If there was one simple thing you could do that would double (or triple) your new client enrollment, how much would that impact your business?
If you have 10 discovery sessions with prospects, and you typically have 3 or 4 of them sign up to work with you, how amazing would it be to have 6-10 people sign up instead?
It would be pretty significant, right? You could double or triple not just your enrollment, but also your income.
One issue I hear from coaches is that they aren’t really sure how to go from talking to their prospective client (without offering a ton of free advice) to smoothly transitioning to offering their services to that client.
Has this ever happened to you?
I know it happened to me when I was a brand new health coach. Taking that leap to offering your services can feel pretty uncomfortable and icky. We want to help people, but we also don’t want to come off as used-car salesmen.
When you focus your attention on what the prospect needs, and really, really listen vs. try to offer solutions right away, it can be a total game-changer. And that’s what today’s post is all about.
First, let’s cover some groundwork.
The purpose of the Discovery Session is to find out if you and your potential client are a good fit for one another and to give them the space to tell you why they need help.
This is different than doing a Health History or giving free advice.
The school I attended encouraged us to do a health history as the first step, but it felt really awkward to me. I decided to come up with questions that felt more logical and flowed better – questions that I would ask if I were talking to a friend.
This conversation is what I’m going to share with you today.
You can get my script and step-by-step process HERE as part of the FREE Ultimate Health Coach Toolkit.
If what you’re doing right now is working, great! You might not want to change it – BUT if you are looking for some ideas of what to say, I’ve got you covered.
Your MAIN OBJECTIVE during this 20-30-minute call is to uncover your prospect’s struggles, pain points, and frustrations and really listen. Make sure you take notes as you listen. This is not the time to share your story or try to solve their problems.
I know that may seem difficult to do because we are heart-centered problem solvers by nature, but it’s really important that you avoid offering solutions during this call. You can offer resources if you’d like (links to websites, book recommendations, etc.) but you really don’t know enough about this person to make personal recommendations.
You also don’t want to be known as the person that gives out free advice all the time. You’re running a business, right? Set the expectation from the start that your services are valuable.
You can offer your free discovery session over the phone if you want. That is what I did, and in fact how I did ALL of my coachings. I just preferred coaching virtually and not having a physical office space, which worked great for me. The most important thing is to find what works for you.
Let’s cover some of the best questions to ask during your discovery sessions.
Again, you can grab a copy of my FREE Health Coach Toolkit HERE to see all of the questions (including the ones that lead to people signing up).
Here are a few of my favorite Discovery Session questions to get you started:
1. What are the top 2 or 3 things you would like help with the most?
2. Why is that important to you? (Give them time to go deeper on this one).
3. What have you tried in the past? (Find out what hasn’t worked so that you know why they may feel like they have failed in the past.)
4. How did that go? or What did you think of that?
5. Are you at the point where you really want to make positive changes and are ready to take action? (See where they are with their level of commitment.)
6. If you had someone guiding you along the way toward your goals, is that something you would find helpful?
Then you go on to asking the closing questions to have them sign up to work with you. Not sure what effective closing questions to ask? Just grab the FREE Ultimate Health Coach Toolkit for a complete Discovery Session outline with detailed script.
Do you see how this is very different than doing a health history or just giving away a free advice session?
Most of us fear coming across as too “pushy or salesy,” so this process makes it much easier.
Find out what they need, if they’re ready to make changes, and let them know how you can support them.
If they aren’t a good fit for some reason, let them know and either refer them to someone else or give them some other resources that may be helpful.
What changes can you make to your current Discovery Session to feel more confident, so you’re able to help more people reach their goals, and boost your income at the same time?
Have questions? Let me know in the comments below.
