Coaching Discovery Session Questions

What's The Purpose Of A Coaching Discovery Session?

The purpose of a coaching discovery session is to provide you and your potential coaching client with an opportunity to assess whether you are a good coaching fit for each other.

This means that you need:

1. A way to pre-qualify the person before you ever get on the call. Read more...
2. A clear structure for the discovery call itself, so you don’t “wing it” and accidentally deliver a full coaching session for free!

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

I have also designed a Pre-session Questionnaire to help you do what you can to make sure the person who wants to book a session is genuinely interested in investing in coaching and won't just waste your time and energy.

Why I created this coaching discovery session template

What I learned the hard way

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.

Here is a short list of the reasons potential clients gave for not investing in my coaching:

• 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.

The shift that changed everything

I realized 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 unique template to help you and other coaches save time and make sure prospective clients are a good coaching “fit”.

What's inside "Mastering the Coaching Discovery Session"

• How to pre-qualify a Discovery Session request (including 7 pre-session questions).
• An email template for introducing the actual Discovery Session to the client.
• How to deliver a successful Discovery Session.
• How best to respond to the answers and what to look out for.
• How to elegantly complete the session, whether it results in a new client or not.
• What to do when they say "Yes" (or "No")!

A quick preview: a few questions I recommend BEFORE the call

Asking people who have requested a Discovery Session to answer a few simple questions, helps weed out those who are not suitable to be coached by you. Request that they return their answers before the session. This will give you a starting point to engage with them easily during 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 provides you with a snapshot of who they are, where they are coming from and what they need. 

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 about this. As your coach, I will help you get specific.
   
   
2. Issues and challenges:
   What are your most pressing personal and work challenges/issues?
   
   
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.

A quick preview: a few questions I recommend DURING the discovery session

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 taste 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 the goal, what would that be like for you?
   
2. What might get in the way of you achieving this goal/outcome?
3. What will be the effect on you if you don't move forward? How will it look? 

When you have gone through all the questions and (perhaps) asked for more information, tell them how you would help them achieve their goals or outcomes and the program you would recommend.. "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 if the client is still reluctant or, and it happens, you would rather not have them as a client.

FAQs about "Mastering a Coaching Discovery Session"

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!