Most coaches collect once, around $5K a client. One client in a program we run paid 24 times, $52,382 in total.
Same person, same program, still a client. The question of what a good lifetime value is mostly comes down to that gap. A client who pays once is worth the price minus refunds. A client who buys the next offer, and the one after, is worth a multiple of it.
What LTV does a typical coaching business have?
About the price of its one package, so roughly $5K in high ticket. Most coaches sell one program and never build anything after it. Their revenue reflects that: 95 to 99% of it comes from the front end.
That lifetime value is also lower than the price list suggests. Refunds, stopped payment plans and lost chargebacks all pull it down. Count it from cash collected and many single-package businesses land under their own price.
What does a high lifetime value look like?
| Where the number comes from | Lifetime value per client | What sits behind it |
|---|---|---|
| A typical coach, one package | About $5K | One transaction, nothing to sell next |
| Video Business Academy, before the back end | $4K | The main program only |
| Video Business Academy, after | $50K+ | Next offer, extensions, upsells and resells; two to three year stays |
| One client in a program we run | $52,382 | 24 payments against one payment of $5,000 |
Result from a named client with written permission. Typical clients of this cohort saw a range of outcomes; nothing here is a guarantee. How we handle claims.
The top rows and the bottom rows sell similar first programs. What differs is a defined result and tracking that gets more clients to it. Then a next offer waits for the new need they have once they win.
Is there a benchmark for coaching lifetime value?
Not one we would put a business decision on. We know of no public figure for coaching lifetime value built on a large enough sample. The same gap exists for resell and renewal rates.
So compare yourself with yourself. Divide lifetime value by your first program price. A ratio near 1 means one transaction per client. Anything above 1 is the back end at work, and the trend per start-month cohort tells you whether it is getting better.
Most coaches sell one package and never solve this, which is why the typical coach's lifetime value sits around $5K. Our clients spent up to $50K in total. We sold them their next problem: from $10K to $25K, a second offer. People close to the goal bought an extension.
What should lifetime value be compared with?
With what it costs to get a client. When a client is worth $50,000 instead of $5,000, you can spend far more to acquire one and still make money. That is why the back end changes what the front end can afford.
Use the same cash rules on both sides. Lifetime value counts cash collected, net of refunds and stopped plans. Acquisition cost counts everything spent to win the client, including the closer. Booked revenue against real spend flatters the ratio.
It also changes how much each sale on the back end is worth. A resell or an upsell carries no acquisition cost; the client is already in the community and already trusts the program. Every one of those sales goes straight back into cash collection.
How do you get from one transaction to several?
Build the offer the winners need next, and sell it at least 60 days before the end. If it is relevant, up to 30% of all clients buy it and 40% or more of the winners. Clients close to the goal get an extension instead. You never sell 100% of clients into the next offer, and the number does not need it.
Track the ratio per start-month cohort, not as one number for the whole business. A cohort that got a new upsell should show a step up six months later. If it does not, the offer is wrong for the winners, or nobody is making it.
Further reading: How to calculate LTV for a coaching business · How to increase the lifetime value of a coaching client
Diego Miescher
