7 Major Mistakes to AVOID in Your Coaching Terms and Conditions (No One Talks About)
Do you have a coaching business? I’m telling you precisely what AVOID these crucial mistakes in your coaching terms and conditions to avoid the most common issues that make you lose money.
Helping others succeed in their goals is so exciting for any coach, but if you’re anything like me, you want to ensure you do not make any major mistakes that could cause you to waste your energy or lose your money. As a lawyer myself who drafts coaching terms and conditions for all types of coaches like you, I am protecting you from making these major mistakes that coaches commonly make.
You will learn about the crucial mistakes every coach must avoid in their coaching terms and conditions, but also what should be in a coaching contract to avoid those mistakes, and for all types of coaching agreements, not just for one type of online coaching terms and conditions template.
After learning all about the serious mistakes to avoid in your coaching terms and conditions, you will know exactly what you need to protect yourself against the most common mistakes coaches make!
This post is all about the major mistakes coaches must avoid in their coaching terms and conditions to protect themselves from losing money, wasting energy, or even losing their businesses.
Crucial Coaching Terms and Conditions
Coaching terms and conditions examples
1. No clear outline of the responsibilities of the client
Usually, coaching terms and conditions will have general wording stating that the client is responsible for his/her/their own results and outcomes and that the coach can not be held responsible or liable for the results and outcomes. If your coaching terms and conditions template does not have at least that, burn it now!
However, more often than not, I see coaching terms and conditions that do not clearly specify what exactly the coach expects from the client. That is equally as important to establish and make clear to your client!
Your client will have all kinds of expectations of what You can do for them, not what THEY need to do to get to where they need to be.
Therefore, you need to give your clients a reality check upfront. State exactly the work your client needs to do. If you are a health coach, you must clearly specify that your client must follow the diet prescribed and avoid the foods you tell your client not to eat (or limit the consumption to the threshold you have set). Maybe you have an eating schedule for your client to follow, and then your client needs to comply with the set times in that schedule. You need to specify all of this in your coaching terms and conditions.
And then, if your client does not reach his/her/their desired results and starts blaming you, then you can at least defend yourself by pointing to the list of responsibilities that you have outlined for your client and saying, “It’s not me, it’s you!”
2. Failure to establish your availability
When hiring you as their coach, your clients will lean and rely on you and your guidance for all aspects of your services. You are considered the partner or even leader in that aspect of their lives or businesses you are coaching them on.
Therefore, it’s even more important to establish boundaries and expectations upfront in your communication with your clients and vice versa.
You need to define your availability clearly. Is that five days or seven days per week? At what times? If you are an online coach working with clients worldwide or at least some in different time zones, include the times with your time zone and the military time—for example, Mondays through Fridays from 09:00 Central European Time (CET) until 17:00 CET.
3. Failure to establish boundaries on communication platforms
Another mistake I see many coaches make in their coaching terms and conditions is that they do not clearly define their communication methods and platforms.
You need to clearly state the permitted communication platforms and for which method you use those platforms. Ensure your clients understand they can exclusively communicate with you through that communication method and for which purposes those platforms may be used.
Can your clients reach you by email, phone calls, text, WhatsApp, Instagram, Signal, LinkedIn, Zoom, Skype, etc.? Via multiple or only one platform?
Then define which platform can be used for what communication method. Zoom may be only used for weekly coaching calls, while WhatsApp may only be used for intermediate check-ins.
4. Failure to state response times for you AND your client
Another major mistake I have seen in many coaching terms and conditions is that the response time is not specified. Even when that is specified, the response, usually the response time for the client, is not specified. Yes, the client is hiring and paying you to provide services to the client. But it’s a collaborative process. You do not only need to work with your client, but the client needs to work with you, too, to achieve your client’s goals.
As stated in the first paragraph, you need to outline your client’s responsibilities as well. That does not only mean specifying how your client must prepare for coaching sessions, following instructions, and actively participating in your coaching process. An essential part of coaching is communication, as you may have learned from the two previous paragraphs. By setting these expectations, both you and your client can align your commitments and ensure a successful coaching experience for both of you.
5. No specific terms for your specific coaching niche
The most crucial mistake I have seen with coaching terms and conditions is that they do not include specific terms for the specific niche the coach is in. Different coaches need different types of coaching agreements.
The scope of services of each type of coach is vastly different. All coaches may have 1-on-1 coaching calls, but their expertise is completely different. What a business coach coaches completely differs from what a life coach coaches on.
Yet, I see coaches you the most generic coaching terms and conditions template that does not include protections for their specific coaching services.
Different coaches need different disclaimers, indemnities and waivers from their clients.
A life coach, for example, will need a medical treatment life coach waiver and disclaimers on medical and mental health.
Are you a life coach? Read more about the specific protections you need in this blog post on the 5 Essentials Every Life Coach Must Have in Their Life Coach Terms and Conditions.
6. Incomplete Payment Terms
Somehow a mistake that is commonly made in coaching terms and conditions is at least one essential payment term that is missing.
Especially when it comes to payments, you want to avoid any vagueness or ambiguity.
Ensure you have ALL (not some) of the following payments terms:
the fees and whether the fees include any applicable value-added tax (VAT) or sales tax;
what exactly the fee covers (a total fixed fee for an entire coaching package or a fee per 1-on-1 call?);
when exactly and how often the fees are billed (before or after each session, on the first of each month, a total fixed fee in advance or in parts, etc.);
by when the client must pay the relevant fees;
additional fees for additional services or costs and expenses incurred by you; and
the accepted payment method(s).
Also, specify what happens when you do not receive payments made by your clients, are cancelled or are charged back.
In addition, you must specify what happens when sessions are missed or cancelled. Do your clients get refunds?
By having payment terms that are transparent, clear and complete, you can avoid conflicts and, ultimately, avoid losing money.
7. Omitting crucial grounds for (immediate) termination
Another major mistake I have seen in coaching terms and conditions is that certain essential grounds for immediate termination of the coaching relationship are not included in the termination grounds.
This might not be as major if your client only pays for 1-on-1 online sessions in advance.
In that case, I recommend having online terms for 1-on-1 consultation, which you can find on this page of my contract shop.
But, if you have a more substantial coaching package, this is a very important element of your coaching terms and conditions.
You should outline the circumstances under which you may terminate the coaching relationship immediately. A lot can go wrong in a coaching relationship, so you want to cover all grounds.
One example is that of behaviour. You want to be able to immediately terminate the contract if your client behaves in a way that is offensive, obscene, defamatory, abusive, profane, hateful, vulgar, libellous, threatening, derogatory, upsetting, insulting, misleading, etc., to you or anyone else in any way.
That is just one example, but there are many more, and you do not want to be stuck to a client or end up in a dispute with a client for not continuing the coaching relationship.
Conclusion
So, these were some of the most common mistakes you must avoid in your coaching terms and conditions. By avoiding these major mistakes, you will protect your business, money and energy, and you can focus on building great coaching relationships.
Coaching terms and conditions template
Are you in need of a coaching terms and conditions template?
Avoid all the mistakes and get the coaching terms and conditions with the proper wording to give you full legal protection!
Go to this page of my contract shop to get the online coaching terms and conditions template you need for your specific coaching niche!
Coaching terms and conditions sample
You can find many coaching terms and conditions examples online. However, finding coaching terms and conditions containing what should be in a coaching contract might not be easy.
If you are a certified coach or member of the International Coach Federation, you may have seen or used the ICF coaching terms and conditions. But, even that coaching terms and conditions template is just a skeleton to which you need to add all the protections you need to avoid the mistakes just discussed.
When it comes to coaching terms and conditions, there is no one-size-fits-all for every coaching niche. Whether you are a business coach, life coach, health coach or fitness coach, you know your business is completely different from the other coaching niches. If you are a life coach, you need a life coaching terms and conditions template. If you are a business coach, you need business coaching terms and conditions.
That is why, in my contract shop, I sell different types of coaching agreements for each coaching niche.
A random coaching terms and conditions sample that you have found online and the ICF coaching terms and conditions may contain some basic terms that should be in all coaching terms and conditions, but you definitely need to add some essential terms for the full protection of your specific coaching business.
Do you take your coaching business seriously? Do you want a coaching terms and conditions template that contains the proper wording to be fully protected? Do you want coaching terms and conditions containing all the essentials you need for your type of coaching business, your niche?
Then you need my coaching terms and conditions template tailored to your specific coaching niche, which you can get on this page of my contract shop!
This post was all about the most common mistakes coaches make in their coaching terms and conditions and how to avoid them.
Are you a life coach? Then you must read this blog post on the 5 Essentials Every Life Coach Must Have in Their Life Coach Terms and Conditions.
Are you a business coach? Then you must read this blog post on the 7 Essentials Every Business Coach Must Have in Their Business Coaching Terms and Conditions.
Avoid all the detrimental mistakes, and get your coaching terms and conditions that include all the protections you need (& more) on this page of my contract shop!
