Our own coaching offer peaked at a $300K month. In 2024 the market changed and new sales slowed.
Our marketing was too dependent on social media, and paid ads were a bottleneck we never cracked. We were still doing $100K months. So we got more creative with upsells and resells and used the clients we already had, which helped.
Why sell to existing clients when new sales slow?
Because a back-end sale has no acquisition cost. The client is already in the community and already trusts the program, and every one of those sales goes straight back into cash collection. Most coaches make 95 to 99% of revenue on the front end, so a slow front end hits them in full.
Focusing on the back end almost doubled our client results. Back-end sales went from about 5 to 10% of sales to about 40%.
Who do you sell to first?
The clients the board says are ready. Every client is on track or overdue against a milestone, and every client has an end date. Start with the ones who hit the goal and the ones inside 60 days of the end.
| Client | What they get | What we see |
|---|---|---|
| Hit the goal | An upsell: the next problem, solved | 40% or more of winners buy a relevant next offer |
| Close to the goal, wants more time | An extension | With next offers, a 30 to 50% longer stay |
| Wants a second run for a bigger result | A resell | Close rates of 40 to 50% on these conversations, lower at volume |
| Overdue, lost or angry | A check-in from the client success manager, no offer | Not ready to buy anything yet |
Timing still applies. The conversation starts at least 60 days before a client's end date, or the extension and the resell are missed.
What do clients who already paid want to buy?
Their next problem, solved. Once someone hits the promised goal they feel done and want the next chapter, and the same program again is not it. At Video Business Academy the goal was a first $10K month, and the next offer took clients from $10K to $25K.
Ask them if you do not know it. In every offer we run a survey: if something could be done for you, what would it be? At Acquisition Ace the answers led to a premium version of the main offer at almost double the price, with nothing extra to fulfil. It sold over 1,000 times in a little under a year.
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.
What they do not want is a $97 a month version of what they already have. People who paid a lot to get in prefer another high-ticket offer, and the cheap version rarely sells. A discount to keep a client makes no sense either.
The market changed and our marketing was too dependent on socials. Paid ads were a bottleneck we never cracked, partly because of the offer versus what the market wanted. We were still doing $100K months. In 2024 we got more creative with upsells and resells and used the clients we already had, and that helped.
Should you cut marketing when new sales slow?
No. Always spend on marketing, because it is where the next clients come from. On fulfillment, spend as little as possible, and cut the complex software and random hires there first.
The one place in fulfillment worth spending is client success managers. A client success team can cost under $20K and generate far more, because more results means more people upgrade. They create the winners the back end sells to.
How do you make the back end sell sooner?
Get clients to the result faster. When people get the first result they are ready for the next thing. If a client reaches the goal in three months instead of six, the upgrade comes three months earlier.
That means a first win inside one to two weeks, a time on every stage, and a same-day check-in when a client runs over it. Faster results raise lifetime value more and faster.
Further reading: The resell closer: one hire that took resells to 30 to 40% of revenue · The back-end offer ladder
Diego Miescher
