#186 - What promises can you legally make as a Business Coach?
As a business coach, every conversation with a client is an opportunity to inspire, guide and transform their professional journey.
But amidst the excitement of promising transformative results, there's a critical conversation that often gets sidelined—what promises can you genuinely make, and more importantly, which ones are you legally bound to keep?
If you're like me, you've scrolled through social media feeds flooded with tantalising offers: "Double your revenue!", "Get booked out with clients!" Such promises can be alluring, but as a business lawyer working with coaches, creatives and consultants, they stand out to me as potential red flags.
The issue isn't merely what you're promising your clients; it's about the unrealistic guarantees that often accompany these promises. We have to be cautious about making guarantees that we can't possibly back with certainty and legality.
Today, we’re exploring the promises that can make or break your credibility as a business coach and how to ensure you’re communicating your expertise in a way you can deliver on.
Understanding the Parameters: What Can You Promise?
Let's face it: You aren't in control of every decision or action your client takes. Therefore, promising specific outcomes can set you up for failure and even potentially put you in breach of the Australian Consumer Law. So, what can you legitimately promise? Instead of guaranteeing revenue increments or a fully booked schedule, focus on what you can deliver: tools, guidance and support to assist your clients on their journey. Rephrase your marketing to reflect this reality.
For instance, rather than saying, "You'll double your revenue," consider saying, "I will provide you with strategies to increase your revenue potential." It's about setting realistic expectations while being transparent about your role and contributions.
Clarity in Communication: Credentials and Misrepresentation
Misrepresentation of qualifications is a common pitfall. It's tempting to showcase all credentials, even those that are outdated or irrelevant to your current practice. A commerce degree obtained decades ago doesn’t make one a licensed accountant today. Such misrepresentation can lead to dissatisfied clients and potential legal actions if an individual relies on that credential for a decision.
Be forthright about your qualifications and ensure your marketing materials reflect your current expertise. Consistent language across all platforms is vital, from websites to social media posts to service agreements.
The Role of Disclaimers in Your Agreements
Moving beyond promises, it’s pivotal that your coaching or service agreements contain robust disclaimers. These clauses should clearly state the limitations of your responsibilities. It's all about wording: you're not providing legal or financial advice unless you're certified to do so. Instead, your role is to offer insights and tools within the specific field you are professionally equipped to handle.
When your agreements consistently reflect this message, you are not only safeguarding yourself legally but also nurturing trust with your clients. They will appreciate the clear demarcation of your role, and it sets a professional tone from the start.
Aligning Promises with Possibilities
As you examine the promises embedded in your marketing and coaching agreements, take the time to ensure consistency from the very first touchpoint a client has with you. Your messaging shouldn’t promise anything beyond what you can feasibly deliver. These are more than just words; they are commitments that build your credibility.
Clarifying your expertise and maintaining realistic promises not only builds trust, but positions you to meet and exceed client expectations. This is how we set the stage for successful partnerships and robust business growth.
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[00:00:00] Welcome back everyone to the Rise Up in Business podcast. You know that I like to bring you content on this podcast that is practical and that you can apply right now in your business. In today's episode, I'm going to share something with you that I've been talking about for the last couple of months with business coaching clients of mine.
Tracey: And that relates to the promises you can be making and promises you can't be making as a business coach. The reason I'm diving into this is because there's a lot of emphasis in the online space in particular around sales pages, [00:01:00] transformation, making sure that you're telling your ideal client what it is they're going to be getting, what problem you're solving, all of the things.
That's all great. But what's not being discussed is the need to be really careful around the promises. So I see lots and lots of material on my social media feeds, and I'm sure you see it too, about " Transform this in your business, increase your revenue to this. You want to be booked out with clients, do this."
And what I pick up on, doing what I do as a business lawyer for coaches, creatives, and consultants, are the representations and promises being made that you just can't possibly guarantee. Big red flag. First of all, when I see promises like that and statements like that and representations, like "I'm going to transform your business, you'll increase your revenue by this much. You'll be booked out with clients." I straight out wouldn't engage that person ever because I know that they don't understand, or they're being really [00:02:00] reckless around the promises and guarantees that they're making. So they're absolutely in breach of their obligations under the Australian Consumer Law. So for someone who does what I do, that's straight away a red flag. I don't give it another thought.
There's no way I would work with that person. I talk to my clients a lot and I talk here a lot and over on Instagram about using the powerful tools in your business to set yourself up for success. So if you're a coach, you want to use your coaching agreement or your service terms and conditions to help convert prospects to paying clients.
So as a part of that, we need to be really careful and really intentional around the promises and representations that you're making so that in fact, you're not turning people off because you're promising things that you can't possibly deliver. But in fact, you're nailing what you can promise, you're nailing what you're telling people you're going to deliver, which helps build trust and credibility and helps convert those prospects to paying clients. So understanding the parameters around what [00:03:00] you can and can't promise is really important. So let's dive in to talk a little more about that. First of all, what I'd like to say first and foremost to all coaches listening.
In fact, to all service providers is be really clear on what you're holding yourself out to be. Be really intentional about how you're communicating your expertise, your authority, your positioning in the market, and don't mislead people. Too often, I'm seeing people misrepresent their qualifications, misrepresent their experience, misrepresent what they can do for you and it's a real turnoff. A really good example of that is when people hold degrees from university that they might've gotten so many years ago, and they're not actually licensed, though, to be practicing as something.
So let's take accountants, for example. You might hold a commerce degree from 20 years ago at whatever university, but you haven't actually practiced as a CPA or [00:04:00] a CA for many, many years, which means you're not licensed. You haven't kept up with the continuing education requirements. You haven't kept up with registrations.
You're not insured for those types of things. But yet, you're marketing yourself as an accountant. You might hold a commerce degree or other similar qualifications, but you're not actually a licensed, registered accountant anymore. You used to be, but not anymore.
That's misleading. And if somebody relies on that messaging and that marketing, when they engage you and they don't get the results that they wanted, you've just left yourself completely exposed because you misrepresented your qualifications and somebody relied on that when making a decision, whether they wanted to engage you.
Same goes for lawyers. You might've, you might hold a law degree. You might've practiced once upon a time, but you don't anymore. So you can't hold yourself out to be a legal practitioner. You're not registered. You don't hold a practicing certificate and you're not insured. So you can't provide legal [00:05:00] services.
So it'd be misleading to say, I'm a lawyer. I'm a solicitor. Engage me. I'll do this for you. Because you're not actually practicing anymore. So get really clear on what it is you're holding yourself out to be and make sure that the representations you're making are accurate. That's the first thing. Secondly, let's get clear on your promise. What can you promise? Well, you can't promise a specific result or a specific outcome because you're not responsible for decisions that your participants or clients make. You're not responsible for their implementation. You're not responsible for the intricacies of their business. So you can't guarantee the specific outcomes. What you can guarantee and promise is to work with them towards something.
You can promise to be available to support them. You can promise to provide them with material. Those things you can actually deliver on. You can't promise the outcome though. And this is something that I think so [00:06:00] many coaches are missing when they're looking at developing their sales pages and their promise and their transformation, because they often can't deliver on a specific transformation.
So be really mindful around that. I'll give you an example of a transformation that you can. So you can say, if you work with me, I will provide you with the tools that you need to focus on increasing your revenue. I will provide you with the tools that you need to increase your bookings, but what you can't promise is say, if you work with me, you will double your revenue.
If you work me, you will be booked out. If you work with me, you'll become the best speaker on stage. There's a difference and you can see the intricacies of this, but what I'm finding is that it's being overlooked. So people are so enthusiastic and there's some amazing professionals out there doing some incredible things.
But they're just not being properly supported in understanding the difference and the [00:07:00] nuances around what you can promise and what you can't. Because if you say to somebody on your sales page or in your marketing or in your Facebook ads video, if you work with me, you're going to be booked out. If you work with me, you will increase your profit.
You can't guarantee someone's going to increase their profit or increase their bookings, but you can guarantee to work with them to work towards achieving that, that you work with them to give them certain skills or tools that will help them work towards something. You see the difference?
It's one thing knowing this and keeping this in mind now. So if you're a coach or even any service based business owner, it would be a nice opportunity to go back and have a look at your marketing and your website and your social media messaging and have a look and say, gosh, what am I promising? What is the transformation?
And tweak that or just refine it a little. If you need to, to make sure you're not promising or guaranteeing something that you just simply can't promise or that you just simply can't guarantee. Now from there though, [00:08:00] there's another step that's really important. And that is your disclaimers in your coaching agreement or your client service agreement.
I've talked about this a lot on the podcast, your disclaimers and your liability limitation clauses, but we need to make sure that the language is completely consistent from go to woe. You know that I'm the lawyer that looks at things holistically in my client's business, but right from the very beginning, when somebody's experiencing you, they're listening to your messaging, they're on your website, they're having a look at what you offer, what the transformations you're promising and what you're guaranteeing. Once you've nailed that, you need to make sure that it's consistent with what appears in your coaching agreement or your client service agreement. So in your disclaimers, you want to make it absolutely clear that you are not responsible for actions people take or outcomes that people may or may not achieve as a result of their involvement with you, or as a result of their reliance on what you provide or working with you. We want to make sure as well, this is really important, that when you are providing [00:09:00] business coaching services, you will navigate areas around legals, around finance. You will, it's all part of it, but you need to be really intentional around the guidance and discussion you're having with your clients so that there's no confusion with your clients that you're providing legal advice or that you're providing financial or accounting advice.
So like I said at the beginning, once you're really clear what you're holding yourself out to be, and that you're not holding yourself out to be a particular professional, if you're not qualified or licensed to do it, then we need to make sure that your intentional in your discussions with the clients. And that it's reflected in your coaching or service agreements.
You'll have disclaimers to say, none of the information that I provide is financial or legal advice or any other professional advice for that matter, but the information I'm sharing with you is intended for this particular purpose. So the language needs to be consistent all throughout touch points, [00:10:00] onboarding, service delivery, agreements, all the things to make sure that it's at the front and center of your mind, what it is you're providing and what you're not, but that you've made it clear to the client at every available opportunity, what you're not providing.
So I'm not providing you with legal advice unless I'm a lawyer. If I'm a business coach, I'm not providing you with financial advice. That's really important. This then helps set you up for success with your clients because they know right from the get go what it is that they're going to be working with you on and they know what they're not.
And you're protecting yourself. So if someone comes back to you later and says, look, I adopted your advice in relation to my financials and how it is that I should be spending, but it's not delivering. I'm not getting the return.
I relied on you, but now I'm not getting a return. We want to make sure that the client knew always that you're not providing that financial advice. They should go to their bookkeeper or their accountant, if we're talking about those types of things, or a financial advisor, if that's the type of advice that they need.
This protects you, [00:11:00] and what we don't want, obviously, is a client coming back disgruntled to say, Oh, you told me to do this, and it's gone pear shaped. That is not helpful for either you or the client. Obviously, that's a big issue for you in terms of liability and responsibility, but it doesn't help you foster and nurture positive client relationships.
It doesn't help positive word of mouth, and it most certainly won't help a business grow or scale. But what will help is absolute crystal clear clarity on what you're providing and what you're not so that you can take steps to not only meet client expectations, but to exceed them. So recapping on that, as a business coach, taking the time to get really clear on what it is that you are holding yourself out to be in terms of expertise and experience, what it is that you're promising in your transformation or your promise and making sure that you're not promising or guaranteeing something that you legally can't guarantee.
It's a big one. Take the time to do that and then ensure the language is consistent, right from [00:12:00] touch points to messaging and marketing, sales pages on the website through to onboarding documents. And then that is, my friends, an absolute recipe for success, because you know you can deliver on what it is you're telling your clients you're going to deliver on.
And you're setting yourself up to be able to not just meet, but exceed client expectations. I really hope you have found this helpful. This is part of the process and part of the discussion I have with clients when I'm working with them to develop their service agreements. So one of the first things I do when I'm talking to a new client is what's your URL? Please let me go and have a look. What is it that we're offering people? What are we saying? How do we work with them? And I ask the questions. What's it like to work with you? How do you on board? When you do one on one coaching, what does that look like? What's the process? And so we have those discussions so I can pick up and identify really quickly any red flags that are there, any issues with wording and language. And then of course, once I start [00:13:00] drafting the documents, I draft them in a way that's going to work for you and support you as a business owner. And we then have an opportunity to discuss them and go through them together. We have all the time for that to dive in so I can explain to you why I've done what I've done in your coaching agreement, why I've drafted your service T's and C's a particular way. You ask me questions. I ask you questions. I have a chance to explain. And so when we go through that process, you can be absolutely certain by the time we get to the end of it, that you are set up for success.
You are not making promises or representations in your documents that you can't meet. And then you have those as a really helpful platform to make sure that all your other messaging and marketing is completely consistent. So we're not leaving anything to chance. So this has been coming up quite a bit over the last few months, and I feel like it's a really valuable process that I go through with my clients.
And so I just wanted to share a little on here so that you knew just how important it is to make it really clear that you are not promising things that you just [00:14:00] can't deliver on. I hope you find it helpful. If you have a business friend or colleague that you think would benefit from listening to this episode, I would be ever so grateful if you'd take a moment to share because together that's how we get the podcast into the ears of even more business owners. As always, thanks for joining me. I'll catch you next time.
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