What is a Coaching Agreement?
A Coaching Agreement is your MOST important legal document. If you only have one contract in your coaching business, this is it!
A Coaching Agreement sets out the legal agreement between a coach and their clients.
This includes services, client responsibilities, payment terms, cancellations, termination, limitation of liability and a success disclaimer. It also covers confidentiality and intellectual property rights.
Every coach-client relationship is different, but it helps to set the ground rules from the start. A well written agreement will not only provide you with legal protection, it will also help manage your client’s expectations.
Who can use this template?
- Business coaches
- Life coaches
- Financial coaches
- Executive coaches
- Leadership coaches
- Other types of coaches and mentors
Do I need a contract for my coaching clients?
Yes, definitely! A contract protects both you and your clients.
Putting things in writing protects both parties and gives certainty.
Contracts are about more than wrapping your clients up in red tape and telling them what they can’t do. Think of your contract as relationship insurance: it does all the hard, boring work of keeping the relationship on rails, so you can focus on the fun part – the actual coaching.
What does this Coaching Agreement template include?
Our Coaching Agreement template covers everything you need:
- Term – how long you will work together for
- Services – why are we here? describe your coaching program, content and structure
- Client Responsibilities – help your clients to help themselves and remind students that they need to be accountable and take action
- Investment – the fees you will charge
- Travel Expenses – optional clause to cover travel costs if you need to travel for a session or workshop
- Payment Terms – set clear expectations about when payment is due
- Postponements – how and when clients can reschedule with you
- Cancellation and Refund Policy – remove any uncertainty about your policy on cancellations and refunds
- Termination – gives you (and the client) a legal way to end the agreement
- Indemnity – an important legal clause
- Intellectual Property – protect your proprietary knowledge and training materials
- Confidentiality – trust is a two-way street, this protects you and your client from information getting shared that you don’t want shared
- Advice and Information – make it clear that coaching is not a substitute for professional legal, medical or financial advice
- Guarantees – you can’t guarantee success and the client is ultimately responsible for their actions and results
- Limitation of Liability – an important legal clause
- Dispute Resolution – how you can settle disputes (let’s hope it never comes to that!)
- General – standard contract clauses such as Assignment, Severance, Entire Agreement, Waiver and Governing Law
Other names for Coaching Agreement
- Coaching Contract
- Coaching Terms and Conditions
- Coaching Terms of Business
- Mentoring Agreement
- Services Agreement
- Client Agreement
How do I fit all of the details of my different services into the contract?
Our Coaching Agreement template incluse a clause to describe your services.
However, the best approach is to have TWO documents which you provide to potential clients:
1. Proposal – a detailed overview of the coaching services you will provide and the scope of your engagement
2. Coaching Agreement – all of the legal considerations and your official agreement
This gives you more flexibility and it means that you can customise each proposal without having to condense the detailed information into a standard contract.
Why should I invest in a quality Coaching Agreement template?
You’ve spent countless hours dedicated to learning how to attract the right clients.
Your heavy financial investments in your own personal growth are slowly but surely paying off.
You’re not going to let all that go to waste with a crappy contract, are you?
The booking process is the most fragile part of the selling process. Don’t let your future clients slip away with a shady contract, pieced together like Frankenstein.
With this contract template, your clients will know you take your business seriously. You’ll stand out from your competition, but best of all, your clients will trust you right from the start.
What kind of coaching does this template cover?
Our Coaching Agreement template is suitable for Business Coaches, Life Coaches, Health & Wellness Coaches, Career Coaches, Executive Coaches, Leadership Coaches, Marketing Coaches, Speaking Coaches plus any other coaches we might have missed in this list. If you offer 1:1 coaching, group coaching, workshops or virtual coaching, we’ve got you covered!
Is this Coaching Agreement template legally binding?
Absolutely!
All of our templates have been drafted by qualified Australian lawyers who hold an Australian legal practicing certificate.
We are affiliated with a commercial law firm based in Sydney.
Can’t I copy terms from someone else or download a free template off the internet?
We don’t recommend this approach for a few reasons:
1. You may be committing copyright infringement, which is against the law.
2. You might accidentally copy terms and conditions from another country – if you end up in court for some reason it might be on the other side of the world.
3. Our template has been drafted by an Australian lawyer to make sure it’s legally binding here in Australia.
