Professional life and business coaches providing their services independently will undoubtedly need a good set of coaching tools to help them stay on top of every process. Whether you provide an online coaching program, or meet with clients in person, keeping track of all important information can get overwhelming very soon. This is why finding the best software for coaches is essential for the success of your business.
If you want to be more effective, organized and productive, start by finding the proper coaching management platform that allows you to, as much as possible, streamline and automate your workflow. For this reason, we bring you a list of the best options out there that many professional coaches are already using. But first, let's better understand the benefits that a coaching software will bring to your business.
Note: Looking for ultimate administrative efficiency? Use Bonsai's all-in-one product suite. We have multiple excellent tools to help organize your online bookings, offer your coaching packages, and get more clients. Step up your coaching business today!
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As your client base grows, you will inevitably find yourself going back and forth through endless paperwork to find your clients' information when you need it. Soon, you'll be wishing you had a convenient system where you could manage everything about your business and get things done far more efficiently. That's where business management software comes in. A good platform will give you the ability to easily schedule appointments, draft legally-binding contracts, bill your clients, and create multiple forms needed throughout the coaching process.
A workflow bottleneck can get in the way of you completing all your other duties. This could be highly expensive for your company in terms of missed appointments, failure to notice past-due payments, or unprofessional appearance to clients. The coaching software you ultimately choose should help you build your coaching business, save you time, scale your profits, and provide a professional client experience after you have defined and clearly specified your needs.
Now that you know all the benefits that a good coaching software will bring to your business, it's time to choose the one that best fits your needs. To help you make an informed decision, here's a list of some of the most popular management softwares that will work for you, whether you have an in-person or online coaching business.
2 - HoneyBook - Best For Scheduling Sessions
3 - CoachAccountable - Best For Progress Tracking
4 - Optify - Best For Multi-Coach Businesses
5 - Nudge Coach - Best For Customized Coaching App
6 - Paperbell - Best For Online Coaching
Let's go over each of these incredible options and their main features.
We start strong, with a product that is revolutionizing the market and has become a favorite among start-ups and small business owners; Bonsai. Many coaches work independently, and they must take care of every aspect of the business themselves. Administrative tasks are some of the most tedious and time consuming responsibilities you'll have as a business owner, but it is crucial to get it done right. Bonsai gives you access to multiple administrative coach tools to help you with onboarding, client management, invoicing, payments, taxes and follow-up paperwork.
Take a look at what this complete coaching software solution offers you.
It takes more than just finding the right clients and delivering excellent services to build a successful coaching business. You also want to make sure you're managing your time efficiently so you can seamlessly meet deadlines, plan your meetings and avoid burnout. Luckily, Bonsai has a time-tracking feature that allows you to easily keep track of how long you are spending each day with clients, so you can make the necessary adjustments, and improve budgeting.
The platform's insights function offers you helpful information about your time tracking habits, so you can get more done in less time. For instance, you can use the Insights tool to uncover ways to shorten your workday if you realize that you're putting in more hours than you'd want. Prior to starting your coaching session, set the timer, and then stop it when you're done. If you don't keep regular hours, you can utilize automatic coaching software to identify patterns or manually add them for each client.
Note: try Bonsai's time tracking tool to better allocate your efforts and track your hours for billing. Our tool is easy to use and does not get in the way of you working. The software automatically records while you work/complete tasks. Claim your 7-day free trial here.
Bonsai also includes task management software, making it simpler for you to monitor your client's progress. The platform will automatically add your appointments to a calendar through an online appointment scheduling feature which will help you to maintain a precise schedule of what has to be done, serving as a to-do list to ensure that you don't forget anything.
You can also program certain tasks that the software will automatically carry out on your behalf such as sending clients welcome emails, processing invoices or generating reports. By doing so, you can concentrate on your business while giving Bonsai the laborious tasks.
Your coaching/client relationship is probably dependent on coaching sessions. Bonsai's scheduling software feature allow you to create a beautiful booking page and display your custom availability based on your preferences. Use Bonsai scheduling to meet with your regularly scheduled clients, have ad-hoc sessions, or conduct discovery calls. Create schedule buffers to protect your time and accept bookings on the custom availability that you set for yourself ahead of time.
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Another amazing feature of Bonsai's coaching software is the ability to seamlessly manage your accounting and taxes. For starters, you can connect your bank and credit/debit card accounts to the platform which will automatically import tax receipts, expenses, income, and help you identify tax write-offs.
This will help you save money, by discovering deductions you may not have been able to identify on your own. Additionally, Bonsai Tax analyzes your spending to estimate how much quarterly and yearly tax you will owe.
Note: If you want an expense tracker to automatically record (and maximize) your tax deductions for the year, try Bonsai Tax. Our software will scan your bank/credit card receipts to find potential tax write-offs. In fact, users typically save $5,600 from their tax bill. Claim your 7-day free trial here.
An essential part of a coaching business is paperwork. From finding the right client, to contract signing and billing for your valuable services, there are multiple different forms needed to ensure you keep a clean record of everything and stay legally protected. Bonsai offers you a wide range of fully-customizable templates including proposals, questionnaires, contracts, and invoices.
You'll be able to keep an organized file of each client and have instant access to all their information you need before each session. All of our contract and proposal templates are legally verified by top contract lawyers, and are used every day by thousands of independent professionals in the coaching industry. Whether you provide in-person or online courses, this is the most effective way to stay on top of your paperwork.
Note: Access our invoice, proposal and coaching contract templates here. You'll get to use a library of pre-made templates you can customize and send off to clients. See for yourself how easy it is to edit and design. Claim your 7-day free trial here.
Bonsai helps you make payment processing easier for both you and your clients. All of our invoice templates allow you to integrate multiple payment options, offer partial payments and other payment arrangements. You can link your PayPal, Stripe, and even the Bonsai Payments platform which offers faster payouts, lower fees, and better client experience since it's deeply integrated with Bonsai. You can even receive your money within one hour after the payment was made!
Additionally, the platform has international coverage across the United States, UK, Canada, Australia and more so you will be able to invoice and get paid in 180 currencies. So if you were planning to go international, Bonsai has your back.
Keeping your personal and business finances separate comes with many benefits. For starters, it's a lot easier to keep track of your income and expenses, which makes tax time smoother as well. It also helps you build a good business credit score which will be useful in case you want to expand in the future and you need a loan. For these, and many other reasons, it's a great idea to have a dedicated checking account for your coaching business.
Bonsai's business account makes it possible for you with a fuss-free account especially designed for independent workers and start-ups. With no hidden fees, no minimum balance requirements, and an excellent 'envelopes' feature which allows you to save a portion of your income for holidays, payroll, taxes, or anything else you see fit. Keep a strong grip of your business finances by linking your checking account to the invoicing software so you can get paid faster and have instant access to your funds.
Note: Sign up with Bonsai's business account today. There is no credit check and is virtually guaranteed. Organize your finances for running your business and manage your money for taxes all with our bank account. Try it out today.
HoneyBook is a great online coaching platform for client management and session scheduling. Aside from basic payment and invoicing features, it offers calendar management where your clients can see your availability and request to schedule meetings with you. You are able to exchange meeting links for the coaching sessions, send automatic confirmations and reminders, plus, the interface is very intuitive so it is super easy for your clients to use. This helps you avoid back and forth messages and calls, making your booking process a lot smoother.
Additionally, HoneyBook gives you the ability to connect the scheduled sessions to existing projects so you can easily brush up on the details of previous meetings and be prepared to meet your client. You will be able to download the app to your mobile devices so you can do business on the go, although some users have pointed out that the mobile version might not be as user-friendly as their web-based platform.
CoachAccountable is an online client management tool that aims to improve the accessibility and efficiency of coaching program delivery. It also enables clients to schedule appointments using calendar scheduling that can be syncs with multiple other platforms. However, the strongest feature of this coaching software is the ability to easily follow-up and track client progress. To encourage engagement and follow-through between sessions, coaches and clients can remark on actions, metrics, notes, worksheets, appointments, and more.
This software monitors and displays progress along with metrics providing quick visuals of coaching performance information. It also incorporates a Library, which serves as a central repository for coaching documents, images, audio files, and video assets, allowing for the sharing of files from both clients and coaches. Among other standout features, CoachAccountable offers customizable branding, email and survey templates, action management, as well as billing and invoicing enabled by third-party payment processing.
Optify is a powerful online coaching tool not only for those working solo. It offers you a great feature called Optify Teams which was created to support businesses with multiple coaches in increasing productivity, enhancing collaboration, and maximizing effectiveness. You'll be able to create unique coaching programs, make it easy for your clients to choose a coach with a few clicks, monitor client progress, produce reports, and add your own branding to your dashboards.
Whether you run a solo or multi-coach business, Opify will give you complete control over client meetings, set milestones, track progress, and enhance coach performance through standardization. Unfortunately, it doesn't incorporate any invoicing or payment software, so you will need to invest in an additional tool to help you bill and get paid easily.
Nudge Coach is designed for coaches, consultants, artists, and influencers who are looking to quickly and affordably launch a client-tailored coaching app. It was created to make online coaching simpler, more efficient, and more scalable. You can build straightforward forms and trackers directly into your coaching app to make it easy for your clients to stay on track. Plus, you can handle administration, planning and scheduling from the same place. To deliver coaching content, you can easily create program cards in your coaching software and maintain your material using simple tools, templates, and images.
This is a great tool for delivering your coaching sessions, performing assessments, and maintaining communication with your clients anywhere, anytime. However, it does not offer billing and invoicing features, so it's not the best if you're looking to streamline your paperwork.
Paperbell was especially designed for online executive, business and life coaches as well as consultants working one-on-one with clients. Each Paperbell meeting invitation you send out includes a link for your clients to connect through video call by seamlessly integrating with Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, and any other video call platform. It is also a great option for group coaching sessions, since it allows video conferencing with multiple participants.
Additionally, Paperbell offers you an excellent way to present your coaching packages to potential clients by creating a custom-branded landing page where you may include any important information such as number of sessions, pricing per month and any other coaching solutions you offer.
Now that you know about some of the best options in the market to enhance your coaching practice, it's time to make an important decision. After all, it comes down to what your business needs and what tool adapts better to your current workflow. With so many options out there, it can get overwhelming to make the right choice, which is why it's a great idea to give a couple of platforms a try before you go all in with a big investment.
Luckily, Bonsai gives you a 7-day free trial so you can see for yourself how all of its features and integration capabilities will work wonders for your business. With so many administrative tools you can grow your business sooner than you thought, simply by saving so much time that you can dedicate yourself to providing more quality services and engaging with clients. Check out this top coaching software, and start doing business like a pro!
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