Answer common “how coaching works” questions with a proven FAQ template that sets clear expectations and reduces sales friction for new clients.
This answers the questions most new clients have before we get started. If something isn't covered here, bring it to our first session.
A coach finds that most of her 30-minute discovery calls spend the first fifteen minutes answering the same five questions - what is coaching, how often are sessions, what happens if someone cancels, what does she actually do in a session. She rarely gets to assess fit.
Frame this as a pre-qualification tool. 'If every discovery call starts with process questions, you are educating rather than exploring fit. A FAQ document handles the education so the call can focus on whether this relationship makes sense.' Have her pull up her discovery call notes and list the five questions she is asked most often before she opens the template - those five should anchor the document.
Watch whether her FAQ answers are specific to her practice or generic enough to apply to any coach. 'I take a collaborative approach to goal-setting' is not an answer - it is a placeholder. The test is whether a potential client who read her FAQ would understand something specific about working with her, or just about coaching in general.
Read her draft FAQ as if you are a skeptical potential client who has had one bad coaching experience and is trying to decide whether to try again. Which questions would they still have after reading? Those gaps need to be filled. The accountability question and the 'when would you end a coaching relationship' question are usually the weakest sections - those are the ones worth spending the most time on.
If the coach is reluctant to answer the 'when might you end a coaching relationship' question, explore what that reluctance is about. Coaches who avoid this question often haven't yet fully accepted that not every coaching relationship should continue. Severity: low. Name it directly: 'A potential client who asks this question and gets no answer will not trust you more.'
A coach is transitioning her practice from general life coaching to executive leadership coaching. Her existing FAQ document still uses life coaching framing and references personal goals rather than leadership development. Potential clients notice the mismatch.
Use the FAQ revision as a positioning clarification exercise. 'Every answer in this document tells a potential client what kind of coach you are and who you work with. If the answers still sound like life coaching, that is who will reach out.' Work through each question and ask her to answer from the executive coaching register - the language, the specifics, and the examples should all reflect her new positioning.
Watch the 'how do you handle difficult conversations' answer especially. Life coaching FAQs tend toward gentle, collaborative framing. Executive coaching clients expect directness and challenge. If the FAQ undersells how direct she is willing to be, she will attract clients who are not looking for that - and lose the ones who are.
After completing the draft, ask: 'If a VP-level client read this FAQ before calling you, would they see themselves in it?' If the FAQ is still written for a general audience rather than a leadership-level audience, have her read it from that perspective and name the specific phrases that don't fit. The FAQ should pre-select the client as much as it informs them.
If the coach is holding onto life coaching FAQ language because she is not yet fully committed to the repositioning, the FAQ work will be shallow. Severity: low. Surface the ambivalence before continuing: 'This FAQ will attract whoever it speaks to - if you're not sure who that is yet, the document will reflect that.'
A coach is launching her first group coaching program for mid-level managers. She needs FAQ content that addresses group coaching specifically - the dynamics, the confidentiality structure, the difference between individual and group sessions, and what happens when someone in the group isn't participating.
Flag the differences before opening the template: 'Group coaching FAQ has categories that individual coaching FAQ doesn't need - particularly around confidentiality within the group, how you handle conflict between participants, and what participation expectations look like.' Add those questions explicitly before filling in the standard template content.
Watch the confidentiality answer carefully in a group context. Individual coaching confidentiality is binary. Group coaching confidentiality requires the coach to be explicit about what stays in the room for all participants, what she will share with sponsors, and what individual participants are expected to hold. Vague answers here create problems in the first group session.
After completing the draft, read the accountability and 'difficult conversations' answers aloud and ask: 'Does this answer account for the fact that there are other people in the room?' What the coach does when one participant isn't following through looks different in a group than in an individual session. The FAQ should reflect that explicitly.
If the FAQ is being sent to program participants who were directed into the program by their organization rather than self-selecting, note that the framing and accountability language needs to account for participants who may not have chosen coaching. Severity: low. A FAQ that assumes motivated self-selection will feel out of touch to a participant who arrived under obligation.
A coach whose client experience is inconsistent from one engagement to the next
Coach BusinessA coach who has never asked clients for testimonials despite doing strong work
Coach BusinessA coach who gets no referrals from professional relationships that could be sending clients
