How to use proposals to build trust and sign more coaching clients

When a potential client reaches out for help, trust is the name of the game. They want to feel heard, and to know that you've listened to their pain. They want to see a way out.

And that’s exactly what you’re going to show them, lovely!

By sending either an information pack before and a proposal after your discovery call, you’re giving your client as much information as possible to help them see that they need you in their life. 

In this article, I’ll show you exactly how to use these documents to elevate the level of trust you’ll already have with each person you speak to, and how that will help you to sign more coaching clients.

How does a proposal build trust?

Even though you can use your discovery call to tell your client how you can solve their problem, a proposal reinforces this. 

By including all of the points from your call, you’ll make sure your client really feels heard and knows what a fab investment your programme will be for their life and business.

In terms of client experience, it’s also going to set you apart from other coaches who DON’T take the time to make sure their clients have everything they need to make a decision. It’s kind of like the drinks reception at a fancy-pants party. You wouldn’t want your guests feeling confused and forgotten until the dinner was ready, right?!

It’s little touches like this that make a BIG difference when clients are deciding who to invest in.

International Coaching Federations (ICF) Ethical Standards

Thing is, sending a kick-ass proposal or information pack isn’t just about looking good to your clients. 

An information that includes all relevant info also means you’ll be adhering to the ICF ethical standards. 

Under ‘Responsibility to Clients’ they state that all certified coaches must:

Explain and ensure that, prior to OR at the initial meeting, my coaching Client(s) and Sponsor(s) understand the nature and potential value of coaching, the nature and limits of confidentiality, financial arrangements and any other terms of the coaching agreement.

After your call you can take it one step further and send them a proposal with a bit more information to really wow them with your attention to detail.

So how do you build a proposal that ticks all those boxes AND makes you look like the shit-hot coach you really are? 

What to include

A welcome note

Let the potential client know that you can’t freakin’ wait to chat with them. Remind them of what you do and, if you’re sending it after your discovery call, why they decided to reach out to you. 

How you’ll help solve their problem

You'll have a unique method or approach for helping them with their pain point, so make sure you tell them exactly what that is, loud and proud sistah!

If you’ve already had a call or a short convo via messenger or a discovery call, use their words so they feel heard and they know that you 'get' them and have listened. You could outline some challenges they raised when speaking with you and how you will approach them and talk about the end results they'll get with you.

Remember people aren't always bothered about 'how' you get the results - if a cleaner comes to clean your house, as long as it gets cleaned, you may not be interested in the products they use, how long they spend hoovering, and whether they sing and dance while they clean. You just want to come back to a clean house and see the transformation.

So, address their pain points, explain the outcome you can give them, and outline the results they will get by working with you.

Case study

I often look at case studies when I’m deciding whether to work with someone - I want to see that what they are saying they can do is true.

In your case studies, include details about what the initial problem was, what the client’s goal was, how that person worked with you, and what the transformation was after working with you.

If you have different case studies for different 'types' of work you've done with people, choose one that will best match where your potential client is at and where they want to be.  

Just make sure that whoever you use is still relevant! A couple of times when looking at business coaches, I’ve looked up the person in the case study to see where they're at now and they've closed their business. That raises some serious red flags for me if you’re a business coach, so make sure they're still current and still have good results so it looks good on you!

Investment

Obviously, you want to cover cost and payment options in your proposal, but make sure you dig deep into the emotion of why they came to you in the first place.

Like, if you tell them you charge $3,000 for 12 x 1 hour sessions....well great, but loads of people offer that.

What makes you unique in your approach and how are you going to change their life? What results will you get them for $3,000? That’s what your client really wants to know.

Next steps

Your  proposal needs to be really clear about what your client needs to do next to work with you, because when they read what you’re telling them, that's exactly what they’ll want to do!

Then, make those next steps super easy to complete. For example, signing the contract electronically or paying the invoice online. 

Making the process easy for your client is one of the best ways to provide that 5-star client experience, so don’t skip this part. 

Creating proposals in Dubsado

When you create a proposal in Dubsado, you make it super easy for your clients to know what to do next. Not only are you providing all the info they need to know about your programme (or programmes), you can include buttons for them to select the package you've quoted. They sign the contract online, they pay the invoice online - job done in about 1 minute!

It’s not just about the client though, proposals in Dubsado make it super easy for you too. All the client’s essential information is pulled into a master template - you just need to tweak a few of the pain points so that it's specific to your client. What would have taken ages pissing about on Canva takes half the time! 

Smart fields like {first.name} let you bring the client's first name into the template automatically - there's no more accidentally leaving a past client's name on any documents you send out.  Yep, you're looking as pro as the service you offer, in a fraction of the time.

But the real wow factor comes with how you can make them look using a bit of coding. Check out one of my example forms below:

It’s time to start wowing your clients with an amazing Client Welcome Pack

So now you know why you need to be using info packs or proposals, it’s time to start creating one. 

And if that sounds like a faff, I’ve got you covered there too!

Enter: The Client Welcome Pack for Coaches

It’s a ready-made template that will allow you to create a Client Welcome Pack so you can start wowing your clients.

So while it’s not a ‘proposal’ as such - you basically take the template that includes all the stuff I’ve talked about up there ☝️☝️☝️  and use it to create the proposal too! You’ll be totally bossing it with a proposal AND a welcome pack! There are bonus sections in addition to what I talked about above so that you won’t miss anything out. 

There’s also a tutorial to show you how to quickly and easily switch in your own brand colours, tips on what to include in each section, and buttons to allow you to add or remove pages as necessary. 

So stop faffing about in Canva, and start showing potential clients what a shit-hot boss you really are!