Guides · 7 min read
Discovery call questions worth asking
Eight questions a coach can ask in a first call with a prospective client, what each one tells you, and what to do with the answers.
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01
What a discovery call is for
A discovery call is the first real conversation between a coach and a prospective client. Fifteen to twenty minutes, usually on the phone, sometimes on video. Its job is not to sell. Its job is to find out, on both sides, whether the next six months are likely to be good ones.
Coaches who treat the call as a sales pitch tend to take on clients they later regret. Coaches who treat it as an interview, run from both sides, tend to end up with a roster that mostly stays.
The questions below are not a script. They are eight things worth knowing before you say yes. The order can change, several can be folded together, and a good call usually only needs five or six of them. The point is to leave the call with a clear picture of who you would be working with, and a clear sense of whether you are the right person for the job.
02
The questions worth asking
What made you reach out now, rather than three months ago or three months from now?
This is the question that tells you whether the timing is real. If the answer is specific, a tournament coming up, a recital in May, a new role at work, the client has momentum. If the answer is vague, the call is often the most action they will take. Worth knowing before you build a six month plan around them.
What does a good six months from now look like for you?
Asks the client to picture a specific outcome. A junior tennis player might describe a tournament result. An adult piano student might describe playing a particular piece at a particular tempo. A life coaching client might describe a decision made, or a habit kept. The more concrete the answer, the easier the work is to design.
Have you worked with a coach before, and if so, what worked and what did not?
Almost every prospective client has, even if they call it something else. Their answer tells you what they will compare you to and where they were disappointed. It also tells you whether they take some responsibility for the relationship or whether it is always the coach’s fault. Both are useful to know.
What is the cadence you can realistically commit to?
Not the cadence they would like, the cadence they can actually keep. Weekly, fortnightly, twice a week. Adults often overestimate this. Parents often underestimate it. The honest answer here is the difference between a relationship that lasts and one that fades in month three.
Who else is in the picture?
For a junior, the parents and sometimes the school. For an adult, often a partner whose support matters. For a life coaching client, sometimes a therapist they already see. You are rarely the only person involved in someone’s progress, and knowing who else is involved makes the work cleaner.
What would make you stop?
A blunt question, asked gently. Usually answered with money, time, or loss of interest. The answer tells you the failure mode of the relationship, which is the most useful single piece of information from the whole call. If the answer is loss of interest, the early sessions need to feel alive. If the answer is money, the cadence needs to fit the budget honestly.
Is there anything I should know about how you learn or how you work?
Catches the things a client knows about themselves that you would otherwise discover in week three. ADHD, an injury, a difficult experience with a previous coach, a strong preference for written notes over voice. The information is almost always offered if asked, and almost never offered if not.
What questions do you have for me?
The last question, and the most diagnostic. A client who has thoughtful questions about how you work, what they should expect between sessions, or how you handle missed lessons is a client who is taking the decision seriously. A client who has none, on either side of the call, often is not.
03
What to do with the answers
The call is not over when you hang up. The next twenty minutes are where most of the value is.
Open a new client record, even if you have not said yes yet, and write down the answers while they are fresh. Not paraphrased, as close to the client’s own words as you can manage. These are the sentences you will quote back in month three when you want to remind them why they came.
Then sit with it overnight. The clearest signal of whether to take a client on is whether you are still thinking about them the next morning with curiosity rather than with weariness. Curiosity says yes. Weariness, even quiet weariness, usually says no, even when the calendar has the slot.
04
A few questions worth avoiding
Most discovery call mistakes are not questions you forget. They are questions you ask out of habit that quietly steer the call in the wrong direction.
What is your budget?
Better to state your rate plainly and let the client tell you, in their own words, whether it fits. Asking for a budget puts the call on a sales footing, which changes the answers to every other question.
What are your goals?
Too abstract. Question two does the same work with a clearer answer. Most clients have not thought their goals through in the language a coach uses, and the question often gets a flat answer that tells you nothing.
Why did you choose me?
Flattering to ask, rarely useful. The honest answer is often that you came up in a search or were the second name on a friend’s recommendation. The fact that they showed up is the answer that matters.
05
After the call
A short follow-up message, within twenty-four hours, that names one specific thing you remember from the conversation.
Not a sales follow-up. A human one. A sentence that proves you were listening, an answer to any practical questions they raised, and a clear next step if you have decided to work together. If you have decided not to, a brief, kind note suggesting they might be a better fit with a coach who works differently is almost always remembered well.
Most clients book within a few days of the call or not at all. Calm follow-up, no pressure, a clear door open if they want to walk through it. That is the whole protocol.
Frequently asked questions.
How long should a discovery call last?
Fifteen to twenty minutes is plenty for most disciplines. Long enough for the eight questions, short enough that neither party feels they have to fill time. If a call is heading toward an hour, it usually means the conversation has drifted into the work itself, which is better saved for the first paid session.
Should a discovery call be free?
Almost always, yes. The call is a mutual interview, not a session. Charging for it changes the dynamic and tends to lose you the prospective clients who would have been the best fit. The exception is high-touch executive or specialist coaching, where a paid intake call is more common.
Phone, video, or in person?
Phone is usually best for the first call. It is quicker to set up, less performative for the client, and easier to take notes during. Video is good for life coaching and for clients who are weighing several coaches at once. In person is rarely necessary and often slows the process.
What if the client wants to book a session straight away, without a call?
For some disciplines this is normal, especially for one-off lessons or a single trial session. For an ongoing coaching relationship, a short call first almost always pays for itself. Even a ten minute conversation will surface a mismatch that a booking page cannot.
How do I say no after a discovery call?
Briefly, kindly, and without an elaborate reason. A short message saying you do not think you are the right coach for what they are looking for, with a suggestion of one or two coaches or styles that might fit better, is usually all that is needed. Most clients are quietly relieved when a coach is honest about fit.
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