Dubsado for coaches

Dubsado workflow overview for coaches

I get this question all the time: Will Dubsado work for my online coaching business?

YES! I almost always recommend Dubsado for coaches. Let’s talk about why and the features you need in your life ASAP.

It’s a bit confusing because Dubsado doesn’t market itself to coaches, so you might not think you’re in the right place when you land on their website. However, it’s actually perfect because you often have a huge volume of clients, and a platform like Dubsado will help you keep track of all your coaching clients. Plus, it has a ton of handy automation features to help you save time on busywork, so you can spend more time serving that multitude of clients.

Not to brag (😉), but lots of coaches come to me because I have a long track record of Dubsado setup services for coaches—I get your business model and know how to optimise Dubsado specifically for your type of services, even though most people think that Dubsado is best for designers or creative types.

If you want to grow your online coaching business, here’s how Dubsado can help you do just that… with ease.

Dubsado features to grow a coaching business

You probably started your online coaching business for two reasons: 1) To help other people and 2) To enjoy your own life. When we’re bogged down by busywork and endless to-dos, our business feels out of whack from those original goals—not fun.

Here’s why I recommend Dubsado for coaches and the exact features you need to set up first if you want to grow your online coaching business with a professional CRM.

Client management

With Dubsado, all your client information sits in one place, separated by project, for you and for their client view. Dubsado includes a professional looking portal as well, so you can easily send tools, exercises, and documents to support your clients through their growth journey with you. Overall, it creates a cohesive, on-brand, and easy experience for your coaching clients, while saving you time and stress because everything is organised for you.

This organisation even includes distinctions between leads, current clients, and past clients. You can also automate lead followup, past client check-ins, and everything in between so you don’t have to think twice about the details. Say hello to more brainspace!

Contracts and electronic signatures

With an online coaching business, you need to cover all the bases in terms of logistics, services, and just overall what people can expect from working with you.

In Dubsado, contracts become auto-filled forms that you just need to plug into each workflow or project. Contracts are completely customisable, so you can leave spaces for their information, signature, and your cross-signatures. It saves you time pulling everything together for a new lead and the hassle of new clients having to print, sign, and email back contracts. The general rule of thumb is the easier you make the buying process, the more clients you will bring in.

Dubsado proposals

Want to really sell the value of your coaching services? Dubsado is perfect for that! With proposal forms, you can create a template that continues the experience from your website, through your discovery call, to a beautiful proposal that seals the deal.

Proposals should be on-brand and are a great spot to add fun design elements to keep clients engaged or lighten the serious mood of signing up for a major service. Here’s some ideas to improve your Dubsado forms.

Invoicing and payments

Just like with contracts, you want payments to feel easy for clients. Dubsado helps with this for a few reasons.

You can set up recurring payments for monthly retainers or payment plans; payment reminders before and after due dates; multiple variations of payment plans; and everything in between to provide a low-stress way to pay for your services. Dubsado also integrates with Stripe and PayPal to accept payments globally.

Canned emails

There’s literally nothing better than minimising time in your inbox. Don’t you agree? I love working with my clients, but hate sending the same email over and over again. With Dubsado, you can write canned emails, plug in canned email templates, and schedule them to send automatically throughout your workflow.

Stop spending so much time on admin. Instead, spend more time serving clients and growing your online coaching business.

Lead source tracking

Want to keep track of where your coaching client leads come from? Dubsado can do that! With some setup, you will be able to track what source referred each lead to you, so later you can spend more time on the areas that matter to move the needle in your coaching business.

Cons to Dubsado for coaches

Dubsado is great for coaches in terms of every aspect, except one downside… The Dubsado scheduler is a bit too clunky for coaches with multiple clients who need to book and potentially reschedule lots of calls. There’s an easy fix though! I often integrate Acuity within the Dubsado workflow for coaches for a better experience. It’s just a more robust scheduling platform for coaches at the moment.

What can you automate in an online coaching business?

Now that you’re into the idea of using Dubsado as a coach, I’m sure you’re wondering: What can I automate in my online coaching business? Automation is flipping brilliant.

First, rest assured that your clients will still feel supported and comfortable within your unique Dubsado workflow. When set up correctly, even automated Dubsado workflows can feel customised to the client. I look at Dubsado as a way to help you save time, without sacrificing that client experience. When your clients are happy, I’m happy.

So what can you automate? I break Dubsado workflows for coaches into 3 key areas of automation.

1. Lead management

The moment a lead completes your contact form or application, Dubsado steps in to help. Not at your desk? On client calls all day? No problem! If you program Dubsado to automatically send additional information, call booking links, or anything else leads need to feel heard and understood, you won’t typically need to do anything until it’s time to prepare for the discovery call.

2. Onboarding

Onboarding coaching clients can take a long time if there’s lots of information to gather or documents to send their way. Streamline this process using your client portal, forms, contracts, and invoicing.

Get clients to sign your coaching agreement and confidentiality clauses. Guide them through the automated process to pay the first invoice and schedule their first session. If you have a questionnaire to get to know them better before your first call, or exercises to send their way, Dubsado helps with all of this. Often, when set up efficiently, all you need to do is approve the onboarding step in the workflow, and maybe select the correct options for the client in question. If they sign your contract while you’re sleeping, they can still receive all the information they need to start while they’re excited.

I typically skip the service part of the work with Dubsado for coaches because that’s where the customisation comes in. You can still automate pieces here (re: invoices, scheduling, etc.), create to-dos and reminders for yourself, and you can implement canned emails to save more time. Often, this middle part can’t or shouldn’t be totally automated. This is something to keep in mind when you’re planning your Dubsado workflows.

3. Offboarding

Offboarding sometimes takes just as long as onboarding. Alternatively, you aren’t giving your offboarding process enough attention to keep clients coming back for more.

With an automated offboarding workflow, you can…

• Invite clients to renew their coaching package with you.
• Close the relationship without leaving them hanging.
• Ask for feedback or reviews.
• Check in on them a while after to see how they’re going.

See how an attention to detail can help you grow your business?

Ready to set up Dubsado for your coaching business?

You can get started today all on your own… with my guidance, of course. I don’t want to leave you hanging to figure this out on your own. Enroll in the free course: 7 Steps to Automation for an introduction on how to set up Dubsado without the stress.