Taking an In-Person Leadership Programme Online: A Complete Launch Funnel Built in Three Months for Dhiren P. Harchandani, a Dubai Leadership Coach
Dhiren P. Harchandani is a Dubai leadership coach who had only ever delivered his programmes in person. He came to Gateway Marketing Digital to test whether an online version of his work would sell, and we designed and built the complete coaching sales funnel to run that test, with the strategy led by Ambreen Hasan. In about three months we took him from discovery call to a live online launch, covering positioning, funnel pages, email sequences, 30+ Meta ad creatives and server-side tracking, then added a webinar funnel in under a week.
Client Overview
Dhiren runs Inner Game FZE, a Dubai coaching and consulting business working with founders, CEOs and senior executives. Until then, every programme he ran was delivered in a room.
He hired us to build the system to test a new concept: an online version of his programme, sold to business leaders through a funnel and Meta ads. That meant positioning, offer, pages, emails, ads and tracking, all built from scratch and ready to sell from day one.
Objective
Our Approach
Strategy, Positioning and the Online Offer
We mapped the funnel within a week of the discovery call. The logic was simple: a free email series would explain why leaders get stuck, and the paid online workshop would teach how to change it.
We researched the competing consultants in his market and studied premium personal-growth brands for design cues. The positioning we set: brain-backed leadership for founders and executives, to lead better, decide faster and grow without burning out. We packaged the programme as an 8-module online workshop, so it could be bought and delivered without a venue.
Building the Launch Funnel
We wrote every word of the launch, across ads, pages and emails. The free offer became a six-email nurture series that ended in the paid offer. We built the funnel on his own subdomain: an opt-in page with an A/B headline test, a sales page with countdown, checkout, call booking and WhatsApp, and a thank-you page that fired the conversion event.
Behind it we set up server-side tracking with the Meta pixel and Conversions API, plus analytics on the main site and subdomain, with automations that moved buyers out of the nurture sequence.
The Webinar Layer and Re-Activation
Early data showed visitors reaching the sales page before they were ready to buy. Ambreen Hasan read this as a missing step: a cold executive audience, meeting Dhiren online for the first time, needed a warmer touchpoint between free emails and a paid programme.
We built a live webinar funnel in under a week, with its own registration page, top-of-funnel and retargeting ads, and a confirmation and reminder email sequence. We rewrote the sales page in a lighter, more energetic tone, then ran a re-activation campaign with a rewritten nurture series, fresh creative and plain, outcome-led ad language.
The Results
The same try-first funnel structure sits behind our high-ticket coaching launches at a 4.6x ROAS.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you build a sales funnel for coaches?
Start with one free entry offer, an opt-in page and an email nurture, then a sales page with checkout, and feed every stage with ads. For Dhiren P. Harchandani we built this full system, with 30+ Meta ad creatives, around a free email series, a live webinar and a paid online workshop. Make one clear promise: one format, one price, one start date.
How do you take an in-person coaching programme online?
Treat it as a test with its own funnel, not a copy of the room. Dhiren had only ever run in-person programmes, so we built a complete online launch in about three months to test whether an online version would sell. Package the online programme as clear modules, then give cold leads a free taste of the coach before asking them to buy.
Do webinars work for selling coaching programmes?
Yes, especially for executive audiences who rarely buy a premium programme from a cold ad. We added a free live webinar to Dhiren’s funnel, built and launched in under a week, with its own ads and reminder emails. A webinar gives a cold lead time with the coach before the sales page asks for a decision.
How long does it take to build a coaching launch funnel?
Plan for about three months from strategy to live ads. Our build for Dhiren went from discovery call to a live launch in about three months, covering positioning, funnel pages, email sequences, ads and tracking. Lock the offer and launch date before production starts, because every page, email and countdown carries that date.
How do business coaches get clients with Facebook ads?
Lead with an outcome business leaders want, such as better decisions or faster growth, and send them to a free offer first, not straight to a checkout. We ran five campaign types for Dhiren, fed by 30+ ad creatives, from lead magnet to retargeting. Plain, outcome-led language also keeps ads clear of Meta policy problems.