Discovery calls have become a vital part of the sales process, especially for high-ticket programs. For prospective coaching clients, they offer a chance for them to meet you and ask any questions they have about your coaching program. For you, they offer you a chance to get to know the coaching client and see if they are a good fit for your coaching program. Some coaches even reject clients at this stage because they realise that the client’s goals or expectations will not be met in the coaching program.
Because discovery calls are such an important aspect of the sales process, coaches can’t afford to run them as a free-form conversation. A discovery call checklist allows coaches to receive and communicate all the information they need without turning their discovery call into a rigid, scripted call.
What Is a Discovery Call Checklist?
A discovery call checklist provides a framework for discovery calls with prospective coaching clients. It ensures you don’t miss any of the important information that you and the client need to get from the call. This discovery call checklist can take many forms depending on what works best for you. We have seen coaches use these types of discovery call checklists:
- Google Form that you fill out
- A short list near your computer that you can glance at during the discovery call
- An actual checklist (either digital or physical)
Find what works best for you. The Google Form works best when you record the discovery call and fill in the details afterwards (rather than trying to fill out a form on the call.)
How a Discovery Call Checklist Can Help Your Coaching Business
A discovery call checklist allows you to make your discovery call more efficient and effective by introducing a best operating practice. It allows you to speak off the cuff while also making sure:
- You get the information you need about the prospective coaching client
- Your prospective coaching client gets the information they need about your coaching program
- You sell your coaching program based on what you learned about the prospect
There are no awkward pauses while you try to think of what questions you want to ask. You can also run the prospective coaching client through what to expect from you and your coaching program in a positive way. For example, you can frame your communication between sessions positively by explaining your additional support instead of answering negatively when your client asks if they can reach you by phone or WhatsApp whenever they want.
The discovery call checklist puts coaches in control of the discovery call while also providing prospective coaching clients with room to ask their questions. Instead of treating the entire discovery call like you are giving them the floor, you can get to know your coaching client too. You’ll collect valuable information about the types of people who are attracted by your marketing. Your prospective coaching client will appreciate that you are interested in building a relationship with them and that you care that they get results from your coaching program.
Finally, a discovery call checklist will help you to pitch your coaching program based on what you have learned about your prospect. This will increase your discovery call conversion rate.
Discovery Call Checklist for Coaches
Here are some categories that should be included on the discovery call checklist for your coaching call. The number of topics you cover should be suitable for the allotted time of your discovery calls.
Most discovery calls are between 15 and 30 minutes long. If you offer 15-minute discovery calls, you will not be able to cover as much as you would in a 30-minute discovery call. Remember, your prospective coaching client will need time to ask their questions too.
A discovery call is usually followed by a proposal or an email that gives them all the information they need to make an informed decision about working with you. So prioritise what information you want to cover in the discovery call and what information you want to include in the email. The discovery call should focus on compatibility/deal breaker details, and the email should deal with the finer details of working together. You don’t want your prospect to feel blindsided by a deal breaker.
Generally, a discovery call should start by getting to know the prospect and why they are looking for a coach. Then, it should move into information about you and your coaching program. Finally, leave 5-10 minutes for the prospective coaching client to ask questions.
Client Struggles
Start by identifying where your prospective coaching client is at right now. You want to understand what their life looks like and where they are struggling. Focus on information relevant to your coaching topic, but you may need to collect information that is not directly relevant but will affect your coaching.
Dig a little deeper into their struggles if you have the time. You want to uncover the emotional aspect of the problem. What is causing the most frustration? Where is it causing other issues in their life? For example, on the surface, their frustration may be time-consuming tasks, but when you dig a little deeper, you may discover that your prospect feels like they never see their kids anymore because they are working well past their kids’ bedtimes. Wanting to see their kids is their emotional driver, and it is a much more powerful one than working long hours.
Client Goals
Generally, your first coaching session will spend time setting goals for your work together during the coaching program. This is about identifying their general goals for your coaching topic.
The best way to approach this is to start by reiterating the goals that you can deduce from your discussion about their struggles. For example: “So I can see a big goal will be to get home earlier so you can spend quality time with your children in the evening. Are we talking getting home to play with them before dinner, getting home at dinner time, or getting home in time to do their bedtime routine?”
This shows the prospect two things:
- That you’re listening to what they are saying
- That you care about helping them to achieve their goals
You can also ask them if they have any other major goals in this area once you have stated the goals that you’ve deduced so far.
Client Personality
You don’t need to ask specific questions about the prospective coaching client’s personality in the discovery call. It’s just helpful to you to make a note of their personality and communication style. For example, are their explanations extremely detail orientated? Are they to the point or do they enjoy a chat? Do they come prepared with a list of questions or are they content to hear what you have to say?
These will give you indicators of what that person will be like to work with as a coaching client. Remember, as much as they are evaluating if they want to work with you, you should be evaluating if you want to (or are equipped to) work with them.
Information About You
Based on what you have learned about your prospective coaching client tell them a little bit about your approach to coaching – focus on the parts that you think will resonate with them. Stick to a minute or less.
Information About Your Coaching Program
Focus on telling them about your coaching program and what to expect. How will your coaching program help them to achieve some of their goals? What results can they expect to see if they put the work in.
For example, using the example of the prospect who wants to get home earlier to spend time with their kids, you could say something like: “In the first few weeks, we are going to automate X, Y, and Z. Past clients have claimed back an average of 2 hours a day through those changes alone. From there, we will work on prioritising your tasks so you can see which tasks need to get done before you get home and which tasks can wait. We will also talk about the potential for hiring someone to take over those tasks or using software that will half the time for some of the repetitive admin tasks. It is my goal to get you home for dinner with the kids on weeknights barring any emergencies by the end of the 3-month program. I also want to get you on the way to being able to be home before dinner once or twice per week.”
This type of response shows the prospect that you have a plan to help them to achieve their specific goals and what type of results you are confident you can help them to achieve by the end of your coaching program duration. Focus on the goal that seems the most important to them based on your conversation.
Then move on to telling them about the support you offer during the coaching program.
- How often will you have coaching sessions?
- What methods can they use to contact you if they have questions between their sessions?
- Will you proactively check in with them in between sessions?
- Will they receive resources to work through in between coaching sessions?
- Do you offer a community group where they can meet your current and former coaching clients and discuss their journey?
Then explain any other things that could be dealbreakers to your ideal coaching clients. The list will vary depending on the type of coaching you offer. Think about the questions that you are regularly asked during discovery calls.
Next Steps
Once your prospective coaching client has asked all the questions they have, finish the coaching call by explaining the next steps. This can be as simple as: “I will send you an email in the next 24 hours with the proposal and coaching agreement. Once those are signed and payment has been arranged, we will schedule our first coaching session. Your first call can be as early as next week. You can respond to that email you’ll receive to speak directly to me.”
Should I Include Scripts on My Discovery Call Checklist?
A discovery call checklist works best as a loose framework to ensure you and your prospective coaching client have all the information you need at the end of the discovery call. While your coaching clients may have some of the same goals or questions, they will ask them in very different ways. That is why we recommend a discovery call checklist for coaches rather than a discovery call script.
Try writing your discovery call checklist as a list of information you need rather than questions. This will help you to ask a question in a way that is best suited for each individual prospect. You don’t want your prospect to feel like you are asking for information they have already given you. That would make them feel like you’re not listening.
You can jot down small pieces of copy or brand words to help you adhere to your brand voice if that would be helpful. Just keep it to small sentences so that you are still tailoring it to each discovery call rather than reading from a script.