5 Mistakes I Made on Discovery Calls (And How to Fix Them)

How comfortable are you on your enrollment calls and selling your coaching packages?

If I could go back in time, I would tell myself to avoid these five mistakes.

Mistake 1: Who You Sell To

Long ago, I started a little program called How to Create Videos with Free Editing Software. While the program was good, I didn’t know who I made it for.

Some people were just starting out, while others wanted to make videos for their businesses. This made it hard for me to teach them exactly what they needed to know.

Then I realized something very important: not everyone should learn video editing from me.

But the question was, who should be learning from me?

If I could go back, I would ask myself, “Which types of people did I get the best results in the past?”

Even if all your clients so far are very happy working with you, there will always be a few where you’ve had extraordinary success with them. Even if you haven’t had paying clients so far, you can still ask yourself the same question.

Which types of people have you helped in the past, even for free, that was enjoyable and productive?

For example, I initially thought I would work with only businesspeople because I used to work in corporate finance.

However, after a few projects and coaching projects, I discovered I got the best results with creative people—those with passions like:

• Music
• Art
• Writing

It was really key for me to assess my track record by reviewing past successes. I recognized this pattern and I wanted to repeat this pattern to guarantee the best results with my future clients.

The key takeaway: as a coach, it’s essential to know who you work best with and who you enjoy working with. That makes your teaching and coaching much better and also more fun for you, too.

Mistake 2: Selling Early

Imagine you walk into your favorite clothing store, and right away, a person comes up to you with a pair of shoes. They tell you that 5 other people have already bought the same pair and if you buy right now, you get 20% off. And there are only 3 pairs left in the storage.

It’s overwhelming, right? Even if:

1. They used all the common sales triggers of social proof
2. Giving you a fast-action discount
3. And creating urgency

Even if it’s your favorite brand, you might feel pressure to do something and it could even ruin the experience.

Here’s an interesting example:

I came across this Reddit post where somebody shared their fear of being sold something online. In today’s time, many people feel like this online. That’s why many people have become intimidated to:

1. Reach out to people
2. Send a DM
3. Book a call with a coach

According to this Spotio Survey, 85% of prospects are unhappy with their on-the-phone experience and very interestingly 42% of sales reps feel like they don’t have enough information before getting on the call with someone.

But what do these stats tell us? It means that a lot of people don’t feel good when talking to salespeople on the phone and that includes you as a coach speaking to people on Zoom or Google Meet.

Here’s my favorite way to put it which is a quote from Forbes, always remember that selling is meant to be an act of service enjoyed by both customer and provider.

Now what’s the solution? It’s actually quite simple. Here’s what I propose:

• You don’t have to sign up for a new client on the very first enrollment call. Especially if you don’t have much experience yet enrolling new clients as a coach.
• You can get to know them on the first call and then just book a follow-up call.

I used to think that if I don’t close people on the very first call then I just suck at sales and then later when I started to take sales coaching and got mentored by Donald Stojack. I learned that I have such an easy time finding fantastic clients if I don’t stress over selling on the very first call.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Yes, sometimes the first enrollment call is the call to enroll someone but sometimes it’s not.

And I wish I had understood this nuance much earlier when I was just starting out. I wouldn’t have been afraid to do two or even three calls with someone before enrolling them as a new client.

Mistake 3: Talking Too Much About Problems

Mistake number three is spending too much time talking about problems.

Last month a life coach reached out to me for advice on improving their sales calls. They shared an example with me of how they spoke to someone who looked like an ideal client. Their ability to build rapport was good and the conversation was flowing quite smoothly but there was a significant issue on this call.

And it’s something that a lot of coaches failed to see and I wish I had known that earlier as well. They spend too much time discussing the problems that the prospect is facing and not enough time discussing their values, goals, and dreams.

In this particular example, they focused too much on discussing:

• Their lack of motivation
• Feeling stuck in their career
• And struggling with work-life balance

That’s good but in this example, they failed to transition to really focus on the prospect’s goals and dreams.

When you’re helping someone, whether it’s as a coach or in a different role, it’s important to listen to their problems but it’s also important to shift the conversation to their goals and dreams.

In my earlier example, here’s how this life coach could have done it better:

• They could have asked things like what are your big dreams right now
• Or where would you see yourself and your family in 6 months
• Or another future or another question what would make you really happy in your job and in your personal life

When you focus on their goals and dreams, you can not only help the client visualize a better future but it also allows you to start building a road map with them to get there.

I’m not saying you should rush over problems, issues and challenges when you’re speaking to people on enrollment calls. But what I have found is that I have a much harder time enrolling them into my coaching program, if my calls are mostly focused on:

• The negative
• On their problems
• On their challenges

If we can have a deep conversation about their values, their goals, their dreams, and why they want to do what they want to do, then they understand much better how my program can help them.

Mistake 4: Forgetting To Share A Story Of Success

Mistake number four forgetting to share a story of how you’ve already helped someone in a similar situation.

Here’s an example, imagine a career coach Lily who helps people find higher-paying jobs. One day she talked to Timmy who felt felt unhappy but also unsure about his current job. At the end of the call, even though Tim was very grateful for the advice and information he received, there was no emotional connection.

Something that happens on calls like this is that they’re basically a very interactive Google search. Tim could have gotten similar advice by spending enough time on Google and YouTube.

That’s what happens when you share advice and information that applies to everyone. The mistake was that Lily didn’t share a story of how she helped someone who was in a similar situation to Tim’s.

For coaches, sharing stories of how they’ve helped somebody else is really important mainly for three reasons:

1. It shows that they know what they’re doing and how they can solve problems.
2. Stories like that create hope and confidence in the prospect
3. Stories like that create an emotional connection

You’re not like ChatGPT, providing generic advice through that story. You’re painting a vivid picture where the other person can see themselves in. It creates emotional proof that your advice works and that you can make a difference in their life.

What that means for you is that you have at least one story ready that you can share with people on your enrollment calls. And if you’ve never told that story before then I highly recommend that you write it down and that you practice it.

It’s one of those things that I wish I had known when I started out because it meant I would have connected more deeply with more people which also means that I would have helped them better.

Mistake 5: Not Practicing Follow-up Diligently

The number five mistake was not practicing follow-up diligently.

In sales, it’s all about follow-up. Statistically speaking only about 2% of sales ever happen during the first contact. If you don’t follow up you miss out on the vast majority of your sales opportunities.

Now when should you follow up?

Here are a few examples of when it makes sense to follow up with someone:

• After you have a discovery call
• When you send a proposal or a price estimate
• After you show a trial or a demo
• After networking events
• When someone watches your webinar, comes to your workshop, or downloads something free you have to email on your list
• Regularly checking in with all your past clients

I know as coaches we are very empathetic people and so it’s easy to feel like we’re being too aggressive in our communication or imposing on other people. But here’s the reality, if you don’t follow up with more people, you’re not getting more clients and ultimately it could be the reason why your coaching business fails.

For starters, the very best thing you can do, and I wish I had done that on my very first day, is to create a simple spreadsheet where you save the names and the email addresses and the last time you spoke to them.

When I say speak to them, it could be:

• A Zoom call
• Enrollment call
• Be an email
• Or a direct message

Here is what you need to do:

1. Every week, you have one dedicated day per week where you go through the spreadsheet
2. Check the dates of the last contact and if two weeks have passed or one month has passed, send them another message
3. That’s how you keep following up with people

I recommend that you keep these messages short, one or two sentences maximum, and don’t even try to sell anything. Just say hi or ask a question that makes sense.

Here’s a very simple example message that you could send out is something like this:

“Hi we haven’t spoken in a while just wanted to reach out and wish you a great summer hope you’re doing well“

Of course, this is a very simple approach and if you would like me to go into more detail in how I follow up with people, then please let me know in the comments below and I can write an article on that.

A huge roadblock for struggling coaches is not just knowing what to say on enrollment calls but also what to sell at the end of enrollment calls.

Let me ask you this: do you have a coaching package that people really want to buy?

Read this article next where I show you step-by-step how you can create an appealing coaching package.

My Three Takeaways

1. Focus on the clients who get the best results from your coaching and who you enjoy working with. Identifying this pattern makes your work more effective and rewarding.
2. Don’t dwell too long on your clients’ challenges; shift the conversation toward their goals and dreams. This creates a positive, future-focused conversation that helps them see the value in your coaching.
3. Keep refining your skills in storytelling, sales, and follow-ups to make your enrollment calls smoother. Learning from past mistakes is key to growing your coaching business.

And don’t forget to subscribe on my YouTube channel, @creategrowprofit