Tech Tip of the Week

This cheat sheet will help your clients use AI as a thinking partner for their career change questions.

Feel free to send it to your clients!

This comes up all the time when I’m with other coaches:

“How do you keep your discovery calls to 20 minutes?”

Most of them are used to spending an hour or more. 

Some block 45. 

A few try for 30 but usually run over.

I used to be guilty of this too. But now when I say I stick to 20, people look at me like I’m speed dating my clients! 

The funny thing is that these calls aren’t rushed. They’re focused.

And more often than not, they lead to booked clients.

Not because I’m especially charming or have a sales script in my back pocket.

It’s because I’ve designed the whole process with intention, upstream from the actual conversation.

In this week’s newsletter. I’m sharing my entire discovery call process so that you can streamline your own process with clients.

#1: Pre-call

When someone reaches out, they don’t just get to grab a spot on my calendar. 

They choose from three paths:

• Career exploration
• Career Coach Education
• Solopreneur coaching

Each option triggers a short pre-call questionnaire with five brief, open-ended questions, tailored to that focus. 

Questions like:

“What’s your biggest challenge right now?”
“Why are you reaching out at this moment?”
“What should I know about you that might help this conversation?”

They have to complete the questionnaire before booking a call.

It’s my filter for their commitment and it’s so important. Because when someone takes the time to reflect and respond before we’ve even spoken, they’re already showing me they’re serious.

#2: Transparent pricing 

As soon as they book, I send my packages and pricing. It’s also on my website.

It means that there are no surprises or no awkward “so what does this cost?” energy on the call.

The price is the price.

Some people self-select out and that’s fine. 

That’s the point.

When we do get on the call, we both know what we’re walking into.

#3: The structure

Because I’ve read their responses, I can jump right in.

Instead of “So, tell me about yourself,” I’ll say,

“You mentioned this as your biggest challenge. What would you like to dig into related to that topic?”

We’re not building context because we already have it.

(Are you starting to see how you can do this in 20 minutes??)

#4: The handover

In every email, I include a simple line:

“If these packages don’t meet your current needs, I work with a trusted group of coaches. We’ll get you to the right person whether that’s me or someone else.”

This takes away so much pressure from the client and helps me to serve them, even if we don’t end up working together.

And honestly, not every client is a match, so I am still serving them by referring them to someone else who could help.

The value of having a process

And that’s it.

Almost sounds too simple, doesn’t it?

But this process reduces the time spent in conversation prior to engaging a potential client, which frees up more time to serve our existing clients. 

• It filters out the folks who aren’t quite ready.

• It sets the tone for the working relationship.

• It respects both our time.

And it gives us both what we need to make a clear, grounded decision, without dragging it out.

It also removes the weirdness around money.

Because if someone’s going to say yes to coaching, they should know what they’re saying yes to.

If you’ve been giving long discovery calls and leaving them feeling drained or directionless, maybe it’s time for a new structure.

This is the one that’s worked for me.

Talk soon,
Heather

P.S. Want the actual questions I use in my discovery call questionnaires? Hit reply and I’ll send them over.