Simple Offers that Still Sell (Even When Budgets are Tight)

Michelle Leotta: Welcome to the Health Coach Power Community Podcast. I'm Michelle Leotta, ex-corporate girl turned certified health coach with over 15 years of experience growing a successful online practice. I started out with no idea what I was getting into and learned a lot of lessons along the way that have given me the freedom to do the work I love and raised two boys as a single mom. I created a health coach power community over a decade ago to make it easier for health coaches to build a career they love and make the world a better place.

Hello there, health coaches! If you've been wondering how to grow your business, when people seem kind of reluctant to spend, you're not imagining it, the economy is a little shaky, and even J.P. Morgan is predicting a 40% chance of a recession this year. However, let's keep in mind people are still absolutely spending money on what they need.

They still have problems to solve, and they still want your help. They may just need a lower-stakes way to get to know, like, and trust you first. And that's what we're talking about today. How to recession-proof your health coaching business in just 30 minutes or less. And we're gonna cover why low ticket offers are so important right now.

How to build trust even when your audience is feeling cautious, and how to create something joyful and simple and summer-friendly that your clients will love to say yes to. So if you're here with me live as I'm recording, please say hello in the comments. So I know you're here. I say I see Denise over here. I see Amanda. Hello. Thanks so much for being here. I wanna give a quick shout out to Annette, who texted me the other day, and she said people are stressed about the uncertainty of the economy and feel like health coaching is too expensive right now. Would you agree? That's what Annette had to say, and I think there is that challenge in the air, but also an opportunity.

And by the end of this episode, you're gonna know exactly what to do about it. Now, by the way, if you wanna text me ideas, questions for the show, go to healthcoachpower.com/text. I'd love to hear from you. All right, well, let's get into it. First of all, if we are headed into a recession or whatever weirdness the world has coming our way, it won't be the first time that I've experienced this as a solopreneur.

In fact, my first real health coaching client who wasn't a family member, I talked about this recently in an episode titled How to Get Your First Health Coaching Client. Well, she had actually been laid off, and she decided to use her free time now that she wasn't working to work on her health. Isn't that a beautiful thing?

Isn't that what we hope everyone will want to do? If again, if we are headed into another, uh, downturn economy like that, don't panic. I've got lots to share with you on this and lots of experience going through ups and downs in business. But first, tell me in the chat, if you're here live or if you're watching the replay later, what do you think of first when you think possible recession, like what's your first impulse about your business?

How are you gonna get clients? I wanna hear what you have to say. And Denise said over here, it's never too expensive when you are serious about it, and it's never too expensive if you're the type of person who has the money. And not everybody always does, but somebody always does, right? There are always the people who are fine, and then there are people who perhaps are not fine for periods of time.

And the point is, there's always work out there for health coaches. We just have to sometimes go about it a little bit differently. So let's start here. Recession-proofing your business is not, I could have just, you know, summarized this whole thing in one sentence if I needed to just say, lower your prices. But that's not what I'm saying about recession-proofing your business. It's not just about taking whatever you offer and slashing prices. You are not a discount store, okay? It's about how you show up as a health coach, what you prioritize, and where you're putting your energy. So here's my advice. Now may not be the right time for certain things.

It may not be the right time to go big and risky with something like super niche or super expensive. Like maybe right now, don't put down a big deposit on a wellness retreat in Egypt that you're gonna run six months from now, that clients would be asked to spend $8,000 on. Especially if you've never run a retreat before, right? Like maybe not that right now. That could be an extreme example, but I wanted to use it because not only is it not the right time for high-ticket experimental stuff in your business, that's not recession-proof, right? That's the opposite. That kind of thing is risky. And it goes beyond just thinking about money, like what is going on in the world right now?

I read that the US might be adding Egypt to a new travel ban list. That would put a real damper on a retreat, wouldn't it? So it's not just about offering services at a lower price, it's about making offers that are appropriate in the world today. So I suggest that you go simple, useful. That's it. Just think simple, useful.

What can I offer? Programs, services that are very, very easy for people to understand and say yes to. Not like the big, big luxury items, not something wild and unknown. Something that feels, and this is an important word, safe, because that feeling of safety is incredibly important right now. There seems to be a fundamental lack of trust this year, different than a year ago, different than five years ago. I'm feeling it. Many, many online entrepreneurs are feeling it. Many, many health coaches are feeling it, a lack of trust, and it's so significant that this period is being dubbed a trust recession. Have you heard that term? That's a new one for me, but it really does describe what I've been witnessing over the past six months or so.
And I gotta say, as health coaches, we are always up against a little bit of skepticism, aren't we? From people who are used to, you know, just seeing their doctor or a traditional medical model of care, like what's a health coach? What do you do? Right? There's always like a little skepticism. And then if you're working online, if you're coaching remotely, which is what I've always done, oh my gosh, then that's another hurdle in someone feeling potentially like they don't know, you can't trust you. They haven't even seen you in real life. So I think this idea of a trust recession might be an even bigger deal than an economic recession for health coaches to be focusing on. So, how do we build trust? I'll tell you what doesn't work. Certainly not by pretending to be perfect all the time, right?

So don't worry if you don't have the ideal headshot, retouched, photo, things like that to be putting on your Instagram account, pretending like you're just the most perfect health coach of all time. Skip that. The more real and relatable you are, the better. What about using ChatGPT? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love me a little chat GPT, but are we using it to write everything for us and then just copy-pasting and publishing? Because that is always gonna smack of inauthenticity. You know, you can use it as a tool. Maybe we'll do an episode on that some time. But if you're using it to write everything for you, people might have a hard time trusting that you're a real person. And then certainly we're gonna lack, uh, trust. We're gonna have this inauthenticity about us if we're selling people into programs that they don't need right now or they don't want right now, and they're getting pressured into something.

Not that you would ever do that, but you know what I mean. These are all things that can be a real turnoff. So what I suggest is warming up your audience with activities and with events that give them a way to get to know you. And interact with you, preferably, some of it at least in real time, and, uh, something they can bring friends to and have an experience with you, because that's where we really start to build trust. When we have experiences with people, uh, multiple times. You know, you run into someone at a soccer game with the kids, you know, and then maybe watch a soccer game together, and then you are with them again at some other event in town. You do that two, three times. It's almost like your friends, even if you haven't.

Spoken much, right? Just having experiences together is very, very powerful. So you wanna offer, uh, opportunities for this, something where people can feel supported right away with you. Denise is saying, over here, we help you reduce your doctor visits. Well, that's for sure, but they may not know that, and they may not even realize that they want to reduce their doctor's visits.

You know what I mean? So, where can we meet them where they are? Offer a way for them to engage with us, and I think the clincher heroes enjoy themselves. You know, find like an aha moment. Some reason that they would want to be around a health coach, specifically you. So let's talk about events. They can be free. They can be list-building events. They can be paid, we're gonna talk about pricing in a little bit. They can be in person, like you could hold an in-person workshop locally in your town or in a nearby, uh, city or wherever you are. They could also be online, like, um, a challenge or something that I always loved to run in my own health coaching practice was a cook-along.

Yeah, you heard me write a cook-along. So fun. We're gonna talk about that in a minute, too. No matter what you do to connect with potential clients, remember that ultimately they're buying into a feeling like they're gonna hang out with you. Maybe because they don't wanna go to the doctor as often, maybe because they're feeling skeptical about other forms of care.

But by and large, you're gonna attract an audience when hanging out with you makes them feel better. Just as a human being on this earth, that might mean relief, hope. Energy possibility, right? When you can expand someone's possibilities, wow, that's a great feeling. So the way that you show up and manage your energy right now matters so much more than how many certifications you have.

I can promise you that when the world is looking a little bleak, a little dark, right? People are looking around for the light. So now's the time to shine yours, and I want you to keep it fun and flexible. Right. Like, we wanna be real professional all the time. Try taking off that. I have to be perfectly professional all the time. Hat, just set it to the side. I'm not saying to be unprofessional, but like, we're going into summer. Keep it fun. Right. We're, we're going into this time of the year where, especially because the world is already a little bit grim right now. People don't wanna commit to something heavy, right? Everyone's looking for some kind of like relief. Like like an exhale, right? They wanna go to the beach. We need a vacation collectively. So your offer, whatever you decide to do in the coming months, you want it to feel like a breath of fresh air, not like another thing that they have to drag themselves to or drag themselves through. So that's what we wanna work on today.

Let's roll up our sleeves here. Let's get into it. You maybe wanna pull out a piece of paper. I think that would be very, very helpful. Take a couple notes as we go through this. You don't need a business degree, and you don't need a 10-step online funnel to create a recession-proof offer. Something that you can offer.

People are gonna say yes to something that can keep you earning during what may be a possible recession. So. Here's what you need. We're gonna map it out together. Let's start here. Pick a problem, pick a problem. Any problem. I want you to think about a small. But real problem that your ideal client is facing right now.

And I do wanna emphasize small because for this, um, I remember as a health coach, I always wanted to help solve the big stuff, like the big exciting stuff. I wanted autoimmune clients and pre-diabetic clients to reverse their symptoms and get off their meds, you know, one of those big flashy results. And that did happen sometimes, actually it happened quite a bit, but. That kind of thing takes time. It takes commitment. It's a heavier lift. It'll happen, but that's not what we're talking about today. What I wanna talk about today are problems, the kind that you hear far more often, like the everyday things. What do I make for dinner? What's for dinner tonight? That is a perennial one.

Why am I so tired? Ugh, I'm exhausted. Right? How can I get my kids to eat a vegetable or eat anything? Or I gotta stop drinking so much wine at night, or I'm having trouble sleeping. Those are the kind of everyday things that are weighing on people's minds all the time. And that's the kind of thing that I suggest you pick, you know, something simple, something specific, something that people want help with for sure.

But it's not too, too heavy. It's not asking so much of them. It's gonna relieve them of this one thing that's been bothering them and help them get a quick win. If you write nothing else down on your piece of paper, write quick win. Got it. All right, so let's talk about it. What's something simple that you can help them with?

If you're here live and know several of you are, tell me in the chat, like, what's coming to mind right now when I read off those examples? Or what do you often hear people. I don't wanna use the word complain, but I'll go ahead and use the word complain. What do you often hear people complaining about? Your clients, your friends, your neighbors, your acquaintances. What's coming to mind? Often, if we listen? I. People will tell us exactly what they wanna buy from us. We often are in our own head with like, oh, I'm gonna offer like the gut reset course, even though literally no one has ever asked you anything about, you know, resetting their gut.

No one's ever used those words before. But, you know, we were thinking about it in terms of like our education and what we've read and what we like, but what are they saying to you? That's the challenge here. That's where you will find the place that they're going to say. Yeah, I'm in. And once you've chosen something that you can create an offer around, remember an offer could be as simple as a one-time free workshop.

A multi-day event doesn't matter. You need to know what it's gonna be focused around. So you have that. Now you need to choose a format. Think light, think approachable. Something that's very easy for people to say yes to. So again, ideas would be that one-time workshop, right? Not a huge commitment or a meal planning session, or a short three-day challenge, or a group, or a meetup. Something that you can organize to get people together, not a six-month commitment. Right. Not even a three-month commitment, maybe, right? Because if we want to appeal to people when they're feeling a little bit scared, or maybe they're holding onto their wallet a little bit tighter, what is an easy yes, A quick win and an easy yes.

Those are the catchphrases for today. Now, let's talk pricing. I want you to keep in mind with this offer, you're not trying to replace like your full-time income. You know, with this one teeny, tiny offer, the idea is to use it to build trust and to build momentum. So that calls for a super, super easy price point, like seven bucks, 15 bucks, who can say no to that $29? Right? It's just enough that someone's like, yeah, sure, I'll try that. Yep. Sounds good. I'm in. Like, that's the energy that you want. They don't have to think about it too hard. They don't have to ask anyone. They don't have to like move money around to their bank accounts. They can just be like, yeah, sure, let's do it.

Now, I did mention that you can do events for free. Of course, you can do that too. So the,n instead of payment, you would be collecting an email address, and you would use the event to build your mailing list. And you could do both by the way. You could do a free version with a paid upgrade, but now that's getting a little fancy. Just pick one or the other, and if you're here live with me, what price comes to mind for you? What would make it so easy for someone to go, yeah, of course. Let's do it. I don't want you to overthink this. There's not a big difference between charging $9 or $12. Like it doesn't matter. Just pick a number.

Whatever I said that resonated with you, go with it. If you're like, no, Michelle, I really need to build my mailing list more than anything, then fine, go with something for free for right now. Here's the important part. How can you uplevel the trust factor? 'Cause I think that is what success is going to hinge on as there are ups and downs in the world, as people maybe feel less trusting, right?

How can you show up in a way that makes you, uh, a real human, makes you authentic? Somebody that they can go, oh yeah, like, I trust this person, even though I've never actually been able to like, shake their hand or give, or give this person a hug, right? Because we've never even met in real life, but I trust them.

There are so many ways that we can do this. I'm gonna ask you to step outside what you're doing now, and if you, even if you feel like, oh, I already show my authentic self, Michelle, how can you do more of it? I've been asking myself the same question. You know, just a couple of ideas. Could you send a welcome video at the start of a challenge if you never put your face on video?

Not saying you have to, but it is one way to bridge that gap so people feel like they know you more, they see you, they hear your voice, right? It really helps overcome that hurdle of, I don't know, this person. So that's an idea. Could you offer a one-on-one follow-up session after an event? So you hold a workshop, great, especially if it's in person. Now you are meeting everybody. Offer the one-on-one follow-up. You know, whatever you've been talking about that day. Surely someone's gonna go home and have to think about it or figure out how to implement it in their own life, get them on the phone, or meet up at a coffee shop, right? Have that follow-up session afterwards.

That is really gonna solidify your relationship and that trust factor. Or what if you wrote, I know this is gonna sound crazy, but what if you wrote personal introductions for each member in a group, and you help them connect with each other? When I would run like small online programs, what I love to do was find out that one of my participants was from, I don't know, Ohio, and I knew someone else was from Ohio, or maybe some, you know, two people in the same city, and make an introduction.

That is like a human thing to do. So even though you're a business and you're a health coach, don't forget to be human. And when you are the connector connecting people somehow you are also seen as, um, like an integral part of that relationship. So, personal introductions could be a way to go. Well, how about this?

Could you write a handwritten thank-you note if you had 10 people attend a workshop? Again, this is crazy; we don't do this. If we were gonna send a thank you note, it'd probably be an email of some kind or a dm. What about a handwritten thank-you note for everyone who attended your local workshop that would go so far? Like we don't get anything decent in the mail anymore. Right. So think beyond what you're doing now. It's gonna take a little bit more to get people's attention, hold it, and make them feel like they can trust you. I think over the coming months, I don't know how long we'll see, but like I said, the world has been changing, so you could do none of those things.

I mentioned you can do all of those things with a point is just how can you feel, how can you be more human? How can you help everyone feel more human? In this space with you. And then the last step, as you're putting together this offe,r is to set a date or a deadline for yourself. You don't wanna let this idea just live in your head.

You wanna pick a start date, set a registration deadline, and you gotta put it on the calendar. That's how you make it happen. I mean, it might be imperfect, it might be, you know, not exactly what you would've done if you had a year to prepare, but if you had a year to prepare, you would never get it done.

The best way to get something done is to pick a date, announce it, start collecting signups like ASAP, and then it's like, oh my God, now I have to do it. And you will. There's this miracle that happens. You will get it done. It works every single time. Now I know you might be thinking, all right, Michelle, I get it. I get the idea. I just can't picture how this would actually work in my business. So let me show you. I want you to come see for yourself exactly what I'm talking about, experience, exactly what I've been talking about inside. A little event that I've created just for US health coaches. Remember earlier I mentioned that I loved running cook-alongs in my health coaching practice, and I know it sounds a little bit hokey cook along, but.

Going back as far as human history, people have come together to prepare food and to eat food, right? There's this communal thing that happens not as much these days, because these days we're all like Starbucks, drive-through, eat on the run, but it's still in our DNA. To congregate around food and answer that question of what's for dinner.

So I'd like to invite you to the world's first health coach cook-along, as far as I know. Anyway, it's never been done before. We're gonna do it for the very first time. It's totally free. Zero pressure. I designed it to be a really easy fit for your summer schedule. And you can register now for free at HealthCoachPower.com/cook.

You're gonna get a chance to participate. Enjoy some new healthy recipes from me. All dietary styles are welcome by the way, and you'll also get a behind-the-scenes look at a low-ticket trust-building offer. In action, like you're gonna see how I run a cook-along program, and then what do you know? You can turn it around, you can offer it to your own clients, and you're gonna have this new stream of income for your business and an easy, fun, recession-proof business strategy.

Also along the way, I guarantee you're gonna meet some new health coach friends. You're gonna strengthen your network, and that helps too. So there's nothing you have to attend live. I've made this so easy for you. You do it on your own schedule, and it's open to all health coaches, any dietary style, whatever y'all are eating these days, that's fine with me.
We're gonna make it work because half the fun is seeing how everybody modifies the recipes and gets creative. So come hang out, cook with us. And watch very carefully how this type of offer works. Then maybe you can try something similar in your own practice. Remember, recession-proofing your business basically means expanding your audience and making it easier for them to say yes to you.

And who doesn't want an answer for, uh, what's for dinner? Come see how a cook-along can work for you and your business. It's all happening this July, and it's free to sign up at HealthCoachPower.com/cook. Thanks for joining me today, everybody. Now. We'll see you soon.

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