Why Coaches Need STRONG Client Agreements
Life coaching can be a very rewarding career and especially when you have committed clients! You may think that setting up your life coaching business is an easy gig when you can effectively work from anywhere; however, it is much more than that! Not only do you have to legally register your company with the government, but you must also protect your business. One of the most valuable and important aspects to protecting your life coaching business is by having STRONG client agreements!
Client relationships can be just like any other relationship – there is the honeymoon phase where both parties are excited to work together and the client is eager to push themselves to new limits, then the relationship gets more serious and can become complicated. This is why life coaches need client agreements! They help keep the client-coach relationship easy and uncomplicated.
Client agreements are key to defining the client-coach relationship within the scope of the coach’s business. A client agreement allows you, the coach, to set the parameters and rules for your relationship with your clients – think of the client agreements as your rulebook. To you, it may seem obvious that a client should know not to text you non-stop on the weekend while you’re at a wedding; meanwhile, your client may believe it’s reasonable, claim they are in a crisis, and expect instant replies. You may also think your pricing and term of coaching was clear to your client when you verbally explained it but the client could misunderstand and evolve into a “Karen”. Therefore, client agreements set the expectations of the relationship so your clients don’t become the “Karen’s” of the world.
WITHOUT a client agreement you risk:
- Your intellectual property not being protected
- Not being paid
- The client being confused on when the agreement starts and ends
- Your client demanding refunds
- Your client believing you are a trained therapist, lawyer, doctor, financial advisor, or other professional
- Your client expecting compensation when you photograph them and use it for marketing purposes
- Your client expecting instant replies on weekends and holidays
- Coaching clients who are not committed to your life coaching business
- And more!!!
WITH a client agreement, your client agrees:
- That you own rights to any and all materials provided to the client under the agreement
- To pay you, the coach, the specified amount of money, on the specified date, via a specified mechanism such as e-transfer.
- To a specific start and end date
- To the terms and conditions of when a refund may or may not be granted
- Understands you are (likely) not a trained therapist, lawyer, doctor, financial advisor, or other professional
- That you are allowed to use client photos, testimony, or recordings for marketing purposes without compensation
- That they are able to contact your during ‘office hours’ and that you make take up to forty-eight hours to respond
- That they must be committed to the program for X amount of weeks
Client agreements should NOT be thought of as a scary thing, nor should they scare off your client. Remaining legally unprotected is SCARY. Client agreements are the baseline to your client-coaching relationship.
It is also preventative law, meaning rules are in place in case something were to go awry and, therefore, can be mitigated. Preventative law will SAVE you time, money and will GIVE you peace of mind, compared to reactionary law, where you scramble to pick up the pieces once the damage is already done.
Client contracts for life coaches are analogous to insurance. Strong client contracts are one of the surest ways to lower your legal liability and run a successful life coaching business.
Author Credits
Gillian Turvey is a final year law student in the UK and a 2021 EFV Legal Intern, She is specializing her studies towards Criminal and Family Law, and can be found playing with her puppy. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
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