The CoachAccountable Blog

Master CoachAccountable and become the best dang coach you can be. Also, news.

Archive for April, 2013

Step Up From Email: CoachAccountable In-App Messaging

Every now and again I’m asked if CoachAccountable can be used to send messages between coach and coachee.  My thought process in responding usually goes like “Well, sort of: journal entries, session notes, action alerts, reminders, file sharing notifications… all kinds of messaging!”  But the real essence of the question is of course concerning more fundamental messaging, like an email.

Until now, my response has been to just use email.  Email is great, everyone gets it and is already set up to use it.  There’s no reason to reinvent that wheel within the context of coaching software, I figured.

It turns out there are a number of perks CoachAccountable can offer by way of a messaging system, perks that specifically support coaching relationships.

You can quickly contact your clients via in-app messaging OR via system email addresses.

Let’s look at how CoachAccountabe’s in-app messaging works.

» Continue reading “Step Up From Email: CoachAccountable In-App Messaging”

coachaccountable.com, Redesigned for Clarity

Just launched, a tidy redesign of coachaccountable.com.

Designed by the talented Anne Richardson of Local Flavor Marketing, the newness is geared to highlight the (relatively) new explainer videos.  The videos are doing a bang up job of telling the story of CoachAccountable, so I figured they deserve more front-and-center treatment (rather than just sloppily tacked on, one after another, as I had been doing.  Ahem.)

The result is light, clean, and crisp.  You can see in the comparison of the old homepage to the new:

Redesignd Homepage

I also took this opportunity to remix the login screen.  Rather than having it tucked away amid lots of other things going on (which presents coaches and moreover coachees with way more informational content than they generally want to see when just accessing the system), I gave it it’s own tidy little screen:

Redesigned Login

Thanks Anne for the bang up job on the aesthetic remix!  I’m delighted to see your pretty pixels up in place, and reckon others will agree.

Busted on Shoddy Narration Quality

Earlier this week I got an email in my inbox that positively tickled me:

Subject: Feedback on your website presentation…..

Guys, its looks like you spent a lot of time and effort on your product, your website and your branding. For a company to spend this much effort, but then have the speaking portion of your presentations done on a very cheap headset microphone is INCREDIBLY limiting to the perception that potential clients will have of you. I can’t believe that a company that has this much talent, would allow something as simple as your message to be portrayed with such serious lack of quality.

It’s not the speaker, the information which is articulated well, or the speed in which it’s delivered. it’s the recognition that it was done through a $12 microphone headset. I hope that you’ll read this and go back to your website and update your videos with some quality. Believe it or not, that one improvement will raise your value tremendously. Just an FYI from a professional business owner who trains people in sales and marketing….

Sometimes criticism comes your way that is so raw and on point that you can’t help but snap to attention, I imagine not unlike how a Private in boot camp reacts when the drill sergeant starts yelling.

Here’s my immediate reply:

» Continue reading “Busted on Shoddy Narration Quality”

Professional Representation, Illustrated

This one’s been floating around in my brain for a while now.

Coaching is abstract, often easy to forget, and generally hard to visualize and review.  A sharp lookin’ system like CoachAccountable goes a long way to fixing this problem of presentation, and there’s now a video to illustrate exactly what I’m talking about.

Watching in full screen mode is highly recommended.

Ready to up your professional game? Sign up for CoachAccountable.

Still Intentionally Oblivious to Other Coaching Software

One of the most common inquiries I get about CoachAccountable goes approximately like this:

Can you tell me the major differences between your coaching tool and Coaches Console?

At the risk of appearing lazy and/or ignorant, my answer is always, well, no, no I can’t.

For better or worse (and I think it’s better, bear with me here), I’ve willfully remained ignorant of other coaching software solutions that are out there.  This may seem like a fool-hardy gap in my attention considering the industry I’m in, but turning a blind eye to the goings-on of my, I dunno, “competitors”, I guess, has served me quite well.

The reason is this.  If you aren’t confident you’re making a dynamite product to serve the uses you are aiming to serve, then looking out at what other people are doing is going to leave you in a mindset of needing to keep up with the Joneses, pitting you in a sort of features arms race.  (For example, “They have email newsletter blasts?  Well then I’ll have email newsletter blasts!” or, worse yet “Well then I better have email newsletter blasts or my system WILL BE INFERIOR.”)

If you are confident that you’re making a dynamite product for your intended purpose, then looking out for what others are doing is going to be simply a distraction.

» Continue reading “Still Intentionally Oblivious to Other Coaching Software”

White-Label Branding

I used to call this “Custom Branding”, but I don’t think that really communicates to most folks.

“Custom branding?  No, I’ve already got my logo and color scheme sorted, thank you.”

White-labeling, by contrast is, a much more common phrase, and the standard understanding/expectation of what is meant by it is exactly what I wish to convey.

As of today CoachAccountable is available as full-fledged white-branded coaching software solution, meaning you set it up and your clients need never see the words “CoachAccountable” nor ever need directly visit the site.

Setup is a snap: pick your color scheme, choose a name, and upload a logo & favicon.

Pick a name, pick a color.  You're almost done.

Pick a color, pick a name. You’re almost done.

» Continue reading “White-Label Branding”

A Shaky, Then Fantastic, First Impression

Last week during the database downtime incident happening at the (now past) hosting environment, Scott Hudspeth of Marketing in the Clouds dropped me an email:

Tried to sign up through 2 different browsers, are you guys having issues?

Scotty

Sure enough, this was during the 90-minute downtime window we had.  Luckily I was online (this was at around 9am in Laos), and was able to reply 7 minutes later:

» Continue reading “A Shaky, Then Fantastic, First Impression”