When Half the Room Isn’t Ready

There’s a pattern I keep seeing in our trainings - and if I’m honest, it’s been keeping me up at night. Roughly 25% of the room are exceptional. Another 25% will get there with some stretch and support. Then there’s 25% who struggle noticeably. And the final 25% - the ones who are really not ready. They’ve all had the same pre-course materials. The same assessments. The same entry criteria. With the exception of the really poor performers, they’ve technically achieved similar qualifying benchmarks. And yet, the lived experience in the training room is wildly different. When 50% of the Room Is Hard Work Here’s the part we don’t often say out loud - when half the room is underperforming, the entire energy of the training shifts. The good people don’t just carry themselves. They end up carrying the weaker participants too. Discussions slow down. Standards feel diluted. Momentum dips. And as the trainer, you find yourself working twice as hard to maintain quality. It becomes heavier. And in a coaching franchise, that heaviness matters. Because we are not simply delivering information. We are shaping professionals who will sit opposite vulnerable clients. The tension is real. This is a business. Revenue matters. Equal opportunity matters. Access to learning matters. If someone has paid and met the criteria, who are we to say they shouldn’t be there? But there’s another responsibility too - protecting the experience of the capable and protecting the integrity of the qualification. So I stepped back and asked myself a better question. If one of our practitioners came to me and said, “Half my clients are flaky. They don’t show up. They don’t do the work. How do I get more of the committed ones?” - what would I tell them? The answer came quickly. Clarity Raises the Bar I would tell them to make the standards painfully clear at the outset. Spell out the expectations. The effort required. The emotional resilience needed. The time commitment. The discomfort involved. Don’t sell the dream - sell the work. Because clarity filters. When people truly understand what’s expected, some will opt out. And that’s not rejection. That’s alignment. In any coaching franchise, expectations are the silent gatekeepers. If they’re vague, you attract a broad range. If they’re sharp and unapologetic, you attract those ready to rise. There is research in behavioural economics suggesting that when effort is made explicit, only those with sufficient intrinsic motivation proceed. Ambiguity invites wishful thinkers. Specificity invites commitment. And then there’s the uncomfortable strategy I would also suggest. Raise the fees. Not as a punishment. Not as elitism. But as a psychological signal. The Psychology of Investment When people invest more, they tend to show up differently. This isn’t about wealth equating to worth. It absolutely does not mean that those who can pay more are inherently better human beings or better practitioners. But behaviourally, higher investment often increases perceived value. There’s a phenomenon known as the “sunk cost effect” - once people commit significant resources, they are more motivated to justify that investment through effort and follow-through. If a practitioner told me they feared doubling their prices because they might halve their client numbers, I would say - that might be the point. Fewer clients. Better quality. Same revenue. Less drain. Volume is not the same as value. And full rooms are not the same as high standards. In a coaching franchise, we must ask ourselves whether we are optimising for numbers or for excellence. Because here’s the hidden cost of tolerating too many underperformers - the strongest people notice. They feel the drag. They question the calibre of their peers. And slowly, silently, your brand positioning shifts. Not because you lowered the criteria on paper. But because you lowered the energetic bar in practice. Better Standards Create Better Outcomes This isn’t about excluding people unfairly. It isn’t about building an elite club. It’s about congruence. If the qualification is robust, the marketing must reflect the difficulty. If the standards are high, the messaging must be honest about the stretch. If the role requires resilience, that resilience must be screened for - not assumed. Perhaps the solution isn’t tighter assessment at the end. Perhaps it’s clearer expectation at the beginning. Because when people know exactly what they’re walking into - financially, emotionally and intellectually - those who step forward do so with open eyes. And those are the ones who lift the room. In a growing coaching franchise, the courage to refine your entry standards may feel risky. But protecting the quality of the experience protects everything else - your reputation, your community, and the clients who will ultimately be served. The real question isn’t “How do we keep everyone?” It’s “How do we build something worth stepping up for?” by Gemma Bailey (with the help of Ai) https://www.peoplebuilding.co.uk/franchise