Running a coaching business can be complex. When completing projects for any new client, you probably are going to need a business coaching agreement or a coaching contract. Included within the legal document should be a scope of work template. Not including one can confuse and upset both the coach and the client.
On the other hand, including one sets clear expectations for both you and your client. And it improves your relationship by making your coaching business look professional. So in this article, we will be looking at the development of a scope of work template for business coaches. And we will also detail how Indy can help you manage your coaching contracts.
Why Write a Business Coaching Agreement?
There are numerous ways that a business coaching agreement can help you turn your coaching program into a successful one. And if you have access to a coaching contract template saved, you can ensure that you don't spend hours administrating your business coach activity but instead are doing the job that you love.
The agreement can also include lots of aspects of running the coaching service. It should be written so that the person reading the agreement can run the contract without having to consult the author.
There are going to be lots of different parts of the process that are included in the agreement from how you start the service to the payment terms of the contract.
It takes just minutes when you have a template for the coaching services. So it isn't that challenging for coaches to create an excellent agreement for them.
What Is Included in the Coaching Contract Template?
The idea of the business coaching agreement is that anyone could pick up the document and know the coaching process, and what the jobs for everyone are and be able to replicate it without you. There are numerous sections often included in the coaching contract template. These include the following:
Introduction
This section is an overview of the coaching contract. It details who is involved in the contract including the client name, business coach, the coaching businesses involved, and what coaching program is being used.
Included will be the purpose of the contract, the objectives for the coaching services, and the scope of the coaching.
Deliverables
In the next section of the contract, you will need to detail the list of services that you will deliver to the client. You should also include the quality standards and acceptance criteria for each deliverable.
For a coaching contract, you're probably going to be concentrating on the number of coaching sessions, how many people will need to be in the training sessions, and how learning will be assessed. It is also important to think about the coaching process and detail any training materials that will be provided by both the coach and the client.
Timeline
A timeline for the coaching contract should be included. It needs to demonstrate when the contract will start, and finish and what is done at what time during the coaching program. Any deadlines and dependencies for the timeline to be followed should also be included within the work.
For instance, you might want to start the coaching agreement with information about an assessment of the current staffing skill set and level. Then you might want to cover when the coaching services will be held to improve those skills.
Tasks
You need a section that will break down the coaching contract into specific tasks and subtasks. There will need to be a list of responsibilities for the business coach, client management, and the staff.
The client responsibility section is very important. As a business coach, you need to guide them to complete certain tasks to make your work easier. And it will make the process so much easier, and improve the coaching contract so much easier to deliver successfully.
And if you don't include this information within the coaching agreement, then the coaching relationship can be harmed.
Resources
Even though you're offering a service, the business coaching services will probably require some resources. Whether you're talking about computer equipment for training materials or a training room. In this section, you need to include every cost and fee associated with resource use.
With any fees that need to be paid by the client, you need to be sure payment terms are included. Payment terms are set when the client's responsibility for paying is and how.
In addition, you want to ensure that you're maintaining all the intellectual property rights of the content and courses that you're using. There might be the need to get clients to sign a confidentiality clause before you can start work. If this is the case, this should be done before the contract is started.
Roles
Everyone in the coaching contract is responsible for something. This section details each member of the coaching team's responsibilities. The responsibilities of each senior member of the client should also be detailed.
You need to also detail the communication channels used and how often communications should be exchanged. By including communication information in the legally binding document, you can improve the coach-client relationship.
Management
Every coaching contract will need to include a section that will detail how the coaching project will be monitored, controlled, and evaluated. Within this section, you need to describe how any issues with the contract might be resolved. You might need to include in the business coaching contract details about any cancellation policy you have which all parties agree to.
Signatures
Be sure you have a section where the client signs to acknowledge they have read the business coaching contract and understand their responsibility and what you're offering.
How Can Indy Help a Business Coach?
When you're working as a freelance business coach, you need to deal with clients every day. Managing daily administrative tasks can be tough, but they are essential to delivering business services. However, that doesn't mean you need to reduce the time you can spend with a client doing the job you're passionate about.
Indy can help you run your business by offering you a range of tools to make any process easier to manage and communicate with clients simpler.
Indy allows you to use any document template they have in their database, edit it, and then send it to your client. The client signs your document and then can return it to you. Then you are free to render your services.
You can also use Indy to create invoices for the services you offer. Clients can pay for your coaching service. In addition, you can communicate more effectively with your clients to ensure they have the right expectations about what you are offering.
Conclusion
Creating a coaching agreement is essential when you're a coach offering business training services to clients. It is a relatively simple document that doesn't take long to write, and when the client signs your document, you can start to work. There are only 7-8 sections on the agreement, and with Indy's templates, you can spend less time creating the document and more time servicing your clients.
Example Business Coach Agreement
Here is a sample business coach agreement you might consider using for a coaching role.
Introduction
Coaching Company A has been contracted to offer a small team of customer service representatives of Client A. The main services will be delivered over one month at the client's current office in one-hour sessions delivered by the experienced business coach Joe Bloggs.
The client has identified that their customer service team needs to be trained specifically to deal with customers currently experiencing high levels of indecision. With the training available, the client hopes that the customer service team will be able to reduce call time while improving sales made through inbound calls.
Deliverables
Joe Bloggs is a business coach of 20 years. He will deliver training sessions over a series of eight training sessions that are one hour each. The customer service team will be divided into two groups, with half the team in a training session at any time.
During the session, Joe Bloggs will offer a course utilizing a range of training materials from video, audio, written, and lecture materials.
Training sessions will be held at 10 am and 3 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The business coach will also attend the work location to do some assessment of how the training is being implemented in the workplace.
On the Friday after the last training day, Joe Bloggs will provide an overview of the training results to management, offering recommendations on further actions that can be taken.
Timeline
The first training section will start on the first Tuesday of June and will last four weeks. Staff must be available for the training sessions, not having to attend any other meetings at that point.
The client is also responsible for ensuring that the meeting room, designated at the client's office as Training Room One, is free for the training sessions.
If these are not made available, then there may be a reduction in the training available during the allotted time.
Tasks
Numerous activities will be part of the coaching sessions provided. Employees of the client will be expected to attend the training meetings on time. Joe Bloggs will then deliver a workshop. Students will spend half an hour learning these new skills and then spend some time in practical assignments putting training into practice.
As part of each session, Joe Bloggs will write a report about the learners and include information about what they learned and how they applied this.
When the business coach is observing the staff in situ, Joe Bloggs will write reports on how he believes staff are implementing learned skills in their day-to-day work.
Resources
Numerous resources are required for the coaching services to be effective. Staff members should attend with notebooks and writing implements. The business coach will attend with the laptop and software needed to deliver learning materials. Any printouts that are required to complete the training will also be provided by the business coach.
The computer technology used by the business coach during the sessions is the sole property of Coaching Company A.
Costs for the training materials are included in the fees made payable by the client.
Roles
There are very limited roles involved in the services provided. Joe Bloggs is going to be providing the training every time. There is a senior member of the coaching company who will monitor one of the training sessions for quality assurance.
Employees of the client are there for training. Debbie's Manager is in charge of the team and is invited to sit in on a few of the training sessions.
Maintaining the coaching relationship is vital for the successful conclusion of the training. Therefore, communications must be open. During the provision of the training, client staff and the team manager will have open access to Joe Bloggs via email.
Management
Management of the contract is done by Joe Bloggs. If the client has any concerns over the training completely, they may contact Joe Bloggs via email. The contract termination may be done, but only with 48 hours' notice. If the contract is terminated, the client is expected to make all payments that are relevant within 24 hours of the termination of the contract.
