A coach rang me about a six month container.
Her client had stopped showing up. Stopped replying. And, predictably, stopped paying.
The coaching itself had been good. The client had said so in writing, more than once. She had simply lost interest, the way people do around month four when the novelty has worn off and the work has started.
The coach wanted to know whether she could chase the remaining payments.
Her contract said the programme ran for six months and the fee was payable monthly. What it did not say was whether the fee was for attending, or for the place in the programme.
That single missing sentence decided the whole argument.
- Why a coaching contract needs to say what the client is buying, whether that is a place in a fixed-term programme or a number of sessions.
- Why consumer guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law cannot be excluded and why a blanket no-refunds clause can create problems.
- How the unfair contract terms regime applies to standard form contracts.
- The eight clauses that cover most of what goes wrong: scope, payment, cancellation, confidentiality, IP, liability, disclaimer and termination.
- Why group programmes need more contractual detail, not less.
Table of contents
- Why do coaches need a written contract, not just an invoice?
- What does Australian Consumer Law expect of you?
- What are the eight clauses every coaching contract needs?
- What goes wrong without a coaching contract?
- Frequently asked questions about coaching contracts
- What should you do today?
Why do coaches need a written contract, not just an invoice?
Coaching is unusually exposed, for three reasons that do not apply to most service businesses.
The work is intangible. There is no website to point at, no logo file to hand over, no finished thing sitting on a shelf. If a client decides afterwards that they did not get what they paid for, you need something in writing that describes what they were buying.
The relationship is long. A six or twelve month container gives a great deal of time for circumstances to change, for enthusiasm to fade, and for someone's financial situation to shift.
And the outcome is not in your control. You can deliver brilliant coaching to someone who does not do the work. A contract is how you make clear that you are selling the process, not the result.
An invoice does none of that. An invoice is a request for money. It is not an agreement about what happens when things go sideways.
What does Australian Consumer Law expect of you?
Coaching is a service, which means the Australian Consumer Law applies. There are a few things worth understanding before you write a single clause.
Consumer guarantees apply and you cannot contract out of them
Services must be supplied with due care and skill, be fit for any purpose you have agreed, and be delivered within a reasonable time. Those guarantees sit underneath your contract whether you mention them or not, and a term that tries to exclude them will not work.
A blanket no-refunds-under-any-circumstances clause is not a substitute for a properly drafted cancellation and refund clause that sits alongside your consumer law obligations.
The unfair contract terms rules apply to your contract
Since November 2023 there are civil penalties attached to unfair terms in standard form consumer and small business contracts. If you use the same agreement with everyone and clients cannot really negotiate it, that is a standard form contract. A term that is heavily one sided, that lets you cancel but not them, or that imposes a penalty out of all proportion to your actual loss, sits in higher risk territory and can be declared void.
Your claims are marketing, and marketing has rules
If you promise a result in your sales page, that promise can become part of what the client is entitled to. Coaches get into difficulty far more often through their marketing than their contracts.
What are the eight clauses every coaching contract needs?
1. Scope of services
Say what is in, and just as importantly, what is out. Number of sessions, length, format, what happens between sessions, and whether messaging support is included. Scope creep in coaching is almost always caused by silence rather than disagreement.
2. Payment terms, and what happens when they stop
This is the clause from the story. Say plainly whether the client is buying a place in a programme of fixed length or a number of sessions. If it is a place in a programme, say that the fee is payable for the full term regardless of attendance. If you charge in instalments, say what happens when one is missed.
3. Cancellation and refunds
Set out your position clearly. Make sure it sits alongside consumer guarantees rather than trying to override them. Cover cooling off, notice periods, and what happens to unused sessions.
4. Confidentiality, both directions
Clients tell coaches a great deal. You need to promise discretion, and you need the same protection for your own frameworks and materials.
5. Intellectual property in your materials
Your workbooks, frameworks, recordings and templates are yours. The client gets a licence to use them for their own purposes, not ownership, and not permission to run your programme themselves.
6. Limitation of liability
Use a sensible cap on what you can be liable for. It should be drafted so that it does not attempt to exclude what cannot be excluded.
7. A proper disclaimer
Be clear about what coaching is and is not. Coaching is not therapy, not medical advice, and not financial advice. This matters practically as well as legally. If your coaching strays into financial advice you may be in licensing territory, and if it strays into mental health you may be well outside your competence. Say what you do and what you do not do.
8. Termination
Explain how either of you ends the relationship. Cover notice, what happens to money already paid, and the ability to end the agreement for behaviour where appropriate.
The best contract is not the one with the most legal jargon. It is the one that makes the commercial relationship obvious before either side has a reason to argue about it.
What goes wrong without a coaching contract?
The client disputes what was included
They believed voice messages between sessions were part of the package. You believed they were a courtesy. Neither of you is lying. Nobody wrote it down.
They want a refund halfway through
Without a refund clause you are negotiating from nothing, under pressure, usually over email, usually at night.
They share your materials
Your framework turns up in somebody else's programme. Without an intellectual property clause and a licence that says what they may and may not do, you are relying entirely on copyright law and a difficult conversation.
Frequently asked questions about coaching contracts
Do I need a contract for a discovery call?
No. A free call is not a service you are being paid for. What you do need is a line in your booking confirmation making clear that the call is a conversation, not coaching, and not advice.
What about group programmes?
Yes, and they need more, not less. Group work adds questions a one-to-one agreement never has to answer. What members may and may not share outside the group, what happens if someone is disruptive, whether recordings can be redistributed, and whether the group content is licensed the same way.
Can I just use a template?
Yes, provided the template was drafted for Australian law and you actually fill it in properly. A template with the scope section left vague is not much better than no contract. The document is only as good as the detail you put in it.
What should you do today?
Open your current coaching agreement and look for the sentence that says what the client is actually paying for. Not the price. The thing.
If you cannot find it in under a minute, your client will not find it either, and that is the whole problem.
Our coaching contract template is drafted for Australian coaches and covers all eight of the clauses above, in plain English, with guidance to fill it in properly.
About the Author
Riz is the Founder & Director of Foundd Legal, a lawyer with 20+ years' experience and a long history of building online and ecommerce businesses.
She helps creatives and online business owners protect and grow their businesses with clear, practical legal tools that actually make sense.
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Disclaimer
We do our best to keep this content accurate and up to date, but laws change, interpretations evolve, and the internet isn't perfect. Occasionally, information may be outdated or contain errors.
This content is for general information only and isn't legal advice. If you choose to rely on it, you do so at your own discretion. For advice specific to your business, you'll need support tailored to your situation.
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