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Script text
[Client Name], I'm glad you brought this up. Can we spend today talking about it directly?
Tell me more — when you say you want to [Pause, stop, or take a break], what's driving that?
[Listen without reacting. Take notes.]
I want to reflect something back to you. [Number] sessions ago, you told me [What they said they wanted]. What's your relationship with that goal right now?
[Pause.]
Here's something I notice: this conversation is happening at [Name where they are in their journey — e.g. the six-week mark, right after the session where we talked about Topic]. In my experience, this is often the point where the work gets most real — and most uncomfortable. That doesn't mean you shouldn't stop. It just means it's worth naming.
I'm not going to try to talk you out of anything. But I do want to ask you two questions.
First: is there something about how we've been working together that isn't serving you — something I could change?
[Listen. Be open to real feedback.]
Second: if you imagine yourself [3 months from now or at the end of the programme], and you stopped today — how do you feel about that?
[Pause. Let them sit with it.]
Whatever you decide, I want it to be a real decision — not a reaction to a hard week. So: what do you actually want to do?
What you'll need to fill in
This script has 6 details to fill in before you read it. Have these to hand — the customizer above updates the script as you type:
- Client Name
- Pause, stop, or take a break
- Number
- What they said they wanted
- Name where they are in their journey
- 3 months from now or at the end of the p…
It also contains 4 stage directions in grey. Those are instructions to you, not lines to say out loud — they mark where to pause, listen, or wait for a response.
That timing assumes about 130 words a minute, which is a normal conversational pace. If you are presenting to a room you will likely go slower; if you are nervous you will go faster. Read it aloud once and time yourself before it matters.
When to use this script
Use this to prepare for the conversations you keep handling inconsistently. Discovery calls, first sessions, difficult feedback, and clients who want to quit all recur across a coaching practice, and improvising each one afresh produces wildly variable results. A script is a rehearsal of the structure, not a text to read to a client.
The value is mostly in preparation. Working through the wording in advance means you have already decided how to phrase the hard question, which frees you to actually listen when the session happens.
Making it sound like you
- Turn statements into questions wherever you can. Coaching works through the client's own realisations.
- Prepare the hard question exactly. Under the pressure of a real session, that is the one that gets softened into uselessness.
- Leave deliberate silence in the structure. The pause after a difficult question is doing the work.
- Adjust the language to your modality and your client. Borrowed frameworks sound borrowed.
Reading it out loud
Never read this to a client — use it to prepare, then keep at most a few prompts visible during the session. If the call is on video, keep any notes near the webcam so glancing at them does not read as disengagement, which in a coaching context is more damaging than in most.
More on the setup side: Teleprompter for Webcam, Teleprompter for Laptop, Moving Text for Scripts.
Questions about this script
How long does this script for when a coaching client wants to quit script take to read?
The script runs to about 222 words, which is roughly 1 min 42 sec at a normal speaking pace of around 130 words a minute. Your own pace will vary, so time one read-through before you rely on the number.
What do I need to prepare before using this script?
There are 6 details to fill in: Client Name, Pause, stop, or take a break, Number, What they said they wanted, Name where they are in their journey, 3 months from now or at the end of the p…. Enter them in the customizer and the script updates as you type, then opens straight in the teleprompter.
Should I read a coaching script to a client?
No. Use it to prepare and to settle the wording of the difficult questions in advance, then keep only a few prompts in view. A coaching session that sounds delivered rather than heard undermines the relationship.
How do I use notes without seeming distracted?
Keep them minimal and positioned near your camera if the session is remote. A few key prompts you glance at are invisible; a full script you track down the page is not.
