This episode is an ON AIR Coaching Session with David Smith.

David Smith is a Washington DC - based career coach. He is a Fulbright scholar. After 30 years in law, as a University professor and  overseas working for a think tank, he came to realize that his collective experiences provide insight into inside DC careers.
 
 For two years he has coaching two different audiences: 

·      people 20 - 30 emerging into international or policy based careers inside the beltway

·      people 50+ looking for their encore career

Two Problems Related to Coaching Client Engagement

David said he was looking for some wisdom. Specifically he was having two challenges in his coaching business:

1.     Sometimes clients disappear without notice.

2.     Younger clientele are difficult to engage into a longer term coaching relationship.

These classic challenges are related. And both are things that David can fix with a shift in his approach to enrolling.

I asked David to describe what he tells prospects about his offer.

He offers a Discovery Session and admitted to a common problem coaches have ... over-delivering in the discovery call.

Shift #1: Stop Coaching in Discovery Sessions

Some coaches offer a sample coaching session to enroll clients. I used to do this myself and found that, much of the time, prospects would walk away from that experience feeling satisfied and uninterested in taking a next step.

I was so intent on showing my value that I over-delivered. And the prospect would say: "Thanks!" But she had no interest in taking a next step.

Can you relate to that challenge?

I remember feeling sort of demoralized by the lack of interest in coaching, something I felt so passionate about.

That's because coaching itself is a hard sell.

People don't wake up knowing that they want coaching. Instead they seek out solutions to specific problems.

So, unless you're offering a sample coaching session that focuses on a very specific coaching niche — a specific solution to a specific problem — then your sample coaching session is going to feel general and not highly relevant to people.

Even if you have a specific niche, a sample session isn't the most effective tool for enrolling a committed long term coaching client who pays you well. Because the tendency to perform and over-deliver is strong in that type of session.

When I shifted away from offering sample coaching sessions to offering discovery calls, I immediately started enrolling more ideal clients and earning more from coaching.

Here's the thing ... a Discovery Session isn't meant to be a coaching session.

You can absolutely use the coaching tools of asking powerful questions and listening in a Discovery Session. But you don't want to step into the Co-Creative Relationship with a prospect because they have not paid a fee for the coaching. That's part of the client's responsibility.

Instead, a Discovery Session is a get-to-know-you call. Ultimately, it's about assessing fit between the coach and prospect.

David knew this ...

Find more Show Notes here.