You know that moment when you realize you just spent 45 minutes giving away your best strategies to someone who’s probably never going to buy?

Your stomach drops. You feel like you wasted your time again.

You’re staring at your calendar, looking at three more discovery calls scheduled for this week, and part of you wants to cancel them all. Because deep down, you know exactly how they’re going to go.

They’ll show up excited. They’ll ask great questions. They’ll take notes — LOTS of notes —  And they’ll nod enthusiastically when you explain your process. 

And then you suddenly hear…“This sounds amazing. Let me think about it and get back to you.”

THINK ABOUT IT??? 

I was scrolling through a coaching forum yesterday and saw this post that made me stop cold. It read, “I’m starting to dread my own discovery calls. I give away my best stuff, they seem super interested, then nothing. I feel like I’m running a free consulting business and I’m about to lose my mind.”

The replies were brutal. Dozens of coaches sharing the same story. One person said they’d had 12 discovery calls that month and closed zero. ZERO! 

Another coach wrote: “I wake up on Thursdays knowing I’m going to spend 3 hours basically doing expensive therapy for strangers.”

Here’s what’s really happening, and why your current messaging is accidentally turning you into a free advice dispenser instead of a profitable coach.

The Brutal Reality is that You’re Attracting the Wrong People

After spending years in sales and analyzing hundreds of discovery call recordings, I’ve noticed there are basically three types of people who book calls with coaches:

Type 1: The Information Vampires

These information-sucking people are collecting strategies, not solutions. 

They’re not in pain yet, they’re building a mental library of “things I might try someday.” They book calls with 5-7 different coaches because they want to compile a free masterclass from your conversations.

You can spot them instantly. They ask questions like: “What’s your process?” “How long does it usually take?” “What kind of results do people see?”

But they never ask: “When can we start?” or “What would I need to do this week?”

Type 2: The Comparison Shoppers

They’re definitely going to buy something… eventually.

But they’re treating your call like a free consultation to gather ammunition for price negotiations later. 

They ask about your process, your timeline, your guarantees, then disappear to “think about it” (which really means “shop around”).

These are the people who say things like: “I’m just exploring my options right now” or “I want to make sure I choose the right person.”

Type 3: The Ready Buyers

This person has a problem that’s bleeding money or stealing sleep. They’ve already decided they need help, and they’re evaluating if YOU’RE the person who can fix it. 

They ask specific questions about implementation: “What would week one look like?” “When could I start seeing changes?” “What do I need to prepare before we begin?”

Can you guess which type closes at 70%+ rates?

Why Your Marketing Is Sabotaging Your Sales Calls

Most course creators and coaches market like this:

“Imagine having a 6-figure business that runs without you…” 😷
“Picture yourself finally having the freedom to work from anywhere…” 🤢
“What if you could 10x your income in the next 90 days…” 🤮

This language triggers fantasy mode, not buying mode.

Here’s what happens in their brain: they start imagining themselves on a beach with a laptop, money flowing in while they sleep, working 20 hours a week. They’re not thinking about the 6 am starts, the failed launches, the months of grinding before anything works.

So they book a call expecting you to hand them a magic wand.

Then you start talking about the actual work, the daily content creation, the sales calls, the 6-month timeline before they see real results, and you watch their face change. 

You can literally see the moment they realize this isn’t the “push button, make money” system they imagined.

I found this comment buried in a Reddit thread about online courses: “I’ve been on so many discovery calls where they promise the world in their ads, then on the call it’s like ‘oh yeah, this will take 6 months of daily work and you’ll probably fail multiple times before you succeed.’ Why didn’t they say that upfront? I would have respected the honesty.”

The coaches who consistently close 50%+ of their calls do something completely different. They attract people who EXPECT to work for results.

The “Effort Filter” Strategy That Stacks Your Calendar

Most coaches lead with headlines like “How to build a 6-figure coaching business” because it sounds appealing, right?

But here’s the thing: that headline triggers what psychologists call “optimism bias.” People read it and think it’ll be easy for them, even when they logically know building a business is hard work.

When someone sees a headline about building a 6-figure business, their brain fills in the blanks with the easiest possible path. They’re not thinking about the 6 am content creation, the failed launches, or the months of grinding. They’re imagining the result without the process.

That’s why you get people on calls who seem shocked when you mention the actual work involved.

But when you write “The daily habits that separate 6-figure coaches from everyone else,” something different happens. Now their brain starts thinking about specific actions and behaviors, not just outcomes.

Here’s what I mean:

Most coaches write “Turn your expertise into passive income.” But what if you wrote “The daily habits that separate profitable coaches from everyone else” instead?

The first headline makes it sound effortless. The second one immediately signals there are specific behaviors involved, a daily commitment required, and not everyone makes it. Someone reading that second headline thinks “what habits do I need to develop,” instead of “this sounds easy.”

When they book a call, they’re already expecting to hear about the work involved. They’re not looking for a magic bullet. They want to know what successful people do differently.

The Real Problem Isn’t Your Closing Skills

Here’s something most coaches get wrong: They think they need better closing techniques or objection-handling scripts.

But here’s the truth that changed everything for me in sales: If the right people are on your calls, closing becomes easy.

When someone books a call and they’re already convinced they need help, already expect to invest time and money, and already see you as the solution… the “close” is just working out logistics.

The problem is your current messaging is attracting people who need to be CONVINCED instead of people who are already COMMITTED.

Think about the last course or program you invested in. By the time you got on a call (if there even was one), you’d already decided to buy. You weren’t looking for reasons to say no; you were just looking for confirmation that this was the right choice.

That’s the exact mindset you want people in before they book with you.

If you need help with your messaging, I work with coaches and course creators to write copy that pre-qualifies prospects and fills calendars with ready buyers. Feel free to reach out here if you want to explore working together

The Psychology Behind “Let Me Think About It”

When someone says “let me think about it,” they’re not actually thinking about your offer. 

They’re thinking about whether they trust you to deliver what you promised.

This happens when there’s a gap between what your marketing suggested and what your call delivered.

Your marketing said: “Transform your business in 90 days”, but your call revealed: “You’ll need to post content daily, make 50 cold calls a week, and probably fail at your first launch.”

That gap creates doubt. And doubt kills sales.

But when your messaging accurately previews the work required, people show up pre-qualified. They’ve already accepted that success requires effort. Now they just need to know you’re the right guide.

Your Implementation Roadmap

Step 1: Audit Your Current Messaging

Go through your sales page, ads, and social media posts. Count how many times you mention the end result versus how many times you mention the process or effort required.

If it’s all outcome and no process, you’re attracting dreamers.

Step 2: Add “Effort Expectations” to Everything

Start weaving in language about:

• The timeline for seeing real results (be honest)
• The daily/weekly commitment required
• What type of person succeeds vs. fails
• The mindset shifts that are necessary
• Why most people quit (and what it takes to push through)

Step 3: Create Your Pre-Call Filter

Add those three qualifying questions to your booking process. Make them required fields. Yes, you’ll get fewer bookings. That’s the point.

Step 4: Reframe Your Discovery Call

Stop treating it like a sales pitch. Start treating it like a strategy session for someone who’s already decided they need help. Ask diagnostic questions. Give them a taste of what working together would feel like.

Step 5: Test and Adjust

Track your close rates over the next 30 days. You should see fewer calls but higher conversion rates. If you’re not seeing improvement, your messaging might not be filtering hard enough.

This is exactly why strategic copywriting matters so much. It’s not just about writing pretty words; it’s about using psychology to attract the right people and repel the wrong ones.

When your copy does the heavy lifting upfront, your discovery calls become conversations with people who are already 80% sold. They’re not there to be convinced, they’re there to make sure you’re the right fit.

Your messaging becomes a filter that weeds out the tire-kickers and time-wasters before they ever book a call. 

Instead of spending your Thursdays giving free consulting to strangers, you’re having real conversations with people who are ready to invest.

If you’re ready to transform how your ideal clients perceive your offer before they even talk to you, let’s have a conversation about making that happen.

Because your time is valuable. And you shouldn’t waste another minute on calls with people who were never going to buy anyway.