Life Coaching Discovery Session Questions  

The Purpose Of A Coaching Discovery Call

The purpose of a Discovery Session is to provide you and your potential life coaching client with an opportunity to assess if you are a good 'fit'.

In my eBook, "Mastering The Coaching Discovery Session", I've put together information and questions to support you to create a successful Discovery Session, providing the greatest benefits for both the prospective client and you, the coach.  

I have also designed a Pre-session Questionnaire to to help you do what you can, within reason, to make sure the person who wants to book a session is genuinely interested in investing in coaching and will not just waste your time. These questions also give you a starting point to work from and create rapport during the actual session.

About My Discovery Session Template

Why I created this discovery Session template

Early on in my coaching career, I discovered that it is one thing to be a skilled coach and quite another to master the enrolment process for getting new, committed clients. 

When I was first coaching, I used to give away hours of time by offering an hour long free session to prospects with the aim of enrolling them as paid clients.

I’d coach my heart out to show them how good I was and how I could help them.

Sometimes they'd become committed clients. Other times, they would thank me and I'd never hear from them again.

Reasons they gave for not investing in my coaching included:

• They couldn’t afford my coaching fee.
• I’d already helped them solve their issue and they didn’t feel the need for more coaching.😳
• They didn’t feel I was right for them (which was sometimes mutual).
• They had clicked the "book a free session" button on my website, out of curiosity - not genuine interest.

There had to be a better way!

I discovered that the best option to find great coaching clients and not waste my time was to offer a free assessment or “Discovery Session” rather than a "Free Trial Session" (yes there is a difference).

I created a Discovery Session Template with questions for both qualifying leads and the actual session and refined it as I went along. 

My eBook "Mastering the Coaching Discovery Session" now passes on my template to help other coaches like you to save time and make sure prospective clients are a good coaching “fit”.

What's inside Mastering the Coaching Discovery Session

• How to set up a Session (including 7 pre-session questions).
• An email template for introducing the Discovery Session to the client.
• Conducting a successful Discovery Session (with some vital questions and useful hints)
• How best to respond to the answers to both sets of questions and what to look out for.
• How to wrap up the session elegantly, whether it results in a new coaching client or not.
• What to do when they say "Yes" or even "No"

"Mastering The Discovery Session" is just one of the eBooks in my Life Coaching Successfully Series.

Pre-Discovery Session Questions To Ask

Asking people who have requested a Discovery Session to answer a few simple questions, helps weed out those who are simply not suitable to be coached by you. Request that the answers be returned to you before the session. This will give you a starting point to engage with them easily on the actual session.

Confirm the session the day before, either by email or text and remind them about answering the questions if necessary. 

Here are three of the seven questions I suggest to ask prospective clients. Not only does the willingness to answer them show they are serious about being coached, but it give you a snapshot of who they are and where they are coming from. 

1. Clarity:
   Do you know what goals or outcomes you want to get from being coached?  It's OK to only have a rough idea on this one. As your coach I will help you get specific.
2. Issues and challenges:
   What are your most pressing challenge/issues?
   Personal:
   Work:
3. Therapy?
   Are you currently in any sort of therapy and if so what? This may not affect whether you can be coached but I need to know so there is no conflict with your therapist.

In my pre-discovery session questionnaire, (and because I have always believed in publishing my fees) I also asked if they have read about the coaching packages I offered and the cost. This saves having the money conversation cold, often at the end of the session. 

Useful Questions And Tips For Discovery Session Success

After you have had a brief 'rapport-building' welcome chat, the first thing to do is briefly go over the completed pre-discovery session questions.

Then go a bit deeper on what they have told you about any issues and/or challenges. You can give them a brief taster of your coaching but - hold back on giving away a complete coaching session. 

Here is an example of the questions I suggest using and a couple of other hints:   

1. If you could solve this problem/reach this goal, what would that be like for you?

2. What’s getting in the way of you achieving this goal/outcome?

3. What will be the effect on you of not moving forward on this? How will it look? 

When you have gone through all the questions and maybe asked for more information, tell them about the program you would recommend to help them achieve their goals or outcomes. "This is what I would do to help you achieve the outcomes/goal you want."

I also show you how to close the session by asking for a commitment and set a date for the first session in an elegant and non-confrontational way. And, what do do if the client is still reluctant or, and it happens, you would rather not have them as a client.

Designing your own questions

Not all of the questions I suggest will be right for you in every case depending on your preferences and coaching niche. However, I find that the questions I use are a powerful basis for getting to know the person and a successful outcome.  

There is also lots of extra information in this compact little book to help to create a successful outcome for you and the prospective client. 

For the cost of a coffee and a piece of cake😀) buy my eBook and you can  take advantage of my experience  and remove the guesswork out of assessing and engaging the prospect as a quality paying client.

I hope I have given you enough food for thought about introducing prospective life coaching clients to your coaching through asking the right discovery session questions and other hints. 

 Also check out the other books in my Life Coaching Success Series all of which come with a money back guarantee.

Here's to YOUR success!