Getting your office systems in order
by Sarah D. Wright, M.S., A.C.T.
My old office systems, which worked fine for several years, eventually became cumbersome. Keeping up with them was like tripping over my own feet all day long. So I went looking for better solutions.
In designing new systems for myself, I took into account my previous experiences and my learning modalities. I know I'm kinesthetic, so I'm most comfortable when I can find what I want just by putting my hand on it, without even looking. I'm also cognitive, so the design or system better make sense. I'm also very comfortable at a computer. Put all this together, and it's obvious that computers and software are central to many of the solutions I'm designing for myself.
When I started coaching, I used Microsoft Office. I used various Excel spread sheets to track expenses and hours coached. I used Outlook for email. And I had a bunch of paper files and lists and notebooks to keep track of client and session information and prospects, etc.
That was fine as long as I didn't have too many clients or too many projects going on. But change happens. Growth comes and brings along its friend, complication.
If there's just one thing that has helped me build a better office management system, it would have to be CoachTrack (built for PCs only. Sorry, Mac users.) And, as it turns out, being a member of the ACO gets you a 15% discount.
Simple record keeping systems are so much easier to maintain.
What I like best about CoachTrack is I can record all of my client-related information in one place. All my client records, including intake information and session notes, are now just a mouse-click away. My prospect list is there with the information they've already shared with me. My coaching hours are logged. So when I go for my next ICF credential, my client hour report will be automatically generated.
Dave Poitras, the brains and brawn behind CoachTrack, has been a software developer for 15 years. He is not a coach, but he has friends who are, and he "gets" coaching. He debuted this coach support software about six years ago and has been attending ICF conferences and listening to what coaches need ever since. He updates his product regularly to take new suggestions into account.
In addition to the basic client information and session-tracking capabilities, the program also includes:
- Invoicing -- via email or print and send via post
- Email tracking -- instantly access every email you send to client through the CoachTrack interface (requires Microsoft Outlook or Outlook Express)
- Phone log/Follow-up tracking
- Task list -- your basic To Do list for your practice
- Reminders -- including of upcoming client birthdays, etc.
- Customizable discovery questionnaire that can be filled in by client and later imported into the client's CoachTrack record, or filled in by the coach during intake and later, if desired, shared with client (requires Microsoft Word).
- A variety of user-definable fields allowing each coach to customize the program.
- All sorts of import and export options and pre-defined reports.
Does this pique your interest? You can download a 30-day demo copy for free. Go to www.coach-track.com and click on "Download Demo." It's fully functional. Take it for a full test drive before you decide to buy. Your registration fee gets you technical support and updates for a year. When you decide you like it and register your copy (information on how to do so is in the run-time program), be sure to mention that you're a member of the ACO.
Disclaimer. I imagine there are other products out there that coaches can use to manage their businesses. I didn't bother to look. I tried CoachTrack and liked it. It met my definition of a good solution. If you have information about others, please share them at the Round Table Discussion on Tuesday, August 15th (The bridge information is posted on the the ACO calendar.) Also, if you found this article useful, please let your editor know.
About the author:
Sarah D. Wright, M.S., A.C.T., is an ADHD Coach in private practice in the San Diego, California region. She is co-author, with Roland Rotz, Ph.D., of Fidget to Focus-Outwit Your Boredom: Sensory Strategies for Living with ADD. You can find her on the web at www.swcc.biz. Contact her by email at sarah@swcc.biz or by phone at (760) 436-8766.