Insights
Best AI execution platforms for business coaches: how to choose
By Pamela Requena, Chief Strategy Officer
· 7 min read
The best AI execution platform for a business coach is the one that keeps a client's plan running between sessions: the client's team updates its KPIs and runs a weekly meeting in it, every action item has an owner and a due date, and the coach can see what happened across all their clients without asking for a report.
Key takeaways
- Execution happens between sessions, inside the client's company.
- The client's team should run the platform, not only the coach.
- Every KPI and every action item needs one owner and a date.
- Automate the groundwork; keep the decisions human.
- The coach should see every client in one place.
What is an AI execution platform for business coaches?
It is software that keeps a client company's plan moving after the coaching session ends. The plan becomes KPIs with owners and targets, a weekly meeting and a list of action items, all in one place the client's team uses and the coach can follow. The AI does the preparation: drafting, suggesting and answering questions, so the coach's time goes to the conversations only a coach can have.
Planning and execution are different jobs. A plan is built in a few sessions; it is executed over the fifty weeks in between. Our article on what AI strategic planning software should do covers the first job. Read it here. This one covers the second.
Why do client plans stall between sessions?
Rarely because the plan was wrong. Usually for one of these reasons:
- The plan lives in the coach's slides, and nobody on the client's team opens them.
- KPIs have no single owner, so everyone assumes someone else is tracking them.
- The weekly meeting runs on opinions because nobody brought the numbers.
- The coach finds out at the next session that nothing moved.
An execution platform exists to remove each of them.
What should the best platform do? Seven things to look for
1. The client's team runs it, not only the coach
Execution happens inside the client's company. The people who own the numbers should log in, update them and see their own progress. A platform only the coach opens is a reporting tool, and the plan still stalls between sessions.
2. A weekly meeting that opens with the numbers
The meeting is where a plan moves or stops. The platform should start it with the latest KPIs, then turn the discussion into action items with an owner and a due date, so the next meeting begins where this one ended.
3. One owner for every KPI and every action item
Shared ownership means no ownership. Each number and each task should carry one name, with a target and a date, and the platform should make it easy to see which ones are slipping.
4. Every client in one place for the coach
A coach with several clients cannot log into each company to check on it. The platform should give the coach a portal that shows every client's KPIs and meetings, with the latest data each time it is opened, so the next session starts from what happened.
5. AI that prepares, in the coach's method
The useful AI in execution is the kind that prepares: a first draft of the plan, suggested KPIs, answers to the team's questions between sessions. It should work in the coach's principles and frameworks, not a generic playbook, and the coach should stay the one who decides.
6. Fast to start with a new client
If setting up a client takes weeks, the coach does it for a few clients and stops. The platform should produce a first plan quickly from information the coach already has, such as the company's website, and let the coach edit it before the client sees it.
7. Pricing that keeps the client relationship with the coach
The coach is the one the client hired. Look for a platform the coach subscribes to, where the client's team joins without a bill of its own, and where the coach can put their own brand on what the client sees.
What should a coach automate, and what should stay human?
Coaching automation works when it takes the groundwork off the coach's desk and leaves the judgment where it was.
Automate
- The first draft of the plan, the KPIs and the roles
- Suggested KPIs for each part of the business
- Opening each weekly meeting with the latest numbers
- Collecting updates: the team enters its own numbers
- Answering the team's day-to-day questions about the plan
Keep human
- Choosing the few priorities that matter this quarter
- Agreeing on targets with the person who will own them
- The hard conversation when a number keeps slipping
- Deciding what to stop doing
How do the main kinds of tools compare?
| Kind of tool | Where the plan lives | Who updates the numbers | What the coach sees between sessions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheets and slides | In the coach's files | The coach, before each session | Whatever the coach asks for |
| Project management tools | As tasks, without KPIs | Each person, for their own tasks | Tasks done, but not whether the numbers moved |
| Strategy-execution software built for one company | Inside the company's own account | The company's team | Only what the company chooses to share |
| AI execution platforms built for coaches | In one place the coach and the client's team share | The client's team, each owner for their own KPIs | Every client's KPIs and meetings, in the coach's portal |
A checklist for your next demo
Ask the vendor to show you, not tell you:
- Show me a client's team running a weekly meeting in it.
- Where does each KPI's owner update their number?
- What do I see, across all my clients, when I log in?
- How long does it take to set up a new client?
- Can the AI work in my method and my words?
- Who pays: me, or my clients?
- Can my clients see my brand instead of yours?
- Does it work in my clients' language?
How does Catipult do this?
Catipult is built for business coaches. Paste a client's website and Catipult drafts the strategic plan, KPIs across the six Valuation First drivers with owners and targets, and the roles. You edit it in your voice before the client sees it.
Your client's team logs in free, updates its KPIs and runs the weekly meeting inside Catipult: the numbers first, then action items with owners and due dates. Every KPI update and every meeting shows up in your coach portal. One AI assistant works in your Coaching DNA, for you and for your client's team from their dashboard. Catipult runs in English and Spanish. See the coach portal.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between strategic planning software and an execution platform?
Planning software helps build the plan. An execution platform keeps it running afterwards: KPIs with owners, weekly meetings and action items. A coach needs both, ideally in one place, so the plan the client agreed to is the plan the team runs.
Can AI run a client's weekly meeting?
It can prepare it and keep a record of it. The meeting itself is people deciding what to do about the numbers, and that should stay with the client's team and the coach.
How many clients can a coach manage on an execution platform?
It depends on the plan. In Catipult, the Coach plan covers up to 3 clients, and the Practice and Platform plans have no client limit.
If a company stops working with its business coach, does it lose its data?
No. They will still have access to Catipult and their data. Nothing is lost.
Do my clients need to pay for Catipult?
No. The coach subscribes, and the client's team joins free.