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How to Open a Coaching Session in 90 Seconds

Clients decide safety in the first minute. A 3-beat open that replaces “so how’s it going?”

SophieFounder & Creative Director

CraftCoaching
Photo from Unsplash

Clients decide whether this hour is real work in the first 90 seconds. “So how’s it going?” hands them the weather report.

The 3-Beat Open

  1. Body (15 sec) — “Take a breath. What’s present in the room right now?”
  2. Last experiment (30 sec) — “What did you actually try since we last met?”
  3. Today’s contract (45 sec) — “If this hour works, what will be different when you leave?”

That’s the whole open. Then shut up. The discovery call has a skeleton for selling. This one is for the hour you already got paid for.

Make It Easy to Repeat

Write the three beats on a card. Same order every session. If they start a weather report: “What did you try?” Then the contract.

Session open

Where Coaches Break

  • Filling the silence with a recap they already lived.
  • Accepting “fine” as data. It isn’t. Ask what they did.
  • Skipping the contract because you’re “just catching up.” Then you wonder why progress is invisible.

The 3-Minute Action

Write the three beats on a sticky. Use them on the next call. Time the open. If you blow 90 seconds, you performed.