setscale

Discovery call questions for coaches: 12 to ask, in order

October 20, 2026·15 min read
Woman around thirty with a sleek black chin-length bob, wearing a cream cable-knit sweater, sitting at a walnut desk by a tall window in a small home office lined with books, wireless earbuds in, a paper notebook open beside her laptop as she prepares for a video call, soft warm side light

Discovery call questions for coaches work best in a fixed order: confirm what the person already told you in the DM, explore their goal and what is in the way, say what your coaching is and is not, agree on the practical terms, then end on a clear yes, a "not now" or a referral. When the qualifying questions were asked in the DM before the call, you arrive knowing who you are talking to, and the call is spent on the person instead of on a form.

This list follows that order, with 12 questions to adapt to your own words. It is built on a primary document rather than on sales folklore: the 2025 ICF Core Competencies, released by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) in September 2025, which we downloaded and read on 20 October 2026. The document never uses the words "discovery call". Its third competency, though, describes what a first conversation with a potential client has to settle.

TL;DR

  • Prepare the call in the DM: goal, situation, timing and format are asked there, one question at a time, so the call opens by confirming them instead of collecting them.
  • Run the call in five moves: confirm, explore, explain what coaching is and is not, agree on the terms, decide.
  • The ICF's 2025 update rewrote sub-competency 3.01: a coach "clearly defines what coaching is and is not for potential clients". That is the discovery call's job.
  • A clear "no" or a referral is a good outcome. The ICF asks coaches to refer clients to other support professionals "as appropriate".
  • No pressure script, no invented deadline, no promised result: the person decides.

Table of contents

Discovery call questions start in the DM, not on the call

A discovery call that opens with "So, tell me about yourself" spends its first minutes collecting facts the person could have typed in a message. When the call was booked from a DM, most of those facts can already be there.

Before you accept a call, the DM conversation can settle four things, asked one at a time:

  1. Goal: what they want to change, in their words.
  2. Situation: where they are today.
  3. Timing: why now, and when they would like to start.
  4. Format: online or in person, one-to-one or group, and your price range if you publish one.

Our guide on getting coaching clients from your DMs covers that part, from the first reply to the booked call. If several people answer your DMs, the lead qualification framework for DM teams turns those questions into criteria that everyone scores the same way.

What changes on the call is your starting point. Re-read the thread a few minutes before, open with what the person wrote, and spend the call on what a DM cannot capture: the stakes, the history and the fit between the two of you.

What the 2025 ICF Core Competencies say the call must settle

The ICF updates its Core Competencies "every five to seven years", as it wrote when it announced the new version on 8 September 2025. The 2025 model keeps the eight overarching competencies and, according to the ICF's comparison chart, introduces five new sub-competencies and revises 11 existing ones. Competency 3, "Establishes and Maintains Agreements", is the one that reads like a discovery call checklist:

ICF 2025 sub-competency What it means on a discovery call
3.01 "Describes one's coaching philosophy and clearly defines what coaching is and is not for potential clients and stakeholders" You say how you work, and what you do not do, before anyone signs.
3.02 Agreement on what is and is not being offered and on each side's responsibilities, "including commitment to working toward coaching goals" You ask what the person is ready to put in, not only what they want out.
3.03 Agreement on "logistics, fees, scheduling, duration, termination, confidentiality and inclusion of others" Price, format, length, how it ends and who else is involved are said out loud.
3.05 "Partners with the client to determine client-coach compatibility" Fit is decided together, not assumed by either side.
1.07 "Refers clients to other support professionals, as appropriate" Some calls end with a better address than yours.
2.01 "Acknowledges that clients are responsible for their own choices" The decision belongs to the person.

The change worth noticing is in 3.01. The 2019 wording was "Explains what coaching is and is not and describes the process to the client and relevant stakeholders". The 2025 wording adds the coach's own "coaching philosophy" and speaks of "potential clients". The standard now names the conversation that happens before anyone is a client, which is exactly where a discovery call sits.

Two honest limits. The competencies describe how a coach practices; the ICF does not present them as a sales method, and the mapping above is our reading. And they are a coaching standard: a consultant or a trainer is not bound by them, even if the agreement logic (what you offer, what it costs, how it ends) carries over well.

Questions 1 and 2, confirm what the DM already told you

1. "In your message you said you want to [their goal, in their words]. Is that still the main thing?"

This replaces "tell me about yourself". It shows you read the thread, and it gives the person a chance to correct you. Sub-competency 6.02 asks a coach to reflect or summarize "what the client is communicating to ensure clarity and understanding": doing it in the first minute sets the tone for the rest of the call.

2. "What made you decide to talk to someone about this now?"

The answer tells you whether something changed (a launch, a deadline, a decision that keeps getting postponed) or whether this is a curious first look. Both are fine. They do not lead to the same close.

Questions 3 to 5, explore the goal and what is in the way

3. "If this worked, what would be different for you?"

You are looking for the person's own measure of success. The ICF lists defining or reconfirming "measures of success" among the agreement sub-competencies (3.08). On a discovery call it also tells you whether the result they expect is one coaching can produce.

4. "What have you already tried, and what happened?"

This question saves both of you from offering a repeat of something that already failed. It also reveals whether the person has worked with a coach, a course, a trainer or nobody yet.

5. "What is in the way right now?"

Let the answer run. Silence after this question is useful; the ICF lists "silence" among the tools of competency 7, Evokes Awareness. You are not coaching yet, but you are showing how you listen.

Questions 6 and 7, say what your coaching is and is not

6. "Have you worked with a coach before? What helped, and what did not?"

The answer is your opening to do what 3.01 asks: describe your coaching philosophy and what coaching is and is not. Keep it short and concrete: how a session runs, what happens between sessions, what you will not do. If the person needs advice, therapy or someone to do the work, this is the moment to say so; sub-competency 1.06 asks coaches to maintain "the distinctions between coaching, consulting, psychotherapy and other support professions".

7. "What do you expect from me, and what do you expect to do yourself?"

Sub-competency 3.02 now includes the client's "commitment to working toward coaching goals", one of the revised wordings of 2025. A discovery call is the cheapest place to find out that someone expects you to do the work for them.

Questions 8 to 10, check commitment and the practical terms

8. "How much time can you give this between sessions?"

A plain question about time is easier to answer honestly than "how committed are you?". It also prepares the format you will propose.

9. "Here is how I work: [format, length, price, how we stop]. Does that fit your schedule and your budget?"

This is 3.03 in one sentence: logistics, fees, scheduling, duration, termination and confidentiality. Say the price yourself. A discovery call that ends before the price is mentioned usually needs a second call.

10. "Is anyone else involved in this decision or in the coaching?"

An employer who pays, a partner who has a say, a business associate: 3.03 lists the "inclusion of others" among the terms to agree. In B2B sales this is the authority question of BANT (budget, authority, need, timing); for a coach selling to individuals, it is often the question people forget.

Questions 11 and 12, close on a clear yes, not now or no

11. "From what you told me, I think we are a good fit because [reason]. How does that sound to you?"

Sub-competency 3.05 asks the coach to determine compatibility with the client, not for the client. Say your view and why, then ask theirs. If you think it is not a fit, say that too, with the reason.

12. "Do you want to start? If yes, which start date works for you?"

A clear question gets a clear answer: yes, not now, or no. If the answer is "not now", ask what they would need to decide and agree on when you will follow up. If it is no, thank them and let them go: 2.01 says clients "are responsible for their own choices". If the call showed a need you should not take on, 1.07 asks you to refer them to other support professionals "as appropriate", and the referral is a better ending than a reluctant yes.

Close the call by summarizing what was agreed (start date, format, next step), then confirm it in writing in the same DM thread so nothing lives only in your memory.

Coach, consultant, trainer: what changes on the call

The five moves stay the same. The question that matters most, and the reason to let someone go, change with what you sell. These are examples to adapt, not scripts:

You sell What the DM should already tell you The question that matters most on the call When to let go
Business coaching What they sell, to whom, where it is stuck 4, what have you already tried They need someone to do the work (an agency, an accountant): say so and point them there.
Life coaching What they want to change and why now 3, what would be different The conversation describes a crisis or a need for therapy or medical care: refer them to a professional who can help.
Consulting The problem, its owner, the deadline 10, who else is involved They want coaching rather than expertise, or expertise outside your field.
Training or a group program The skill, the level, the date they need it by 8, how much time between sessions They need a format or a certification you do not offer.
Fitness coaching The goal, the place, the schedule 9, does the format fit An injury or a medical condition comes first with their doctor.

If you work with a closer who takes the calls you do not, the same order applies, and the handoff between whoever qualified the lead and whoever runs the call decides how much the closer knows on arrival. Our setter closer model covers that handoff.

If you want the DM part of this list asked for you on Instagram, SetScale does it in your words and books the call into your calendar. Start your 7-day free trial.

What to leave out of a discovery call

  • A pressure script. Invented deadlines, fake "last spots", a price that "goes up tonight" when it does not. Sub-competency 1.01 opens with "Demonstrates personal integrity and honesty in interactions with clients": a discovery call is one of those interactions.
  • A promised result. Nobody can promise a client's outcome on a first call, and saying "my clients always get there" asks the person to trust a claim they cannot check.
  • Re-asking the DM. If they already told you their goal and their timing, confirm, do not interrogate.
  • A full free session. A taste of how you work helps the person decide. Coaching for the whole call leaves no time for question 9, and they leave without knowing the terms.
  • Pushing for a yes on the call. "Let me think about it" is an answer. Agree on when you will talk again, then keep that date.

Where SetScale fits: the questions before the call

SetScale is the part that happens before the call. It is an AI setter in DMs for people who sell a service: Instagram today, WhatsApp and Messenger coming soon. It replies in your DMs, asks your qualifying questions and books the call; it does not run the call for you.

On the site, read on 20 October 2026, setup starts with your offer and "the questions you ask before a call", in your tone. The setter asks them in the conversation, proposes slots you actually have and confirms only when the lead says yes to one of them. The call then "lands on your calendar with the whole conversation attached", and the inbox shows the profile the setter filled in from the answers. That is what makes question 1 a confirmation instead of an interview: the answers to the DM questions are in front of you when the call starts.

A booked lead gets a reminder the day before and again two hours before the call. If the lead asks for a real person, the setter steps aside and hands you the full context; if they write STOP, no automated message goes out to them again. Instagram's own automatic messages can greet a lead but do not ask your questions one by one or book a slot, as our article on Instagram auto reply shows. For what Meta's API allows an AI to do in your inbox, read what the Instagram API lets an AI do in your DMs. To compare an AI setter with answering yourself or hiring a human setter, see our guide to the AI appointment setter.

The pricing page, read on 20 October 2026, lists Starter at $19 a month, billed the same day with no trial, and Pro at $97 a month, "the full AI setter, the plan for one coach", with a 7-day free trial (card required, nothing charged before day 8). Scale, at $297 a month with the same trial, adds client accounts and unlimited closers for when you grow. The page is the reference. You start solo, on one Instagram account and one calendar. More on the page for coaches.

FAQ

What questions should a coach ask on a discovery call? In order: confirm the goal from the DM, ask why now, ask what would be different if it worked, what they already tried and what is in the way, then explain how you work, agree on time, format, price and who else is involved, and close with a clear question about starting.

How long should a discovery call be? The ICF competencies do not set a length. Pick one, say it when you book the call in the DM, and keep it. Sub-competency 3.09 asks coaches to manage "the time and focus of the session"; applying it to a discovery call is our reading, and it is a good habit for both sides.

What is the difference between a coaching discovery call and a sales discovery call? A sales discovery call in B2B often follows BANT: budget, authority, need, timing, for a company that buys. A coaching discovery call checks the same practical points, usually with the person who will be coached, and adds what the ICF calls client-coach compatibility (3.05). Fit is a two-way question.

What if the person is not a fit? Say it during the call, with the reason, and suggest where they could go instead. The ICF asks coaches to refer clients to other support professionals as appropriate (1.07). A clear no saves both of you a second call.

Conclusion

A discovery call goes better when the facts are collected before it starts. Ask the qualifying questions in the DM, open the call by confirming them, then use the call for what only a conversation can do: understanding the stakes, saying what your coaching is and is not, agreeing on the terms and deciding together. The ICF's 2025 competencies give that order a solid base: agreements first, compatibility decided with the client, and the client's choice respected.

If you want your Instagram DMs to ask those questions and book the call while you coach, SetScale does that part. Start your 7-day free trial.