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Successful Systems and Structures for a Profitable Modern Coaching Business

July 04, 2016 by Erica Duran

This is a guest post written by Erica Duran. Want to contribute? Check out the 2016 publishing calendar.

There seems to be a lot of talk around the interwebs about having the "right systems and structures" for your coaching business.

But no one is coming out and saying exactly why you should have these things in place or what they are exactly in an organized manner.

How systems and structures can help you and your business

Just to make it abundantly clear, having the right systems and structures in place help you:

  • Sell more confidently

  • Establish you as the expert (and not look like you are bragging)

  • Keep you from taking on "difficult" clients

  • Stop you from playing "let's make a deal" and slashing your prices

  • Safeguard both you and your client

  • Keep you from auditioning, chasing or convincing on sales calls ("Pick me! Pick me!" feel familiar?)

  • Keep you clear on who your ideal client is

  • Spares you from making simple mistakes (ever book the wrong time zone for a call?)

  • Helps build a strong, easy to train team

  • Keep you from seeing "potential" that isn't really there

  • Saves you loads of time (you may even enjoy a 3-day work week!)

If you know me, you also might be thinking "I thought you were all about building a freedom-based business and lifestyle. What's with all these structures, boundaries, and systems?"

Well, structures will give you oodles of freedom and a higher income level when they are set up right!

Plus: When you're not worried about these things and you are not second-guessing yourself, you have an immense amount of creativity. Creativity in your content, brand and marketing is what may make you stand out in the crowded coaching industry.

I'll be honest, I did take a lot of time and invested to set these up and to get trained correctly on these systems in my business.

But it is so worth it!

It is total freedom to be able to focus on your body of work, your clients and live your ideal lifestyle rather than experience the struggle, worry and second-guessing that happens when things are not in place. I've broken down the basic system, structures and boundaries for a modern coaching business for you in somewhat of a checklist form.

Not all of these may apply to you and your business, but at least the mystery will be solved of "What are all those systems and structures people keep referring to?"

Some items could be applied to more than one category and you will see some overlap.

The main categories of systems, boundaries, and structures we'll be covering in this article are:

  • Mindset

  • General Business Set-up & Legal

  • Marketing

  • Sales

  • Payments

  • Assistants & Other Team Members

  • Personal Support

Mindset

Personally, I think mindset is over 80% of having a successful coaching business.

Having systems and structures in place help you with having a strong mindset, help you sell confidently and help you stay in your leadership role when working with clients.

Also, when you mind is "set" and you have a "no matter what" attitude you start doing things that you wouldn't normally do. Reaching out and cold calling prospects in your target market, being visible online and offline, approaching influencers for joint venture partnerships, etc.

These are all things that you do without hesitation when your mindset is in check.

Mindset & boundaries systems & structures:

  • Journaling

  • Meditation (I use Headspace and a few other resources)

  • Visualizations

  • Mantras

  • Investing your own coaching and mentorship support

  • Wealth consciousness reading

  • Surrounding yourself with quality like-minded people and community

  • Ideal Client Requirement Checklist

General business set-up & legal:

Do not be cheap with your business.  

Have the confidence and abundance mindset to have your business protected legally.

When applicable to your business, here are a few legal structures to have:

Marketing:

  • A website with your own domain (do not use the free www.yourname.wordpress.com or something similar)

  • Lead magnet/freebies/opt-in bribe

  • Squeeze page/opt-in page/landing page

  • Sales pages

  • Email service provider with drip campaign or autoresponder capability (like MailChimp, MadMimi or Infusionsoft)

  • Thank you pages

  • Phone enrollment/conversion system

  • Ezine (electronic magazine)/solo mailers/newsletters

  • Social media scheduling tool

  • Social media marketing plan

  • Marketing plans in general

  • Great photos for your brand and you

  • Joint ventures

  • Networking groups

  • Industry events & conferences

  • Sneak preview calls (ones with a theme are best)

  • Graphics & imagery

  • Branded headers and banners

  • Bonuses (fast action and on-going)

  • Free consult session (clarity, strategy, discovery, etc. call)

  • Testimonials

  • Blog/videos/podcast

  • Formal product or program launching system/style/sequence

  • Facebook, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn

  • Paid ads (Facebook ads)

  • Lead generator service (like Noomii.com)

  • Referral system and/or affiliate program

Sales:

  • Enrollment page

  • Having an assistant facilitate the sale for you

  • Follow-up sequence or system

  • Application for your free consult/strategy/clarity/discovery call

  • Welcome & orientation/background packet when appropriate

  • Having set appointment for the duration of their package

Payments:

Protect your sale with the right payment boundaries:

  • Clearly define what you are selling and to whom and for how much

  • Restrain yourself from playing "let's make a deal" during your sales conversations with these items in place

  • Clearly defined packages with prices published on your website and sales materials.

  • Shopping cart links and payment buttons (highly recommend NOT using Paypal! Long personal story, but just, in general, it is unprofessional)

  • Invoice & bookkeeping system

  • Client agreement with payment terms clearly defined

  • Terms & Conditions with a checkbox where applicable

  • A credit card authorization form

  • An assistant (or at least a separate "support" type email that handles the payment for you

Assistants and Other Team Members:

A well-trained assistant can help you facilitate and close sales among other tasks to make your job and life easier such as:

  • Follow-up emails after your free calls with payment links, enrollment page URLs, and/or credit card authorization forms

  • After the client is enrolled, you assistant can help with  sending out welcome packets, client guidelines, contracts, etc. (And keeping track of outstanding contracts and other documents)

  • Perform initial calls to vet out prospects that will not be a good fit for you

  • And of course any administrative factors like scheduling, travel arrangements, customer service, charging credit cards, special requests or food allergies for live events

This list is truly endless!

Here are some systems and tools you may want to have when you are ready to bring on an assistant or other team members:

  • Document and media file sharing (like Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive, etc.)

  • Password sharing and protection (like 1Password)

  • Policy & procedures

  • Job descriptions (for each team member including yourself!)

  • Screen sharing tool (for training)

  • Screen visual & audio recording tool for making training videos (Screenflow for Mac or Camtasia for PC)

Personal support structures:

These are the systems and structures that free up your time and support your mental and physical health.

Having everything in place in your personal life helps to be fully present and confident on your sales calls and your coaching sessions with your clients and just all around less stress in your life.

  • Housekeeper

  • Travel agent

  • Your own life coach

  • Personal trainer

  • Personal shopper or stylist

  • Massage therapist and other spa services

  • General grooming (hair, nails, etc.)

  • Home maintenance

  • Meal planning and/or delivery

  • Personal assistant

  • Laundry and dry cleaning

  • Nutritionist

  • Therapist & counselors

  • Doctors

  • Dentists

  • Chiropractors

  • Event planners

  • Professional Organizer

Have your documents updated and in order (wills, trusts, driver’s license, car registration, voter registration, insurance, jury duty, etc.)

As you can see, I'm pretty into these systems and structures.

There are new ideas and tools coming out each day I'm sure I may have left some out but this gives you a great place to start and see which ones will make your life easier and your coaching business more profitable.

If this article has literally made your head spin, I invite you to apply to a complimentary Aloha Strategy Session with me.  

Let's see if it is a good idea that we work together on getting all these popular systems and structures in place for you so you can have more freedom in your business and get back to that ideal lifestyle that is displayed on your vision board.

About Erica Duran

Erica Duran is a business coach & freedom-based luxury lifestyle designer. She gives expert guidance, support and accountability to coaches, trainers and other service-based entrepreneurs to build their businesses so they can work from anywhere and earn to a consistent $5K-$20K+ per month while still having the freedom to work only 3 days per week. Erica travels full-time, living at the luxury resorts that sponsor her podcast and web TV show. For more information and to book your complimentary strategy session visit EricaDuran.co.

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