The 30-minute setup: launch your CoachMarketer system in an afternoon

Your CoachMarketer account comes with the hard part already built: pipelines, funnels, workflows, and calendars designed for a coaching business. What is left is making it yours. This checklist walks you through nine steps that take about 30 minutes in total, so you can go from signup to a tested, working system in a single afternoon.

Work through the steps in order. Each one sets up the next, and the last step is a full test that proves everything is connected. The minute estimates assume your logins and files are ready, so start with the short prep list below.

Before you start: what to have ready

Most setup time is lost hunting for passwords and files. Gather these first and the checklist moves quickly.

• A payment card for your trial signup.
• Your logo as a PNG or SVG file, plus your brand colors as hex codes (for example, #F97316).
• Your business name, mailing address, phone number, and the email address clients should reply to.
• The login for your Google or Outlook calendar.
• Your Stripe login. If you do not have a Stripe account yet, create one before you start. Stripe asks for business and bank details, and that takes longer than everything else on this list.
• The login for the company where you bought your domain (your registrar).
• A CSV export of your contacts from your current email tool, spreadsheet, or CRM.

The checklist at a glance

1. Start your trial and log in (2 minutes)
2. Add your brand and business details (3 minutes)
3. Connect your calendar and set your availability (4 minutes)
4. Connect Stripe (3 minutes)
5. Connect your domain and set up email sending (5 minutes)
6. Import your contacts (3 minutes)
7. Customize your discovery-call funnel copy (5 minutes)
8. Switch on new-lead follow-up (2 minutes)
9. Book a test appointment end to end (3 minutes)

That adds up to about 30 minutes of your time. One step includes a waiting period you do not control, which we cover in step 5.

Steps 1 and 2: your account and your brand

1. Start your trial and log in (2 minutes)

Choose a plan on our pricing page and start your 7-day free trial. Then log in at app.coachmarketer.com. Your coaching system is already loaded: pipelines to track leads and clients, funnels for discovery calls and lead magnets, workflows that follow up for you, and calendars ready for bookings. You are not starting from a blank screen.

2. Add your logo, brand colors, and business details (3 minutes)

Upload your logo, enter your brand colors, and fill in your business name, mailing address, phone number, and reply-to email. These are the details clients see on your pages, emails, and booking confirmations, so set them before anything goes live. Many email laws require a physical mailing address in marketing emails, so do not skip it. Then double-check the reply-to address, because that is where client replies will land.

Steps 3 and 4: your calendar and payments

3. Connect your calendar and set your availability (4 minutes)

Connect your Google or Outlook calendar so new bookings show up in the calendar you already use and you do not get double-booked. Then set your availability for discovery calls. Be specific: the days and hours you want to take calls, how long each call lasts, and how much buffer you need between them.

4. Connect Stripe so you can take payments (3 minutes)

Connect your Stripe account so clients can pay you for sessions, packages, and programs without a separate tool. If you already have Stripe, this is a quick sign-in and an approval screen. If you do not, this step takes longer because Stripe needs to verify your business and bank details.

Step 5: your domain and email sending

5. Connect your domain and set up email sending (5 minutes)

Connecting your domain puts your funnel and booking pages on your own web address. Setting up email sending lets your follow-up come from your own domain, which helps your messages reach the inbox instead of the spam folder.

Your part is quick. You copy a few DNS records from your account and add them in your registrar’s DNS settings. That takes about five minutes.

Then comes the part you do not control. DNS changes can take a few hours to spread across the internet, and occasionally longer. Until they do, your domain may not load and your sending domain may show as unverified. This is normal. Add the records, carry on with the next steps, and check back later in the day. If something still is not verified by the next day, our setup guides cover the common fixes, and email support can look at your records with you.

Steps 6 and 7: your contacts and your funnel

6. Import your contacts from a CSV (3 minutes)

Upload your CSV and match each column to a contact field, such as first name, last name, email, and phone. Tag the import with where the contacts came from, or with a label like “past client,” so you can sort and message each group later.

One rule matters here: only send marketing emails to people who agreed to hear from you. Importing a contact is fine. Emailing someone who never opted in hurts your sending reputation and can break email laws.

7. Customize the discovery-call funnel copy (5 minutes)

Your discovery-call funnel is already built. Your job is to make the words sound like you. Focus on three things:

• The headline. Who you help and the result they want, in one line.
• Three short bullets. What happens on the call and what the visitor walks away with.
• The button. A clear action, such as “Book your free call.”

Leave the layout alone for now. A live funnel with clear copy is worth more than a perfect design that is still in draft. When you are ready to go further, our guide to the coach’s lead funnel covers each stage from cold traffic to booked call.

Steps 8 and 9: switch on follow-up and test it

8. Switch on the new-lead follow-up automation (2 minutes)

Open the new-lead follow-up workflow, skim the messages, update the sign-off with your name, and switch it on. From then on, every new lead gets a prompt reply, even when you are in a session with a client. Fast replies matter more than most coaches expect, and our guide on speed to lead explains why.

9. Book a test appointment end to end (3 minutes)

Open your discovery-call funnel in a private browser window, as if you were a new lead. Fill in the form with a second email address you can check, pick a time, and book. Then confirm each of these:

• The booking appears on your connected calendar.
• The test contact shows up in your pipeline.
• The confirmation and follow-up messages arrive at your test address.
• Those messages show your logo, your business name, and the right reply-to email.

If anything is missing, the gap tells you which step to revisit. When everything checks out, cancel the test booking so it does not sit on your calendar. If your domain is still verifying, run the test again once it finishes, so you can see your emails arrive from your own address.

What to do in week one

Thirty minutes gets your system live. The first week is about sending people to it and adding the next layer.

• Day 1: Check that your domain and sending domain show as verified, then run your test booking again.
• Day 2: Put your booking link everywhere people already find you: your social bios, your website’s contact page, and your email signature.
• Day 3: Turn on booking reminders and no-show follow-up. Our guide to the 7 automations to set up first covers these and what to build after them.
• Day 4: Send a short email to the contacts who opted in to hear from you, with a link to book a call.
• Day 5: Open your pipeline and move each lead to the right stage. Make this a five-minute daily habit.
• End of the week: Look at how many calls were booked and where each lead came from. Write down one thing to improve next week.

Where to get help

If you get stuck on a step, you have four options:

• Setup guides: Step-by-step guides for getting your account set up.
• Knowledge base: More than 1,200 articles you can search any time.
• Email support: Real people who answer your questions by email.
• A 20-minute call: Book a 20-minute call to talk through your setup or how to fit the system to your niche.

And if you would rather not do any of it yourself, our Done-For-You service can set up your funnel, follow-up, and booking calendar around your offer. It starts with a 20-minute call. Book yours to see if it is a fit.