The 15-minute discovery call: a minute-by-minute script

You know how this one goes. Four minutes left, the other person is holding a list of ideas that took you years to learn, and they say: "Great, thanks so much, I'll be in touch." They are not in touch.

A free call has one job. Find out whether you can help this person, and if you can, agree on what happens next. Anything past that is the paid session, minus the payment.

Fifteen minutes is enough if you know what each minute is for. This script works for a consultant, a coach, a freelance developer, or anyone else who sells their time by the session.

The script, minute by minute

Look at the split: they talk for close to half the call. If you reach minute 7 and you've done most of the talking, something went wrong.

Minute 0: say the frame out loud

Your opening line heads off a lot of this, because it tells them how the call ends before it starts:

"We have 15 minutes. I want to understand what you need and see whether I can help. If it fits, I'll tell you how I work. If it doesn't, I'll say so and try to point you to someone better. Sound good?"

You've told them, without any awkwardness, that this isn't a working session.

Minutes 1 to 7: ask more than feels comfortable

You'll want to answer the first question you hear. Hold off. These four get you most of the way:

1. What made you look for help now, and not six months ago?
2. What have you tried already?
3. What happens if this stays the same for three more months?
4. How would you know it worked?

The first one tells you the most. "My business partner leaves in January" and "I've been meaning to look at this for a while" are two different calls.

Minutes 7 to 10: the awkward questions

Timeline, money, who decides. Wait until the proposal to find out and you can lose a week to someone with half your budget, or someone who needs sign-off from a partner you've never met.

"Projects like this usually start at [amount] with me. Is that in the range you had in mind?"

Say a real number. If the number is a problem, better to hear it at minute 8.

When they ask for free advice

It will happen, usually without bad intent. People ask what you'd do because they want help. You can give them one useful thing and stop there:

"The first thing I'd look at is [one specific thing]. To tell you the rest I'd need to see [the data, the code, the accounts], and that's what we do in the first session."

Give them the what and keep the how. Telling someone their problem is in how they follow up on quotes shows you know your field. Sitting down to rebuild that follow-up is the job.

Minutes 10 to 13: say how you'd work

Three sentences: what you understood, what you'd do first, how long it would take. Skip the twelve-phase process. Here's a hypothetical from a consultant talking to a small clinic:

"It sounds like you're losing patients between the first visit and the second. I'd start by going through the last three months and talking to reception. That's two sessions and a written plan."

If it isn't a fit, say that too. "I'm not the right person for this, you want someone in [specialty]" costs you little.

Minutes 13 to 15: close with a date

"I'll think about it and get back to you" is an ending that costs you time. The decision floats and you end up writing reminders. Propose something concrete before you hang up.

• If they clearly want to start: "I'll send the proposal today. Shall we hold Thursday to kick off?"
• If they need to check with someone: "When are you talking to your partner? I'll write on Friday and you can give me a yes or a no."
• If it doesn't fit: "I'll send you [person]'s contact."

A quick no is a good result too: it cost you 15 minutes and you can stop following up.

What to send after you hang up

Send it within the hour, while the call is fresh. Four lines will do:

"Hi [name], thanks for the call. What I understood: [problem in one sentence]. What I'm proposing: [step, length, price]. Next step: [date]. If anything's off, tell me."

Use their words. If they said "clients keep dropping off," don't write "retention optimisation."

Before the call happens

Part of the work happens at booking. If someone shows up and you've asked them nothing, you spend five minutes on the basics. One question when they book ("What would you like to solve?") gives you a starting point.

Fence off your free-call hours too. Two windows a week, say, so first conversations don't take over a whole day. 15-minute meetings work for the same reason: the limit lives on the calendar, so you aren't relying on willpower mid-conversation.

If you still arrange these calls by email, read how to stop the scheduling back-and-forth. And for the people who book and then vanish, here's what to do when a client doesn't show up.

• ✓I said how long this takes and what it's for
• ✓I asked why now
• ✓I said a number before minute 10
• ✓I gave one useful idea and stopped
• ✓I hung up with a date or a no
• ✓I sent the summary within the hour

Frequently asked questions

Should a discovery call be free?

It depends on what you sell. If your service costs enough that people want to meet you first, a free call helps. If you get a lot of requests that don't fit, a short form before the call filters better than dropping it.

What if they want to keep talking at minute 15?

Say time's up and propose the next step. If they want to carry on, that conversation is the first session, and you can offer it as one.

Do we need cameras on?

No, but it helps. In a first conversation you can see whether someone is following you or has got lost. Mention it in the invite so nobody's surprised.

How many free calls a week is too many?

There's no number that fits everyone. Count how many calls last month turned into paid work, then decide whether to open more slots or filter harder.