Systems are crucial to success in business, no matter what kind of business you are running.
And a system isn’t just software or tech. A system can literally be anything in your business that takes more than one element and organizes it and other elements in an intentional way to reach a goal or achieve an outcome.
In this article we’ll talk about why systems are important, the benefits to your coaching business and three must-have systems.
Why are Systems Important in a Coaching Business?
Systems are a cornerstone of a successful, profitable, and scalable coaching business. Systems help you to:
- Coordinate actions, tasks, or processes of specific functions so they work in harmony to achieve your goal or desired outcome.
- Standardize functions in your business to create consistency, quality, and productivity.
- Leverage your resources, like time, money, and energy (i.e. save you all three of these!)
Think about it like this: Systems help you get a better outcome with less effort.
How Do I Know What Systems to Implement In My Coaching Business?
What systems you implement in your coaching business will be directed by your strategy.
The strategy is how a coaching business plans to achieve its vision.
A system is a set of actions, processes, and tools that help to actually execute the strategy.
There are three core strategies to develop in your coaching business (in truth there are more but these are the basics) and these will drive what systems you create:
- Client Attraction Strategy
- Sales Strategy
- Delivery Strategy
So once you know your strategy, then you can develop the systems.
Let’s look at some examples:
- Client Attraction Strategy: Let’s say your client attraction strategy is to be a guest on other people’s podcasts. To execute that strategy, you will need a system to pitch yourself on those podcasts. That system could include:
– A process for podcast research
– A podcast assistant
– Pitch template
– Media Kit - Sales Strategy: Let’s say you sell a high ticket coaching program that relies on applications. To execute that strategy, you will need a sales system that could include:
– An application funnel
– A calendar scheduler
– A process for managing reminders, no-shows, and follow-ups
– A salesperson to hold calls and perform follow-ups - Delivery Strategy: Let’s stick with the high ticket coaching program. To execute your delivery strategy, you will need a delivery system that includes:
– A payment processor + contract software
– An onboarding process
– Program curriculum
– A team member to oversee client delivery
How Do I Successfully Implement Systems in My Coaching Business?
- Set the strategy: As outlined above, the systems are directed by the strategy, so start there.
- Assess: Assess systems set up would have the most impact, both immediate and short term.
- Prioritize: Once you have awareness over which systems will have the most impact, then prioritize which to focus on first.
- Map: Map out what the system will look like. Know what the goal of the system is (what outcome should it achieve) and take into consider the organization of the system, the processes involved, and the tools needed to make the system work (software, humans, integrations).
- Build: Build out the system.
- Test: Test the system out by using it.
- Adjust: As you use the system, don’t forget to have a check in place to ensure it is working (helping you to achieve its goal) and then adjust as necessary.
What If I’m Not a Systems Person?
It doesn’t matter whether you are a systems person or not – systems are a necessary part of your coaching business.
Here are a few approaches to consider if you’re not a “systems person”:
- Delegate. Spinning your wheels trying to set up systems on your own when you’re not naturally a systems-minded person is a recipe for overwhelm and frustration (and lack of any systems or systems that aren’t well put together). Don’t waste your valuable time focusing on systems when you can partner with someone to set them up for you. This does not mean there’s no work involved for you. You will need to provide the vision, and the strategy so whoever is supporting you understands the goals and set up the system optimally. And you’ll need to understand how the system works and why so that you know how to work within it.
- Find the systems that work for you. This goes hand in hand with the strategy. Some coaches follow the proverbial “cookie-cutter” strategies because they hope to cut down on the learning curve. But just as important as it is to choose strategies that align with your values and your vision, it is important to build systems that will actually help you achieve your goals (that’s their point after all). And if you’re creating systems that you can’t or won’t work within, they’re not going to work. Take for instance creating content. Some folks love to batch out their content weeks at a time and then pre-schedule it. For others, they may prefer to create a piece of content per day or when they’re feeling most inspired (that’s me!) It is not that one way is right or wrong. What’s important is which system will you use consistently so that it achieves its goal.
- Focus on one system at a time. Of course you need to have basic systems set up in your business for it to run, but don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to put too many systems in place all at once. Focus on what system will have the most impact (considering both your short and long term goals), get it built, and then move on to the next one. That being said, it’s important to understand how all of the systems may fit together, but you don’t necessarily need to make them all perfect out of the gate. Get them in enough working order to operate, and then focus on optimizing one at a time.
Ready to start implementing or optimizing systems in your coaching business to save you time, money, and energy (remember: get better outcomes with less effort!)?
Book a Systems Discovery Call to find out how you can get support: https://laralasala.as.me/systems
