How To Turn Your Online Course Into A Group Coaching Program

In today’s blog you’re going to learn how to turn your online course into a group coaching program so that you can scale your coaching business, create a high touch group coaching experience, and create a new stream of income!

One of the easiest ways to learn how to structure a group coaching program is by repurposing content you already have. That’s why starting with your online course framework will create a ton of clarity and simplicity right from the start. 

 (So, if you haven’t completed your online course outline yet, click below because that’s step 1.)

RELATED BLOG: How To Create An Online Course Outline

Now, there are so many benefits to running a group coaching program but I wanted to share four quick benefits that really stand out because they make creating and running your group program so much easier!

1. It’s considered a high or higher touch experience that provides real time access to you, your insights, and your guidance… And that’s invaluable. Depending on how you structure your group coaching program (which we will get to in just a moment) your clients might have weekly spotlight time on your calls, OR they might have access to you personally in between sessions on some sort of forum. The point here is your group members have higher touch access to you which helps them to go further faster.
2. Benefit #2 is Community Support! THIS right here is one of the top pieces of feedback I receive from my clients on what they attribute their success to. Being in a group of like minded, like hearted individuals, all working towards a common goal or intention, means that everyone is more or less in a similar position. The group typically experiences similar mental and emotional ups and downs at certain points of your program.. AND THIS is what will support them! Hearing other members stories and watching how they process is what inspires them to courageously take action even if they’re triggered. 
3. Benefit #3 is real time ACTION. This is the outcome of the higher touch experience and community support! Like I said, realizing they’re not alone supports your clients in increasing their confidence and when confidence increases, so does motivation and action!
4. The 4th benefit of running a group coaching program is the Q&A explosion! This is supportive for SO many reasons. First, it helps you to understand which modules, lessons, and specific topics your group is struggling with. This might inspire you to create a bonus lesson, or tutorial, or maybe even a done for you piece of content. Q&A opportunities are also supportive because you can answer multiple questions at once, as opposed to spending 30 minutes to an hour on a 1:1 coaching call. And lastly, q&a’s also can help you get an idea of the challenges, emotions, mindsets and intentions of your future students… and then use that language during marketing.

So, now that we have an idea of the group coaching benefits for both you and your clients, be sure to have these 3 simple steps in place.

Group Coaching Program Step #1: Create the Structure

Let’s get into the actual structure of your group coaching experience, and how your online course fits into it!

The first aspect of your group coaching structure is duration and duration refers to a few different things.

• First it refers to the length of your program, which is important for you and your students to know ahead of time. I like to decide on the length of my program by looking at how many modules I have in my online course framework, and I’ll add an intro group session and an outro group session as well. So, if my online course is 8 modules then my group experience will typically be 10 weeks.
• Duration also refers to the timeframe of the actual coaching sessions. Now at the time of this video I’ve facilitated just over 100 group coaching experiences and I’ve tested out all different time slots. The sweet spot for me is 75 minutes to 90 minutes. But I've also been a part of groups that lasted 45 minutes, 60 minutes, and even one that was 2 hours that met every other week. In saying that,  your timeframe really depends on how much time you think you’ll need to cover everything you intend to cover.
• The third aspect of duration to think about is how often you plan to meet. Some group experiences meet weekly, others are twice per month, while others are once per month.  When thinking about how often you plan to meet, first consider your personal schedule and what YOU want. Then after that, look at your online course framework to be sure that the amount of meetings you choose aligns with the level of support you think your members will need.
• The last aspect of duration to consider is how long your group coaching support will last. Typically in a group coaching experience there is a community aspect included beyond your group coaching sessions. It’ll be important for you to explicitly state how long members have access to the group community forums (wherever it lives) and the type of support they can expect once the group coaching program ends.

The second aspect of the structure to consider is the group coaching program capacity.

Capacity can look like a more intimate and exclusive experience which will include smaller groups at a higher price point. 

It can also look like an experience that’s open to everyone and much more expansive. These groups can have hundreds or even thousands of people in them (think Tony Robbins) and are typically mid to high price points.

The third aspect of your structure is communication and this is referring to  communication during enrollment, communication within the group coaching program itself, communication in between coaching sessions, and communication after the program is complete. 

So, ask yourself... how will they connect regarding questions about the program during enrollment? Will you have members send in their questions ahead of time before coaching calls? What are the group standards for questions, comments and feedback? How will you answer questions on the call? What does support like in between.. Email? Forum?

How will the group stay connected beyond your time together?

Then the last aspect of your structure to consider is your group coaching program framework.

Now, friend, you’re creating a group coaching program based on your online course. This means that your clients will follow the topics and training aspects in your course modules and lessons. And this is great news because you technically don’t have to create any new content if you don’t want to!

So, if you need a little help fine tuning your online course framework, be sure to click this blog here to get that done first.

RELATED BLOG: 7 Steps To Create & Sell An Online Course | Online Course Training

Group Coaching Program Step #2: Organize Your Coaching Sessions

Now that we have an idea of the structure of your group coaching program, let’s get into how to organize each of your group coaching sessions!

First, you’ll want to choose your tools!

1. Start with which tool you plan to use to host your group coaching sessions. I’ve seen coaches use a private FB group to host their group coaching calls, zoom, and I’ve even seen some groups hosted completely on Voxer and telegram.
2. After that, consider the tool you’ll use for community engagement and interactions in between group coaching sessions. 

Once your tools are set, you can move onto…

Outlining your group coaching session agenda. Time and time again I have clients come to me confused on what to talk about during their group coaching sessions, and I have a few solutions that I’ve both used myself and seen other coaches use as well.

You can: 

• Go through each of the module implementation guides together.
• Go in depth on a module topic by hosting a mini masterclass.
• Use your framework as a guide for a module specific Q&A.

In saying that, this is a quick layout of the potential topics you can cover in the time you have together...

• Welcome & Housekeeping
• Check In’s
• Topic Deep Dive
• Member Spotlight 
• Member Q&A
• Wrap Up & Assignments

Now, remember, these are SUGGESTIONS and options. Always tap into what feels true and most authentic for you.

After outlining your group coaching session agenda, share with the group how to get their questions answered.

This can look like connecting via:

• Email
• In a forum 
• By commenting beneath whichever training video they’re on 
• Submitting questions before a coaching call

...or any other way you plan to support your group coaching members.

And, I would love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments below! Let us know what you intend to cover in your group coaching agenda! What I’ve realized is that no two coaches group coaching programs are run the same, and it’s so helpful to see the difference in how coaches organize their calls!

Group Coaching Program Step #3: Launch!

Yay, friend! You’re officially ready to launch!

The marketing and launch process looks similar to that of your online course... So, let’s take a look at some of the options!

First and foremost, be sure to share your group coaching program with students who are currently enrolled in your online course! These are going to be the absolute warmest leads you have because they already showed commitment to purchasing the very content you’re walking your members through in a more expansive way.

Second, you can market to your email list. Again, if they’re on your list, your subscribers are most likely interested in your offer. 

So, be sure to create an enticing email campaign with bonuses and other goodies to support your email subscribers.

After that, you can focus on whichever marketing strategy you’re already doing with your other products, programs and services... It can be…

• SEO
• Youtube Marketing
• Pinterest Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Ads
• Testimonials
• Affiliate Marketing.. and more.

As always, choose the marketing option that feels most authentic to you and your brand.

Once you determine that... officially launch your new group coaching program and start enrolling!

Now you know the 3 steps to turn your online course into a group coaching program, and I wanted to share a resource called Online Course Simplified because there’s so much more to learn about creating and selling well done, 100% authentic to you online courses. 

This is going to walk you through not only mapping out and building the curriculum for your Online Course from scratch, but also the process you need to SELL it ...whether that’s by having an evergreen course, or open/close cart dates, or even selling it as part of a group coaching program! 

So, go ahead and click the picture above to learn more about that now.

📣 And, if this blog was just what you needed in your coaching business, please let me know by sharing it with your coach friends.

Until next time, Coach… keep building your empire!

XO, KellyAnne

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