Coaching Agreement Template
We’ve designed a simple coaching contract template (Word and PDF), with the help of legal experts and proofreaders to help you save time and secure more paying clients that respect your coaching services.
How To Use a Coaching Contract (Download our Free Template)
We’ve designed a simple coaching contract template (Word and PDF), with the help of legal experts and proofreaders to help you save time and secure more paying clients that respect your coaching services.
What’s in this template?
- • Responsibilities and duties
- • Payment terms
- • Exclusivity
Click below to grab a copy of our free coaching agreement
What is a coaching contract?
Coaching is the process of helping individuals improve their performance in a given field. In essence, coaches help clients to learn how to coach themselves, usually in exchange for a fee.
A coaching contract is a legally binding agreement between a coach and a client that solidifies a professional coaching relationship.
Depending on the area of expertise, a coaching agreement may be named differently. For example, a life coach will offer a life coaching contract, and a business coach will use a business coaching contract, and so forth.
Regardless of the industry, the coaching contract fundamentally contains the same elements.
DISCLAIMER: We are not lawyers or a law firm and we do not provide legal, business or tax advice. We recommend you consult a lawyer or other appropriate professional before using any templates or agreements from this website.
Get access to our Coaching
Contract Template
As a coach, it’s hard work finding clients, let alone getting them to do the hard work to follow through on their commitments!
It’s sometimes handy to leverage a contract to elevate the seriousness and formality of your client relationships, so your client is incentivized to trust you.
Download our free coaching contract
Why is a coaching contract agreement important?
Clients seek out a coach when they are stuck and need help moving forward in whatever it is they’re trying to do.
When someone who’s struggling discovers that your coaching services will help them figure out their next steps, prospective they get excited and optimistic.
They think, “a coach is all I need to achieve my goals!”
But as you know, a coach’s job is not to tell clients what to do. A coach empowers clients through exercises and guidance so they can make progress towards their goals.
This often means the client needs to do a lot of work on themselves—which is sometimes not what they expected.
A clients’ realization of the hard work ahead can often be demotivating and can sometimes slow down the coaching relationship. Clients feel embarrassed when they don’t do their homework, or they question their commitment altogether.
Suddenly they start missing appointments and payments, and eventually, the coaching comes to an end. Sound familiar?
This is where a coaching contract comes into play.
Introducing a formal agreement at the point of signing a new client does a couple of things:
- • It shows the client that this isn't your first rodeo, and you mean business. In other words, having a professional agreement gives you credibility.
- • It sets clear expectations of what your coaching fees are, which is motivating for your client to put in the work to get the most value from your coaching.
- • A coaching contract frees up your time to empower your clients, instead of following up on compliance and the fine print of your relationship.
As you can see, a coaching contract is a critical piece to your coaching toolkit, and our template makes it super easy to implement.
Get access to our Coaching
Contract Template
As a coach, it’s hard work finding clients, let alone getting them to do the hard work to follow through on their commitments!
It’s sometimes handy to leverage a contract to elevate the seriousness and formality of your client relationships, so your client is incentivized to trust you.
Download our free coaching contract
Five key elements of a coaching contract
While some coaching contracts can be long and thorough, there’s only a handful of things that matter to start a professional coaching relationship.
Below are five key elements when establishing the coaching agreement.
1. Responsibilities
Responsibilities are at the core of your coaching agreement. What are you offering in return for a fee? What is your client prepared to do to meet their goals? If all parties write down their commitments upfront, then take the next step to sign off on it, you’ll be well on your way to a successful relationship.
2. Confidentiality
As a coach, your methodologies and approach to empowering people is your propriety skill. For this reason, it’s worth a brief mention in your contract of keeping your coaching process confidential. It also reduces the chances of client referrals having the wrong expectations of your coaching services in the future.
3. Cancellation
As stated above, for whatever reason, your client may miss meetings. This costs you time and money as your preparation for each call goes to waste. A cancellation policy ensures you get paid for missed appointments and motivates your client to commit.
4. Exclusivity
Sometimes clients will demand a lot of your time, taking opportunities away from your other clients. It’s usually a good idea to set the expectations of exclusivity upfront in your contract, so clients respect your time.
5. Payment
This is the part of the contract where a coach clarifies their payment terms. Do you require payment upfront? On a schedule? Lay it all out in your agreement.
Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ about our Coaching Contracts
While you’re hoping that nothing will ever go wrong in a coaching relationship, it can still happen to the best of us. You get a disgruntled client, or even worse, a lawsuit.
A contract protects you against those nasty situations and gives you a formal document for you and your client to be accountable to.
So although you don’t technically need a coaching contract, it’s a good idea to have one.
A contract protects you against those nasty situations and gives you a formal document for you and your client to be accountable to.
So although you don’t technically need a coaching contract, it’s a good idea to have one.
Yes, you can, and we want you to! Every coaching situation is different, so that’s why our coaching template is in Word format so you can make changes as you see fit.
Just be mindful that if you make any drastic changes, it might be worth getting a lawyer to look over it.
Just be mindful that if you make any drastic changes, it might be worth getting a lawyer to look over it.
Your coaching contract is a vital piece to your client intake process. After client inquiry and a discovery call, you may go ahead and send a proposal that includes all the ways you can help your prospective client.
It’s also at this point; you can include a copy of your contract agreement as a formal document to convert your prospect into a paying client.
Introducing a contract also acts as a tool for uncovering any objections your client might have about your offerings.
It’s also at this point; you can include a copy of your contract agreement as a formal document to convert your prospect into a paying client.
Introducing a contract also acts as a tool for uncovering any objections your client might have about your offerings.
document preview
Coaching Agreement
Coaching Agreement
Parties
– This Coaching Agreement (hereinafter referred to as the “Agreement”) is entered into on ______________ (the “Effective Date”), by and between __________________________, with an address of ______________ (hereinafter referred to as the “Coach”) and ______________ with an address of ______________ (hereinafter referred to as the “Client”) (collectively referred to as the “Parties”).
Purpose Of The Agreement
– The Purpose of this Agreement is to enter a coaching relationship between the Coach and the Client, where the Coach will train the Client and cultivate his/her personal, professional and/or business goals.
– The Coach will also create a plan to carry out the goals mentioned in this Agreement to maximize the Client’s personal and/or professional potential.
Term
This Agreement shall enter into force on the date of the last signature by the Parties. It shall remain in force for a period of _____________________
This Agreement may be renewed only by the written consent of the Parties.
Responsibilities And Duties Of The Coach Towards The Client
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
Responsibilities And Duties Of The Client Towards The Coach
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
- ______________________
Payment For Services
– The Client will pay the Coach an amount of ______________for the performance of the Services (hereinafter referred to as “the Fee”).
– Whereas the Coach will invoice the Client on the final business day of the first full month after the Coach’s initial assignment and at the end of each month thereafter.
Confidentiality
– All terms and conditions of this Agreement and any materials provided during the term of the Agreement must be kept confidential by the Client, unless the disclosure is required pursuant to process of law.
– Disclosing or using this information for any purpose beyond the scope of this Agreement, or beyond the exceptions set forth above, is expressly forbidden without the prior consent of the Coach.
Cancellation Policy
– Whereas the Client agrees that it is his/her responsibility to notify the Coach of the exact number of hours prior to engaging in the scheduled calls and/or meetings.
– The Coach reserves the right to bill the Client for a missed meeting.
– The Coach will attempt in good faith to reschedule the missed meeting.
Intellectual Property
– Hereby, the Client agrees that any intellectual property provided to him/her by the Coach will remain the sole property of the Coach, including, but not limited to, copyrights, patents, trade secret rights, and other intellectual property rights associated with any ideas, concepts, techniques, inventions, processes, works of authorship, confidential information or trade secrets.
Exclusivity
– The Parties agree that this Agreement is not an exclusive arrangement and that the Coach is entitled to enter into other similar agreements with other clients.
Limitation Of Liability
– In no event shall the Coach be liable for any damages for any indirect, consequential or special damages.
– The Coach, hereby, makes no guarantees, representations or warranties of any kind or nature, express or implied, with respect to the coaching services negotiated, agreed upon and rendered.
Severability
– In the event that any provision of this Agreement is found to be void and unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction, then the remaining provisions will remain in force in accordance with the Parties’ intention.
Governing Law
– This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of ______________.
Alternative Dispute Resolution
– Any dispute or difference whatsoever arising out of or in connection with this Agreement shall be submitted to arbitration/mediation/negotiation (circle one) in accordance with, and subject to the laws of ______________.
Attorney Fees
– In the event of any dispute between the Parties concerning the terms and provisions of this Agreement, the party prevailing in such dispute shall be entitled to collect from the other party all costs incurred in such dispute, including reasonable attorneys’ fees.
Entire Agreement
– This Agreement contains the entire agreement and understanding among the Parties hereto with respect to the subject matter hereof, and supersedes all prior agreements, understandings, inducements and conditions, express or implied, oral or written, of any nature whatsoever with respect to the subject matter hereof. The express terms hereof control and supersede any course of performance and/or usage of the trade inconsistent with any of the terms hereof.
Amendments
– The Parties agree that any amendments made to this Agreement must be in writing, where they must be signed by both Parties to this Agreement.
– As such, any amendments made by the Parties will be applied to this Agreement.
Signature And Date
– The Parties hereby agree to the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement and such is demonstrated by their signatures below:
Client
Name: ______________________
Signature: ___________________
Date: _______________________
Coach
Name: ______________________
Signature: ___________________
Date: _______________________
Related Proposals and Templates
Get access to our Coaching
Contract Template
As a coach, it’s hard work finding clients, let alone getting them to do the hard work to follow through on their commitments!
It’s sometimes handy to leverage a contract to elevate the seriousness and formality of your client relationships, so your client is incentivized to trust you.
Download our free coaching contract
