Look at the button at the bottom of your homepage. For most coaches it says the same thing: “Book a discovery call.” Sometimes “Let’s chat.” Sometimes “Schedule a free consultation.”
Every one of those asks the reader to do something, and offers them nothing in return. That is backwards, and for a corporate buyer it is the difference between a click and a close of the tab.
A discovery call is a benefit to you. You get to qualify the lead, hear the situation, and start the relationship. Fair enough. But the word “discovery” describes your side of the conversation, not theirs. The buyer reads it and understands, correctly, that this is an open-ended sales call where you find out about them. There is no defined shape to it, no clear end point, and no obvious thing they walk away holding. So they file it under “later,” and later never comes.
Why does “book a discovery call” fail with corporate buyers?
A Head of L&D clicking around coach sites at 4pm is not looking to book a relationship. They are trying to reduce a risk with as few unknowns as possible.
An open-ended call is all unknowns. How long will it run. Will it turn into a pitch. Will I have to explain the whole situation from scratch. What do I actually get out of it if I decide not to hire this person. Every one of those questions is friction, and friction is what kills a click from someone who has ten tabs open and a shortlist to build. They will click the coach whose call has a defined shape and a takeaway, because that one costs them the least to say yes to.
Does “free consultation” work any better than “discovery call”?
There is a second problem, quieter. “Discovery call” and “free consultation” are the language of personal services. It is what a life coach or a therapist offers. When a corporate buyer sees it, it reinforces the exact thing that already worries them about hiring a coach: that this is a soft, individual, feelings thing, not a business engagement with a defined outcome. The button is undermining your positioning, not just your conversion.
What should a coaching website CTA say instead?
The fix is to turn the ask into an offer. Same call, most likely. Different framing. You name what the buyer brings, how long it takes, and what they leave with, whether or not they hire you.
Here is a before and after.
Before: “Book a free discovery call.”
After: “Book a 30-minute leadership risk review. Bring one leader you are concerned about. Leave with a clear read on whether coaching is the right fix, and if it is not, what is.”
Look at what changed. The after version has a defined length, so the buyer knows the cost. It names what they bring (“one leader you are concerned about”), which does the buyer’s translating for them and signals this is about their real situation, not a generic chat. And it promises a takeaway that holds value even if they walk away (“if it is not, what is”). That last part is what makes it safe to click.
Notice it still costs you nothing extra to deliver. It is the same conversation you were always going to have. You have just described it from the buyer’s side of the table instead of yours.
“Discovery call” versus “leadership risk review”
Put the two buttons side by side the way a Head of L&D would. “Book a discovery call” gives them nothing: unknown length, unknown agenda, a sales conversation they must escape. “Book a 30-minute leadership risk review, bring one leader you are worried about” gives them the cost, the input, and the takeaway before they commit. It is the same thirty minutes on your calendar. Only one of them is safe for a buyer protecting a budget to click.
A smaller version works too, if a call feels like too big a first step for your page. Replace “Book a discovery call” with a specific, low-commitment offer that has a clear output: “Send me the one leadership situation keeping you up at night. I will tell you whether it is a coaching problem or something else.” It is still an offer with a shape and an end point.
The test is the same one you would apply to any button. Read your CTA and ask: does the reader know what they get, how long it takes, and what they walk away with? “Book a discovery call” fails all three. It tells them what to do and nothing about what they receive. The buyer who is protecting a budget will not click into a blank.
Most coaches treat the CTA as a formality, the last thing you drop in before the site goes live. It is the one line on the page where the buyer decides whether to act, and for most sites it is the weakest sentence there.
If you want the three specific things on your homepage that are stopping the buyer from acting, the CTA usually among them, that is what the 60-Second Homepage Audit is for. It is US$199, and it comes off the price in full if you go on to a build.
What is wrong with “book a discovery call” as a website CTA?
A: It asks the reader to do something and offers nothing back. No defined length, no shape, no takeaway, so a busy buyer files it under “later.” Turn the ask into an offer with a clear time and a clear outcome.
What should a coaching website call to action say instead?
Name what they bring, how long it takes, and what they leave with even if they don’t hire you. For example: “Book a 30-minute leadership risk review. Bring one leader you’re concerned about. Leave with a clear read on whether coaching is the fix.” Same call, framed from the buyer’s side.
Is “free consultation” any better than “discovery call”?
Not really. Both borrow the language of personal services, which reinforces the buyer’s worry that coaching is soft and unmeasured. The fix is not the adjective. It is giving the call a defined shape and a takeaway.