Whether you’re just starting your coaching business or you’re a veteran to the industry, you probably have a lot on your plate. As a small team – or even a one-person show – it can be difficult to get everything done every day.
Unfortunately, if you don’t complete your to-do list before the end of the day, you can fall behind. Your clients might not get the attention they need or your business may become disorganized.
You don’t need to hire new employees to get more done every day, though. In order to tackle your to-do list more efficiently, you can use automation.
Automation can be used in just about every area of your online coaching business. Here are a few of the most popular types of automation to get you started.
Marketing
Marketing automation is quickly changing how companies create, share, and monitor social media, blogs, and lead generation.
Here are some marketing areas you can automate in your coaching business.
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Social Media Publishing
It’s important to keep your social media pages up to date, but it can be incredibly time-consuming to upload new content consistently throughout the day. Through automating your posting, you can schedule your content, set the time and day you’d like to post it, and then spend your time focusing on other tasks.
There are a number of social media publishing tools out there, but you’ll want to select a tool that fits your social needs. Some of the most popular tools are SmarterQueue, MeetEdgar, HootSuite, Buffer and Sprout Social.
Lead Capturing
Bringing in a new stream of potential clients is important for growing and maintaining your coaching business. By automating your lead generation, you can continuously collect new leads as they come to your website, sign up for your newsletters, or engage with your brand in some other way.
Popular lead-capturing tools include ThriveLeads, OptinMonster, LeadPages, and Facebook Lead Ads.
Email Sequence Automation
Your email list is one of the best ways to connect with your coaching leads. By sending personalized messages to all your clients, you can better nurture your leads and convert more customers. However, trying to maintain an email segmentation without automation can be confusing, difficult, and time-consuming.
When you automate your emails, you can ensure each individual receives the campaigns and messages they need. Popular email automation tools include Ontraport, InfusionSoft, and ActiveCampaign.
Communication
Communication is key when you’re scheduling coaching calls with clients or answering their questions. However, without a personal assistant, it can be difficult to maintain your own schedule.
Automation tools can help you better manage your client communication. Here’s how:
Email Responders
Just like you can automate your email sequences, you can send automatic email responders to let someone know you got their message. By automating this process, you can confirm that you’ll get back to your clients as soon as you can, letting them know their message isn’t being ignored.
You can set up these automated responders in your email system like Gmail, or if you are using a Helpdesk system like Helpscout, Freshdesk, Intercom and ZenDesk.
Call or Meeting Scheduling
Going back and forth to schedule a call or meeting can eat away at your time. When you’re trying to find a time or date that works for everyone involved, automating the process can prevent you from needing to send dozens of messages back and forth.
One tool to help you schedule appointments and meetings is Calendly. You can also use a personal assistant tool, such as x.ai, to schedule your appointments and meetings for you.
Customer Help
It’s natural that your customers will have a few questions about what you offer or how you can help them. But if you’re being asked the same questions over and over, you may find that you have very little time to focus on anything else. Using an automation tool can help you answer some of those frequently asked questions.
Chatbots are one way you can provide automated customer help. Facebook Messenger bots using a tool like ManyChat, but you can also use a simple page on your website covering FAQ’s or an online Knowledgebase platform from a tool like Intercom or Freshdesk.
Billing
Making sure you get paid in full and on time is important for keeping your business running. If you’re trying to manage dozens of payments manually, you may find that some invoices are being ignored or forgotten about.
Here are a couple of ways you can use automation in billing and accounting.
Automatic Billing
If your coaching clients pay the same amount each month, automation can help you set up recurring payments to ensure invoices are sent out at the right time. With automation, you can also track when your invoices are paid and how the money is given to you.
If you are using Infusionsoft or Ontraport you can use the built-in subscription processing to automatically charge your clients.
If you are using ActiveCampaign or some other system, a service like Stripe, or ThriveCart or SamCart connected to Stripe or Paypal, can work great, too.
Failed Payments
If a payment doesn’t go through because of fraud detection or an expired credit card, it means a headache for both you and your customer. Using automation, you can detect problems right when they happen so both you and your client can solve the transaction issue quickly and efficiently.
Many billing tools have systems that help you account for failed payments if you are using Infusionsoft and Ontraport these can be set up. However, other tools, such as Stunning.co and Profitwell.com, can provide you with additional solutions if you are using Stripe for your subscriptions.
Automating your coaching business as much as possible can leave you and your team with more time to focus on what you do best. These are just a few of the ways you can automate your coaching business, but they can dramatically improve your efficiency and help you scale faster.
If all of this still sounds like too much work, let Automation Agency help. Our team handles a variety of technical and design tasks, and we can save your business hours each month. Check out our supported online marketing platforms.
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