One offer we work with ran a small in-person mastermind with 10 spots, priced well above the main program.
It sat above the main program, for clients who already had what the program promised. The days were shaped around each attendee: presentations, networking and thinking time, set to what each person needed. That is the shape of a mastermind that sells to existing clients.
Who should you sell a mastermind to?
Winners. A client who hit the program's goal feels done and wants the next chapter. Their next problem is rarely more of the same training. It is a room of people at their level, and time with the coach on their own business.
Clients who are still behind are the wrong market. A mastermind does not fix a client who is lost in the program. It also cannot sell where there are no winners: no data, no client path, a low success rate, few winners, nothing to sell next.
Clients close to the final milestone are the second list. Invite them with one condition: they finish the program first. The mastermind then gives them a reason to get there, and the coach a reason to check in.
I look at what people bought first and why, and what they could buy next: the same but different, the next step for them. In every offer I run a survey: if something could be done for you, what would it be? That is how the offers get better, and where I see the opportunities.
How many seats should a coaching mastermind have?
Few, and the number should be real. The one we worked on had 10. A small room is what people pay for: every attendee gets time on their own business, and the coach can shape the days around them.
Set the number from the format, then hold it. If the event is built around each attendee, the seat count is how many people the coach can give real time to. Selling one more seat than that makes the room worse for everyone in it.
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.
How do you invite existing clients to a mastermind?
Personally, from the list. The client board shows who hit the goal and who is close. The client success manager or the coach sends each person a short message, and the sale runs in five steps from there.
- Pull the winners from the board: goal reached, or the final milestone in reach.
- Send a two-line personal invitation with the dates and the number of seats.
- Ask for a short application: where they are now, what they want next, what is in the way.
- Book a call with the closer who sells to existing clients, or with the coach.
- Confirm in writing: the dates, the place, what is included and the price.
Start early. The next-offer conversation should begin no later than 60 days before a client's program ends. A mastermind with fixed dates needs its invitations out before that window, so winners hear about it while they are still in the program.
Should the mastermind be part of the main program?
No. Keep it separate, with its own price and its own room. The same rule holds one rung down: a cheap tier that gets the same calls as the big program kills the reason to upgrade. A mastermind whose content leaks into the main community stops being worth its price.
Keep it out of the main program's promise too. The program sells the result. The mastermind sells what comes after it.
How do you know the mastermind worked?
Count three things per event. How many winners you invited, how many bought, and how many bought the next thing after it. The share of invited winners who say yes tells you whether the mastermind matches their new need.
Then collect proof in the room. People who really have results are not afraid to talk about you on video. A room of winners is the easiest place to ask for a success interview or a Trustpilot review.
Further reading: The back-end offer ladder · Continuity offers for graduating coaching clients
Diego Miescher
