How Client Management Software Can Improve Your Coaching Business
Being a coach is an incredibly rewarding, exciting and growing profession. Coaches love having the opportunity to help talented individuals reach and exceed their goals. However, operating a successful coaching business involves more than just personal interactions of coaching. Coaches need to prepare questionnaires, plan sessions, receive payments, organise their time, and keep track of their coaching hours. Since many coaches run their businesses as solo practitioners, dealing with this extra workload can be time-consuming and overwhelming.
However, there is a solution to the struggle of trying to stay on top of administrative tasks. Client management software (CMS) can provide coaches with a purpose-built system dedicated to helping them manage client data and processes. By using CMS, you can spend less time wrangling with admin and devote more time to what matters – coaching clients.
ClientShelf is a new CMS platform designed by an experienced coach to help other coaches manage their time, their clients, and their business more effectively.
This article will look at some of the main benefits of client management software like ClientShelf. Keep reading to find out how you can use ClientShelf to reduce stress, stay organised, and deliver the best results for your clients.
Your Own Virtual Administrative Assistant
Solo coaches and consultants don’t have an array of staff at their disposal to help with day-to-day administration tasks. This means that every extra task a coach must do takes time away from their core business. Client management software for coaches can act as a virtual assistant, helping you to organise every aspect of your business. Since CMS can automate many of the mundane daily administrative duties, it will give you more time to focus on your coaching and increase your productivity.
A More Effective Way of Managing Client Files
As your business grows, managing your client files can become more complicated. Many coaches become frustrated with the time they waste having to constantly search for important files. Having an effective way of organising client files is crucial to maintaining efficiency. CMS gives coaches an easy-to-use digital filing system that allows them to access client files quickly and easily.
With the right software to manage your coaching practice, you will always have your list of clients, their contact details, and other vital information close at hand. You can turn up to every coaching session fully prepared to provide a professional, highly effective coaching service for your clients. Using ClientShelf will help you to stay on top of every detail and have easy access to all the information you need when you need it.
Secure Storage of Client Data
Maintaining optimal data security is a major concern for coaches. Compliance with the likes of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), The California Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA) and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) is necessary. Even if you operate outside of the jurisdiction of each regulation, you are legally bound to those codes if any of your clients reside in the EU, USA, or Canada for example. Clients also need reassurance that their coach will keep sensitive and confidential personal information safe. Storing data on an insecure laptop or a hard drive won’t provide your clients with the degree of protection they require nor meet data protection regulations.
All ClientShelf CMS data is hosted on super secure Google Cloud servers that feature state-of-the-art encryption as well as daily data backups. You can store your client notes, agreements, and questionnaires safely, without having to worry about security breaches or data loss.
Keep Track of Your Time and Billable Hours
Effective time management is a major factor in running a successful coaching business. Monitoring client interactions and the time each client has remaining is an ongoing challenge. With a CMS like ClientShelf, you’ll be able to see instantly how many coaching clients you are currently working with, contracted hours, and remaining sessions. This enables you to effectively manage your client load.
For example, you can avoid taking on new clients if you have a full workload. You’ll be able to identify the need to secure new contracts as things wind down. You can also generate reports that evidence your coaching hours from your coaching hours log for accreditation purposes.
More Closely Monitor Client Progress
To effectively assist their clients, coaches and consultants need to ensure they deliver contracted services to support ROI (return on investment). Using a CMS provides coaches with the ability to monitor client notes, activities, and progress to ensure they are meeting clients’ needs. The ClientShelf dashboard and client notes enable coaches to see, at a glance, the progress of each client and to determine if extra support is needed to help clients reach their goals.
Ensure You Maintain Professional Standards
CMS gives coaches and consultants a range of tools that they can use to stay organised and professional. You can make sure you always meet best practices in accordance with the standards set down by organisations such as the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC), International Coaching Federation (ICF), and the Career Development Institute (CDI). From customised coaching agreements and coaching questionnaires to coaching service feedback and evaluation, you can be sure you are operating in accordance with the global coaching code of ethics.
Stay on Top of Your Revenue Stream
Tracking your revenue stream is simple with a CMS like ClientShelf. From your dashboard, you can keep updated of your coaching revenue and generate reports. This can help you keep on track with your business and financial goals so that you understand how profitable your coaching practice is throughout the year.
How to Choose the Right CMS for You
So how do you decide what the best coaching client management software is for you? You’ll need to carefully consider what your needs are. A good way to begin the search for software to manage coaching practice is to take note of what tasks you feel are taking up too much of your time.
Are you tired of wasting time searching for client files? Sick of manually calculating hours remaining in coaching packages? Can’t stand chasing up coaching agreements and questionnaires? Then look for a program that takes care of all these tasks. By identifying your needs, you’ll be better able to judge whether a particular CMS is a good fit for your coaching practice.
Is the interface appealing and easy to navigate? Does the CMS deliver value for money, or will you be paying for a whole lot of extra features you won’t make use of?
Many CMS platforms can be complex and difficult to use, contain unnecessary features, or are simply too expensive. Make sure your business has all the advantages of client management software that works for you. ClientShelf is an easy-to-use, highly affordable CMS that provides all the services that coaches need, and nothing they don’t. Developed by a master practitioner coach with over 20 years of experience in private practice, you can be assured that ClientShelf is fit for purpose.
If you are searching for an effective tool to manage your coaching business, ClientShelf could be the perfect solution.
