What Do You Actually Say On Discovery Calls?
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[00:00:00] Now, you might be wondering, what do you actually say on discovery calls? One of the most uncomfortable parts of private practice for many dietitians is this. Somebody books a discovery call, and immediately you think, "What am I supposed to say?" Because many dietitians worry about sounding salesy, discussing pricing, saying the wrong thing, and being pushy.
But what often happens is that you get on the call, you start teaching, you give advice, you answer questions, and then the person disappears. And so today I wanna talk about why discovery calls feel uncomfortable, mistakes that I often see, and a much simpler way to structure them. So first, discovery calls are not counseling sessions.
This mindset shift matters a lot, and this comes up a lot with my clients. So many dietitians accidentally think that I should prove how helpful I am, and that makes sense. You want to provide value. So you teach, you troubleshoot, you explain nutrition, you solve their problems [00:01:00] even a little bit and give them recommendations.
But discovery calls have a different job. The goal is not to solve everything. The goal on a discovery call is to understand the problem and determine if this person is a fit. I'm gonna repeat that because that's the most important part of this podcast episode. The goal of a discovery call is to understand the problem and determine if this person is a fit for your services.
So the three questions that discovery calls need to answer include what problem is this person experiencing? So examples might include weight concerns, blood sugar concerns, emotional eating, confusion in general around food.
Second question would be, can my service actually help them? Not can nutrition theoretically help, because of course it can, but it's can my service help? And this is where there's a lot of friction with the clients that we serve here at Dietitian Boss, right? Our dietitian clients think that the person should buy because [00:02:00] nutrition can help, but it's really about if your service is the right solution.
Third question to ask is what happens next? And this is another area where dietitians get stuck because sometimes the call ends with "We'll let you know," or, "I'll think about it," right? and that's gonna create friction and confusion. So the structure would look like this.
Step one, you understand the situation. So you're gonna ask them what brought you here? What feels hardest? Step two, clarify the problem. Something like if they want to eat healthier, that might actually mean that they skip meals all day and overeat at night. So it's your job to uncover that, but do so quickly without solving their problem.
Step three would be to explain the solution very briefly. So you're gonna notice that briefly, not twenty minutes of education, just very quickly, and this is what's gonna take you some practice. I have templates for this and scorecards so that you can actually grade your, discovery call each time you conduct one, so you can not only improve your practice, but identify what your weak areas are on these calls.
Step four of this [00:03:00] process would be to explain the next step clearly. So an example would be, "I think this would be a good fit, and here's what happens next."
And if they're a bad fit, which is okay, then you would also say, "This might not be an appropriate fit at this time," and then you could refer them to something else. The biggest mistake that dietitians make on these calls is that you accidentally do this. A potential client says, "I struggle with lunch," and you, the dietitian, go over protein, carbs, meal prep, blood sugar, examples, recommendations, and then suddenly you're counseling.
And y- you might pause for a second, and I want you to ask yourself, "Am I explaining or am I evaluating fit?" Because if you're not evaluating fit, you're not really using a discovery call for the purpose it's intended to serve, and that's to determine their problem and see if they're a fit.
And so instead of immediately teaching, which is something we naturally wanna do as dietitians, I want you to ask yourself, "What have you already tried? What feels hardest, and what made you reach out now?" Now notice, there's, [00:04:00] not necessarily more information, but there's less guessing, okay? So I want you to pay attention to what happens when you go through these conversations.
A final thought here is that sales conversations usually feel uncomfortable when there's no structure. So if you say you don't like them, it's because you just don't have a structure or a framework in mind. Because when structure exists when entering these sales calls or discovery calls, you stop trying to convince people, and now you're starting to help determine, "Is this the right fit?"
'Cause that's a question you need to ask every potential client. Are they the right fit for your service at this time? So I wanna give you three actions this week.
Action two, remove one place where you teach too early in your sales conversation. So maybe they say the problem, and you immediately go into carbs and protein, where you could instead ask them, "What hasn't worked?" Action three, ask yourself, "Am I trying to prove myself or understand the problem?" Now, if this episode was helpful, I want you to send it to another dietitian peer who might need [00:05:00] it.
And if you want support improving sessions, building confidence, and creating systems that make your practice feel easier, I definitely advise you to check out our membership over at dietitianboss.com. It's called The Dietitian Boss Library. Thank you for listening, and we'll see you next week
