As a coach, your number one priority is to help your clients become the best possible versions of themselves they can be. You should help them make positive and lasting changes in their lifestyle to improve their overall health and wellbeing. The only way you can do this is by getting to know them.
One of the best ways to achieve this is through discovery coaching. If you’re thinking, “Well, isn’t that kind of the same as a free consultation – which I do anyway?” Well, it’s not. And it could be what’s holding you back from growing your client-base as well.
This article dives deep into discovery coaching sessions and why you need to use them to onboard more clients.
Discovery Coaching – The Great Debate
No one likes to work for free, and this is partly why the life coaching community is divided down the middle when it comes to whether or not to incorporate discovery sessions into their business model. If you’re reading this, you’re likely on the fence about it, especially when there’s no guarantee that you’ll convert the individual to a paying client at the end of a discovery session.
While some may see it as the Holy Grail of lead generation, it’s not a magic bullet, and you will have some (maybe several) sessions that take up your time and end in no conversions. There are no guarantees in business or life for that matter.
Make no mistake about it, though. If you’re stuck in a rut, discovery sessions will give your business the push it needs to bump-up the numbers.
Here are the top 5 reasons why you need discovery coaching sessions.
1. Free Consultations Are Dated
A discovery session is not a free consultation. If you meet with a prospective client and you're giving them tons of free advice, that makes you a consultant, and that's not what discovery sessions are about.
The whole purpose behind them is to meet with prospective clients and listen to them. You let them take the reins to better understand what type of issues and challenges they’re currently dealing with. They’ll tell you how long they’ve been dealing with them and what they’ve done so far to try and make positive adjustments.
You’ll be able to pick up on ways that you can help them since you’ll already have a cheat sheet on what didn’t work. So, you won't present the same unsuccessful solutions that will have them questioning your competency and whether you’re the right fit for them.
2. It’s a Great Way to Grow Your Client-Base
Imagine walking into a car dealership to view a particular SUV that you wanted for a while. When you walk in, the salesperson starts talking about a great new hatchback that’s currently the rave of the town. They’re badgering you so much that you’ve hardly got a word in.
If you could, you would tell them that it’s, in fact, the black SUV that you want. If that happens to you, there’s a good chance that you’ll be turned off by the whole experience, and you might just take your business elsewhere.
A discovery coaching session is a great way to show prospective clients that you can help them without coming off too “salesy”. Instead, it provides the perfect opportunity to ask the right questions to get to the root of your client’s challenges. It gives them a chance to reflect on their past, their pain-points, and look to all the possibilities the future holds.
They’ll appreciate this approach and won’t leave feeling overwhelmed or badgered. They’re more likely to keep coming back once they get a sense that your energy resonates with theirs, and you’re not simply trying to sell them something.
3. You’ll Learn If the Client Is “Coachable”
There’s nothing more frustrating than working with a client who is not ready for your services. If you find that you’re more invested in the process than they are, you’ll end up feeling like you wasted valuable time that could have otherwise been used to help someone who needed your expertise.
Armed with the right discovery session questions, you can easily assess whether a prospective client is ready to take the next step. It’s a great way to gauge what their level of motivation and work ethic is to determine if they’re committed to do the work and go after the life they want. You’ll be able to get to the core of what they hope to achieve through coaching and if they’re receptive to what the process entails.
4. Determines If the Client Is the Right Fit for Your Services
As a health and wellness coach, you need to be clear on the type of clients you intend to work with. Maybe you want to focus on athletes who are looking for ways to improve their performance on the field. Perhaps you would rather work with senior-aged patients who want to improve their energy and mobility. Whatever your niche or specialty is, a discovery session will identify if the client is a good fit for what you do.
5. Determines If the Client Is Willing to Make the Financial Investment
Part of the discovery session involves letting prospective clients know how the coaching sessions would work, how many they require, and the financial investment they’ll need to make. Just because a client doesn’t automatically respond with a “yes” doesn’t mean that they won’t warm up to it later. There are lots of creative ways to package your sessions to get them to jump at the opportunity to work with you.
The Ultimate Roadmap to Wellness
While it might seem difficult at first to refrain from giving free advice, discovery coaching significantly increases your odds of signing up new clients. Perhaps the most important benefit of all is that you get to learn what they hope to achieve at the end of the process.
That way, you can chart out a clear road map to help them get to where they want to be. The more discovery sessions you have, the better you’ll become at converting potential leads into paying clients.
Are you suffering from entrepreneur burnout? Check out our blog to discover what it is and the best recovery strategies to get you back on track.