Two or three refund requests per 100 new clients is a good rate. Under five is fine.
When the number runs above that, most coaches blame the clients or the coaches. Often the chain starts earlier. Something in marketing or sales set an expectation the program does not meet, and the doubt comes back in the first weeks.
How do you tell if the sales call oversold the program?
Listen to how clients describe what they bought. A scared client says it is harder than they thought. An oversold client says you promised something, and names it.
| What you see | What it points at |
|---|---|
| Requests that quote a feature or result the program does not include | The pitch on that call |
| Clients who believed something was done for them | One done-for-you line, stretched in the close |
| Objections in week one that the call should have handled | A close that left the doubt open |
| Refund requests before the onboarding call | Expectations set before the client saw the program |
| Requests and cancels clustered under one closer | That closer's pitch, more than the program |
Count by closer, too. Put every refund request and chargeback from the last 90 days next to the closer who sold that client. A program problem spreads across every closer. A pitch problem sits under one name.
One small done-for-you item is enough. It makes people think everything is done for them, and then delivery falls apart against an expectation the team never set.
What do you check first?
The recording. Every sales call should be recorded, and this is one of the reasons. Pull the call behind each refund request and chargeback from the last 90 days.
Listen for three things. What result was promised, and by when. What the closer said was included, especially anything done for the client. And whether the closer said there are no refunds.
Then put the call next to the contract and the offer. If they say the same thing, the client got scared, and a call turns most of that around. If they differ, the closer sold a different program.
A lot of chargebacks is usually a sales problem: the sales team promised something the business does not do. If the sales team promised something you do not do, refund. You reserved because of the best steak in town, you paid for steak, you got fish. Maybe the fish is good and you stay. Maybe you do not eat fish. Respect it.
What do you do when the closer oversold?
Refund the client the call misled, and do it fast. Every decision goes by email, so it is official. Every day you delay raises the chance of a bad review, and Trustpilot can wreck an offer fast.
Then fix the source. Play the call to the closer, next to the contract. Agree what they say about the result, how long it takes, and what is and is not done for the client. The close says no refunds, plainly.
If one closer keeps doing it after that, the closer is the problem. A new script will not fix it.
How do you stop it before the next client signs?
Start with the offer. Delivery decides what can be promised, and sales says it. An offer built purely from marketing that the team cannot deliver breaks the whole business.
Then the onboarding call, as fast as possible after the sale. A 15-minute call shows the client everything they bought, so expectation meets the program in the first week. A gap found there gets fixed on a call instead of in a chargeback.
Ask on that call what the client expects to have in 30 days. If the answer is not in the program, you have found the gap in week one, and the closer gets the feedback the same day.
Then the contract. A no-refund contract set up by a lawyer who understands coaching businesses, plus a recorded call, makes a chargeback simple to fight. A legit case still gets its refund. This is not legal advice.
Watch out. Do not answer an oversold call by arguing the client out of a refund. If sales promised something you do not do, the client is right, and keeping the money costs you the review.
Further reading: Most early refund requests are fear, not failure · Is it your offer or your marketing?
Diego Miescher
