justify premiums.
ou lose pricing power and control over scope, and become easy to replace. That squeezes margins and pushes you toward volume rather than impact.
Watch for RFPs with rigid scopes, panel approvals, and “rate cards” that cap fees. Shorter discovery calls and “can you match this price?” emails are further signals.
They’re centralising demand and standardising delivery, which can sideline independents who don’t show unique value. Many independents still win by solving specific, high-stakes problems.
High-stakes, context-specific work tied to measurable business outcomes is more defensible. Generic skills or open-ended “accountability” offers face the most price pressure.
Usually HR/L&D, procurement, finance, and a senior business sponsor. Expect questions on outcomes, security, data privacy, and scalability before budget is released.
Lead with outcomes, context, and artifacts (diagnostics, playbooks, dashboards) instead of hours and sessions. Name your method and show proof that your approach changes decisions and performance.
Numbers that tie to business results (retention, promotion velocity, engagement scores) beat generic testimonials. Add artefacts (dashboards, playbooks, before/after outputs) so proof feels tangible.
Use fixed-scope programs, access tiers, and value-linked add-ons (e.g., stakeholder sessions, on-call support). This moves the conversation from time to outcomes and responsiveness.
Use them selectively. Consider milestone-based bonuses or a conditional guarantee tied to client responsibilities; avoid open-ended refunds.
Name the destination (“90-day revenue sprint”) and include only what gets clients there: sessions, assets, async support, and checkpoints with success metrics.
Yes, publishing proof assets, benchmarks, and tools creates visible IP buyers can’t get elsewhere. Consistency builds familiarity with decision-makers, so you’re not just “Coach #7 on a list.” More on content strategy for coaches here.
Coachvox is an AI layer that delivers your method between sessions so access feels premium without selling hours. By productising your IP and responsiveness, it differentiates you from generic, low-touch bots.
