What comes back
Coaching has an unusual retention problem: for most engagements, success and churn are the same event. A career client who gets the job leaves. That is not failure, and measuring it as failure leads coaches to build the wrong things.
- 1:1 standard packageDuration3 to 6 monthsRate35–50%Measuringrenew
- Executive coaching (B2B)Duration6 to 12 monthsRate55–65%Measuringrenew
- Group programmesDuration8 to 12 weeksRate20–30%Measuringconvert to 1:1 afterwards
- Membership or communityDurationOngoingRate40%Measuringstill active at 6 months
The finding worth acting on
Coaches earning above $120,000 a year derive roughly 55% of revenue from existing or returning clients. Coaches earning below $80,000 derive roughly 70% from new acquisition.
The higher-earning group is not better at marketing. It has simply moved the work: more investment in retention and re-engagement, less in constantly refilling the top of the funnel. Acquisition is the most expensive way to make a sale, and it is where most struggling practices spend all of their effort.
Executive B2B retains best at 55 to 65%, partly because the buyer is an organisation with a rolling budget rather than an individual with a finite problem.