Three full-time client success managers and fractional coaches carry Acquisition Ace's 600 to 800 active clients. Somebody has to own that.
In most coaching businesses that somebody is the founder, by default, and the line we hear is "everything runs through me." A COO takes it over: the team, the tracking, the SOPs and the next offers. We have done that job for seven years, as COO, partner and operator.
What does a COO do in a coaching business?
Builds and runs everything after the sale. In the businesses we run, that starts with hiring, training and managing the client success team, with an SOP for every touchpoint. It covers the client board, the dashboards and the next offers clients buy.
| Area | What the COO owns | The number it moves |
|---|---|---|
| Team | Hiring, training and managing client success managers and coaches | Clients per person: up to 200 to 300 per client success manager |
| Data | The client board and the live dashboard | Client success rate and on-track rate |
| Delivery | Video training, calls, chat support and onboarding | Time to value: a first win inside one to two weeks |
| Proof | Review and testimonial requests at every milestone | The share of winners who give proof |
| Revenue | Upsells, resells and extensions built for winners | The share of revenue from existing clients |
What should a COO never do?
Create meetings. A good COO takes care of the CEO, and the CEO should not have to deal with anything. Updates go out as Looms, and check-ins with clients happen by Zoom or call when they are needed. Every meeting that does exist has a note filled in before it starts.
Spend in the wrong places. When an offer grows fast, some coaches spend tremendous money on complex software and random hires inside fulfillment. Fulfillment cost at Acquisition Ace is under 5% of revenue. The one place worth spending is client success managers, because more results means more people upgrade.
Leave things as they are. A good COO is always building something and trying to improve something. If things are smooth, something is wrong.
I started as the sales manager. With more and more clients I felt client success and fulfillment could be better. If we charge a lot of money, we should really help people. What I do now is regular check-ins with clients by Zoom or call, and Looms to the CEO. A good COO takes care of the CEO and does not create meetings.
What does the founder see?
A live dashboard, any time, with no fixed weekly report. It shows how many people are in the offer, the client success rate, active clients, the packages selling and new clients onboarded. Then on-track rate, time to value, lifetime value and lifetime duration.
The numbers are tracked over time as well as live. A founder who only sees this month never sees whether the program got better or worse three months ago.
In what order does a COO fix things?
Data first, because nothing else can be counted without it. Then the share of clients getting the result, then on-track rate, then proof collected, then how many clients upgrade. At Acquisition Ace the client success rate went from unmeasured to 20% and up once the tracking was in.
Result from a named client with written permission. Typical clients of this cohort saw a range of outcomes; nothing here is a guarantee. How we handle claims.
Then the hard conversations. On an audit that can mean telling a founder the team is not good or the offer is bad. Short term they feel offended; it usually turns out correct, and they appreciate it afterwards.
Do you need a COO, a fractional COO or a partner?
It depends on who you want running delivery. A fractional COO typically installs systems and hands them over for your team to run. A fulfillment partner operates the client success function itself, including the team.
We work the second way, under Performance-Based Fulfillment™: done for you, and part of our fee is tied to what we retain and resell. For coaches at $30K to $100K a month we consult instead, with the same system in your team's hands.
Further reading: Fulfillment partner vs a fractional COO · How to get the founder out of delivery without results dropping
Diego Miescher
