Discovery Questions
Sales Discovery Follow-Up Questions
Toward the end of a sales conversation (if a prospect seems like a good fit) it's important to move the deal forward, here are some questions to ask about follow-up. What would be the best time for our next meeting? What goals would you like to accomplish during our next meeting? Would you like to connect me with any other stakeholders at your company? When would be a good time to follow up with you about what we discussed?
3. What problems are you trying to solve?
Don't use this question verbatim. Instead, tailor it to the person's role and organization. What are the biggest issues this person faces? What are the obstacles that stand in the way of their goal progress?
11. What's going to stop us working together by xx ('end of this month')?
Tried and tested to reveal any hurdles or actions not yet spoken or discussed, but the key is to make this time-bound. What will stop this potentially happening within a timescale you are just about to add to your CRM? What are the risks, hurdles, people and required actions that may stop, or delay this happening.
Next steps
Finally, you'll want to guide buyers toward taking the next step. Aim to gather a few more details that can help inform how you'll proceed with working this deal, then end by making a recommendation. 28. Who else is involved in making this decision? 29. Have you defined criteria for selecting a vendor? 30. What would make this process easier—how can I help? 31. How will this solution make your job easier? 32. Have you purchased similar solutions in the past? 33. If I can help you do X, what would we need to do to make a deal happen? 34. Based on what you've told me today, I'd recommend X To streamline the process, you'll want to come up with a standard set of discovery questions for each persona so you're not starting from scratch every time you've got a call on the books. You'll need to do your research but it'll save you some valuable time.
What's stopping you from moving forward?
Follow up here. What's stopping this prospect from moving forward with an exciting new solution? See these common sales objections and how to overcome them for help!
Timing/Implementation Questions
For a deal to close, you need to not only be selling the right solution at the right price, it has to be at the right time. Try to establish timeline with these questions: In an ideal world, when would you imagine yourself implementing this solution? Do you have a current solution in place? If so, when is your current contract up? Does your team have the time and resources in place necessary to handle implementation?
What's your purchase decision-making process like?
Get to know what the purchasing process is like. Is one person ultimately in charge? Is this the kind of thing that has to be approved by 16 people in 10 different departments?
Sale Discovery Questions to Generate Demand
If you need help generating demand for your offering, here are some questions to help your prospects imagine the better life that awaits them after implementing your solution. Say you had no budgetary restrictions, what kind of changes would you like to make happen? What will you do with all your extra time/revenue after making a change? What happens if you don't arrive at a decision?
Do you have written decision criteria for choosing a vendor? Who compiled these criteria?
If you're speaking with a smaller firm, then the answer will most likely be no. But this question is important if you're working with enterprise businesses. Try to get access to the decision criteria if possible.
What's the process for actually purchasing the product once you decide on it? Are there legal or procurement reviews?
If you've gotten to this point, you've probably established a high level of trust with your prospect. So you can ask right out about the purchase process without pushing them away.
What is a sales discovery call?
In a sales discovery call, the seller calls to ask questions that lead the buyer towards completing the sale. It is an exploratory call to find out information and progress the relationship between a seller and potential buyer through the sales pipeline. ----------------------------------------------------------- The salesperson is hoping to accomplish three things: Build rapport with the potential lead. Find at least three needs that you can address with your product. Establish next steps with the customer to progress the sale.
Who is responsible for allocating this budget?
In larger organizations, you'll need to figure out how the budget is determined. Is this something that could change with a bit of influence and persuasion? Or is it set in stone?
Who else do you need to involve in order to make this decision?
In order to make the sale, you may ask if your point of contact has the authority to make this deal with you. You may have the contact of a member of the team who is doing research and does not have the authority to make a deal with you. In that case, you will want to get in contact with the point person who has the authority, like the manager or team leader. You can find out what authority your contact has by asking these questions:
Whose budget does the funding come from?
Measure up the tone of the conversation prior to asking this question. It might be too probing for a prospect who's not well acquainted with you yet. If you and the prospect are on comfortable terms, find out where exactly the money will be coming from.
Are you having problems in [area as it relates to the product]?
Now, this question gets a little more specific. We're still keeping it open-ended, but you're driving them toward a distinct area of the business. While this is a yes or no question, it'll prompt the prospect to think more deeply about their challenges.
What would persuade you to switch?
Okay. Let's say they're in love with their current product or solution, whatever it happens to be. Is there anything that could persuade them to switch? Oftentimes, you'll hear something like a "lower price" or "better service." This is your chance to jump in.
Questions to build demand for your solution
Once you recognize that prospects are good fits for you, the right questions can help them see that your solution is a fit for them. Try these: What would your most successful outcome look like? Say you had no budget restrictions. What kind of changes would you like to make happen? What will you do with all the extra time/revenue/resources after making a change like this? What happens if you don't come to a decision?
What are potential curveballs?
While question #14 alluded to roadblocks, this question will reveal if there will be any unexpected changes that might bring the deal to a halt. Plus, if the prospect didn't share too much when you asked about roadblocks, this question could do a better job at uncovering them.
When do you need to achieve these goals?
While the prior question might hint at a timeline, this question explicitly asks when your prospect must achieve the goal. A yearly goal might be "To increase revenue by 5% year-over-year," but the cut-off date for that is in three months, just in time for the New Year. "Yearly" does not mean "next year." It could be as soon as this quarter.
13. What are your other options to solve this?
Whilst this can reveal direct competitors, the likely competition will be to do nothing, or an alternative way to achieve the desired outcome. By understanding, dismissing, articulating the benefits and value over these alternatives, your solution can become the 'best solution'.
Questions about the decision makers?
Who else in your organization is facing these issues? Who in your organization implements these solutions? Are your colleagues concerned about similar issues? Who on your team typically decides on solutions like this? What is your team's purchasing process? What criteria do you have for choosing a vendor? Have you made a purchase like this before? Are you responsible for these metrics?
Is this a competitive situation?
Who else is your prospect considering purchasing from? This question will uncover that without sounding whiny or defensive.
Tell me about your role. What do you do day-to-day?
With this question, you can begin to find out more about the employee (not the business) in a more casual, low-pressure way. No need to dive into the nitty-gritty, and the best part is that they'll be excited to share.
What do you think could be a potential solution? Why?
With this question, you'll find out how the prospect envisions resolving the problem even without your product.
If you didn't choose a product
do you have a plan in place to address this problem?, Ask this question to find out, in a different way, just how urgently they need the product to solve their challenges. If they say they don't have a plan in place or can't envision solving the problem another way, then they are most definitely a good-fit prospect.
If you implement this solution
how do you hope things will be different in one year?, Will they have more customers? Or will they have wasted less time doing menial tasks? Again, nudge them to envision how things will be better with your product on hand.
3. What happens if nothing changes/you don't do x?
What's the status quo look like? What's the consequence of not solving this pain or pursuing the opportunity? Revealing the extent and cost (monetary, resource, personal etc) of not taking action, gives context to understanding how much of a priority this is actually likely to be and why, and helps the prospect describe an undesirable outcome - that perhaps you can help them change.
4 questions to see how urgently they need a solution
Where is this on your list of priorities? Is this a priority for your company as a whole? Talk me through the goals your team/company has for the upcoming year. What are the main obstacles to these goals when it comes to [area that relates to your product]?
11 discovery questions to identify real needs
1. How did you hear about us? 2. Talk me through the challenges you're looking to solve. 3. What's your current process for dealing with [challenge]? 4. What solution are you currently using to do that? What's working/not working with that solution? 5. What are your other options to fix this? Do you have a Plan B? 6. What kind of results do you expect from a new solution? 7. When would you expect to see those kinds of results? 8. Why is this a priority for you? 9. Why now? Why not last quarter or last year? 10. What are the must-have features of a solution? What integrations can your team simply not live without? 11. What other solutions are you looking at? Why those?
Uncovering pain points
17. How satisfied are you with your current solution? 18. What's the biggest challenge you face with X? 19. What happens if you fail to solve X? 20. What roadblocks might prevent you from reaching top priorities? 21. If X happens, what measures are in placing for solving it?
Your 6-Step Sales Discovery Process - 5. Showcase a brighter future
After you've asked your questions and set the stage, show your prospect a vision of a brighter future. Explain how you can make it possible for them to achieve their loftiest goals. Paint a picture that's practically irresistible.
Qualification questions
After you've established the basic details about your prospect and what their job looks like, you'll want to move into learning more about the goals and challenges they face. Here, your goal is to learn more about their problems so that you can find the ideal solution. While we've covered lead qualification questions in another recent article, here are a few examples that you might include in your discovery call: 4. What are your goals? 5. What problems has your business tried to solve so far? 6. How has your business changed since [trigger event—i.e. expansion, acquisition, merger, new product launch] 7. Is there a budget available for X? 8. What is your team's process for X? 9. How much of an impact does X have on your business? 10. How satisfied are you with your existing solution? 11. What does your ideal outcome look like? 12. What do you think could be a potential solution? Why?
Questions That Qualify
After you've learned about your prospect, it's time to identify their goals and clarify their pain points. Learn about their problems so you can solve for the customer. Tell me about your goals (financial, customer-related, operational). When do you need to achieve these goals? What problem are you trying to solve? Are you having problems in [area as it relates to the product]? What's the source of that problem? Why is it a priority today? Why hasn't it been addressed before? What do you think could be a potential solution? Why? What would a successful outcome look like? If you didn't choose a product, do you have a plan in place to address this problem?
Get prospects thinking about how things could be better
After you've reopened prospect wounds, you'll want to bring things back to the bright side. 25. How much money would you save if X were no longer a problem? 26. What would it mean for you personally to resolve X? 27. What's the best possible outcome for you and your team? What will it take to get there?
6. What would the perfect solution look like?
Alternatively, you can ask your prospect to describe what the ideal solution looks like. If they, unprompted, describe a solution like the one you're selling... get ready for a persuasive slam dunk. But most likely, they'll describe something unrealistic. For example, the perfect solution to heavy traffic could be a flying car. We don't have those yet. (Get on it, Elon).
Your 6-Step Sales Discovery Process - 1. Introduce yourself
Don't launch into questions right away. Take a moment to introduce yourself, talk about your company, and set the stage. This way, you're not going in cold.
Is the budget owner an "executive sponsor"?
An executive sponsor is a senior-level employee who's directly involved in a project and is committed to its success. Whether that's your prospect's direct manager or a C-suite executive, it's important to know whether the owner of the budget is a single person or the entire department.
Questions about company changes
Are you still having problems with the issue your company posted about on social media? How are you handling this change I read about on your company website? What's been the biggest challenge you've faced since this change? What are your goals?
How is that solution working out?
Ask about this solution. Is it excelling or merely getting the job done? Do people in the business seem to like it, or is there a seething, collective hatred of the system?
Are there obstacles that could get in the way?
Assume they're into your solution. Do they foresee any obstacles that could prevent you (or them) from adopting it? A vindictive manager who naysays every new solution? A tight budget? A wizard with a stupid owl who keeps reversing the flow of time?
What's your budget?
Assuming you're talking to a decision maker, consider asking about budget. No use selling a $1,000,000 tool to a small business owner with $10,000 to spend.
Can I follow up with you on mm/dd?
Close the call strongly by suggesting a date to follow up.
4. What are the root causes of these problems?
Be an advisor and work together to figure out what the root causes of these problems could be. Is there a tool that's missing or insufficient? Is there an organizational hierarchy problem? Is there something else at play?
Questions that validate research
Beyond making the personal connection, salespeople may want to ask a few questions to validate the pre-call research they did and assumptions they made based on it. Try these: Are you still having problems with (a specific issue you saw in social media)? What are the primary roadblocks to getting the problem resolved? How are you handling (change you saw announced on company website)? What's been the biggest challenge you've faced since you (changed roles/were promote/switched companies ... some change you saw in their LinkedIn profile)?
Questions about budget
Budget questions come most naturally into play with prospects who are actively searching for a solution and have established you're a good fit. Assume that most prospects don't have a budget set aside for your solution (but that a budget will appear when you establish solid value). Ask: Are your responsible for setting the budget in this situation? Do you already have some budget allocated? What are you ideally looking to invest in? How is your budget established for a solution like this?
Questions About Budget
Budget questions will likely be more relevant when you follow up with inbound leads that are actively searching for a solution. If you're prospecting, be prepared to talk to prospects with no budget set aside for your solution. It is then your task to convince the prospect that your solution is worth budgeting for. It's amazing how budget can magically appear once prospects truly recognize your product's value. Are you responsible for establishing budget? Do you already have a budget allocated? What are you ideally looking to invest?
6. Who else cares about (solving problem/opportunity revealed)?
Creating excitement in solving a problem or adding value is great, but the average B2B sale has 6.8 decision makers involved (https://hbr.org/2017/03/the-new-sales-imperative). Is your guy/gal a decision maker? Who is? And who else will be involved, influence or sign this off? Asking who is the decision maker can undermine your prospect - or worse, they say they are, but this becomes a half truth at best, but only revealed when it's too late. This question ensures you understand who else is incentivized to solve this and why, allowing you at probe how you can engage, demonstrate, convince and get the excitement in each and every stakeholder.
1. What does your company do?
Depending on your lead generation strategy, you might already know. But that's not the point. You want your prospect to talk about their business in their own words. How do they see the business? How do they describe it? You'll likely learn something about the business and something about the person in the process.
Budget Discovery Questions
Do you already have a budget allocated for this solution? How much are you ideally looking to invest? How is your budget organized?
9. Are you ready to solve this now?
Does urgency exist? Is there a compelling event? Why? If they are not yet ready to 'solve this', it will reveal the reasons, hurdles or timescales so that you can address, mitigate or work with. Or reveal that it is not as compelling as the excitement or fit initially suggested.
Questions about competition
Don't assume you're the lone vendor who found the prospects you're dealing with. Expect there are competitors and don't be afraid to ask what you're up against. In competitive fields, you will want to ask questions like these: What other solution providers are you looking into at the moment? What has been your experience with (competitor)? What positive impact has your current provider had on your business? How do you feel we compare to other solutions you've looked at so far?
What are your primary roadblocks to implementing this plan?
Even if you have an idea of the roadblocks the prospect will face, it's still important to ask this question so you can get an answer straight from them.
Make sure you record your calls
Even the best listeners in the world forget key details from time to time. Make sure you record every discovery call and sync recordings to your CRM. This is important for a few key reasons, including: It allows you to focus on the conversation rather than on taking notes. When you're busy writing down everything the prospect says, you miss the opportunity to connect as actual people. You'll have a reference point for future communications and tailored solutions. Recordings are a great learning tool. In sales coaching settings, one-on-ones and team meetings, sales managers can use recordings to point to areas that could be improved, as well as highlight specific best practices that sellers should be using during calls. Oh, and one more thing, you may want to use video conferencing instead of the traditional landline, as you'll be able to watch the buyer's reaction as they describe challenges and pain points.
Key Principles of Great Discovery Questions:
Every question and answer has to move the needle to: - create fit (and qualify out where that doesn't exist) - demonstrate compelling value (the type of value that makes deals happen)
Your 6-Step Sales Discovery Process - 3. Figure out their goals
Everyone's got a goal. Figure out theirs. Are they trying to win more sales? Reach more people? Better communicate with the team? You may or may not be able to help them with their most important goals. If you can't, you won't have to waste any more time.
What would a [percentage] boost in [metric] mean for you?
Ex: What would a 25% increase in close rates mean for your sales team? What it does for the prospect: Gets them to picture a situation where their key metric is improved.
7. Where is this on your priorities today?
Excitement is great. Problems may feel like they are there to be solved. Opportunities a no brainer to unlock. But nothing happens if it is not important enough and time bound - ideally with a compelling reason. This question reveals how important this is and allows you to subsequently determine the compelling event and timescale to a successful sale.
Questions about moving forward
Have you defined criteria for finding a solution? What would make this process easier? How can I help? What will make your job easier? If I can help you with this solution, what would we need to do to make a deal happen? When can we set up a follow-up call?
What metrics are you responsible for?
Here's where the pressure begins to mount. If they don't touch on what they're responsible for during the previous question, then this will uncover that information. Note that the word "metric" is important here, since you're asking about a quantifiable measure of success. That way, you can quantify how much your product can increase that metric.
What would a successful outcome look like?
Here, you'll find out what their image of success looks like. Is it realistic? Is it something your product can help them achieve? Listen without judgment, but be sure to take note of their expectations to confirm whether you can actually help.
Questions that build rapport
How did you get into (industry, job discipline, shared hobby, etc.)? Are you originally from (company location)? Are you a fan of (sport, cuisine, team, cultural attraction or recognized event related to their location)? What do you like most about (industry, shared hobby, job role, etc.)?
Questions about contact's challenges
How has your business tried to reach these goals? What is your team's process for reaching these goals? How has your business changed since this significant event? How much of an impact does this challenge have on your business? What solutions have your business tried for this challenge? How satisfied are you with your existing solution? What does your ideal outcome look like? What do you think could be a potential solution? Why? .What is your budget?
Do you have a current solution or vendor in place?
If there's a problem that needs solved, there may be a solution already in place. Figure that out.
What are the alternatives?
If they say no, figure out why. What are the other alternatives they're considering? Can they simply tolerate work in a world where this problem continues? Are there limitations to making a purchase?
What problem are you trying to solve?
If this question seems vague to you, that's because it's meant to be. You won't pigeonhole the prospect into giving you a certain answer. By giving them a chance to bring up any problem they're facing, you can find out their business challenges at a more overarching level.
What will happen if you don't do anything?
If you get someone hard to persuade, get them thinking about the consequences of not taking action. What happens if they don't move forward? What happens if this problem persists?
12. What's stopped you solving this previously?
Likely the problem or opportunity isn't new. And it hasn't been previously fixed. Why? Priorities? Cost? Ability? But what has changed? Is it as simple as you present a unique way to them to achieve this within the commercials, resources and power they possess? Or has it not been compelling enough, high enough priority, tried and failed or so on.
What's the approximate budget for solving this problem?
Is there enough money to invest in a new product or project? When it comes to sales, it's never too early to talk about budget.
What's the source of that problem?
It's important to follow up with this question to uncover pain points or areas of friction. A prospect may know what their problem is, but if you don't understand why they're having the problem, you won't be able to hone in on that source as something you'll eliminate. Knowing the source of the problem is key to creating an irresistible sales pitch.
Sales Discovery Questions for Needs and Challenges
It's paramount to establish whether or not a prospect can truly benefit from your solution. Likewise, it's important to know exactly which pain points your solution can solve. Here are some questions to help establish a prospect's needs and challenges. What are some challenges you're looking to solve? Have you tried to solve that problem so far? What led you to want to make a change now? What part of your job is most frustrating?
Questions About Competition
It's to be expected that a fair amount of deals will be against competitors. It pays to find out a bit about their experience with competitors (whether the solution is currently in place or being simultaneously evaluated). Here are some questions to consider asking during competitive deals. Are you looking at any other solution providers at the moment? What has your experience been with ? What sort of positive financial impact has your current solution had for your business? How do you feel about the way we compare to other solutions you've looked at?
Why hasn't it been addressed before?
Knowing the roadblocks your prospect has faced in solving the problem can hint at the roadblocks they're facing now (or could potentially face in the future). For instance, if your prospect cites budget as an issue, then you'll know to focus on that as a qualifying factor.
Have you purchased a similar product before?
Knowing what your prospect has tried before will be instrumental in establishing competitive advantage. You should be prepared to uphold your product above the competition's even if the prospect doesn't mention them by name.
Questions that Establish Next Steps
Lastly, ask questions that move the prospect along the pipeline. Provide a solution and offer next steps. Who else will be involved in choosing a vendor? Do you have written decision criteria for choosing a vendor? Who compiled these criteria? Have you purchased a similar product before? Is this a competitive situation? What's the process for actually purchasing the product once you decide on it? Are there legal or procurement reviews? What are potential curveballs? How can I help make this easy? How will this solution make your life better? If you implement this solution, how do you hope things will be different in one year? Can I follow up with you on mm/dd? You'll know that you've run a good discovery call if you and your prospect are able to formulate a written sales plan and delineate the next steps. If there's still uncertainty when you hang up the phone, schedule another call to iron out remaining details.
5. Why haven't these problems been solved yet?
Let's assume they know the root causes of the problem. Why haven't they been addressed? Chances are, you'll hear something like "lack of budget," "lack of interest," or even better, "I don't know." These could be valuable opportunities to move in with a recommended solution (solution selling).
Follow-up and move-forward questions
Once you've found well-qualified prospects and it's time to wrap up the conversation, use questions to move forward. Try these. What would be the best time for our next meeting? What goals do you want to accomplish at our next meeting? What's the best time to follow up with you on what we discussed - late this week or early next week? When could you, the other stakeholders and I connect next week? How would you like me to contact you with (something you agreed the prospect should see or hear) later this week?
Your 6-Step Sales Discovery Process - 4. Educate them.
One of the best plays as a salesperson is to adopt the role of the consultant (see consultative selling). You're not an outsider trying to hock a product
Sales Discovery Questions About Authority
Part of sales discovery should include discerning who has buying power, as well as the prospective company's buying process. In B2B deals its common for there to be multiple stakeholders. Therefore it's crucial to discover who these stakeholders are and what factors may be important to them. In addition to yourself, who else at your company is facing these problems? Are there any issues that other stakeholders may be concerned with? What's your purchasing process?
Questions to Build Rapport
Sales is all about building great relationships. In addition to asking qualification questions, it's important to take a genuine interest in your prospects. Below are some questions to help build rapport. Look for any connections you can build. If they mention they're going fishing over the weekend, and you are also into fishing, it can create a personal bond. How did you get into [current discipline (e.g. marketing, sales operations, IT, etc.)? Are you originally from ? Are you a fan of ? In case I ever make it to what's your favorite restaurant there? Got any big plans this weekend? How has your business changed in the past year?
Why is this a priority for you?
Sales type: Inbound What it tells you: If the prospect has solid motivation to make a purchase decision now.
Why now? Why not last quarter or last year?
Sales type: Inbound What it tells you: The real, underlying reason the prospect is looking for a solution now.
How did you hear about us?
Sales type: Inbound What it tells you: The trigger that made them look for a new solution.
Talk me through the challenges you're looking to solve.
Sales type: Inbound What it tells you: Top-of-mind issues that are most important to the prospect.
What are your other options to fix this? Do you have a Plan B?
Sales type: Inbound What it tells you: Whether or not there is an urgent need to purchase a solution.
What other solutions are you looking at? Why those?
Sales type: Inbound or outbound What it tells you: Competitors this prospect is considering, what they like or dislike about those options, and how those match up to your product.
What kind of results do you expect from a new solution?
Sales type: Inbound or outbound What it tells you: Key metrics that are important to the prospect, and whether their expectations are realistic.
What are the must-have features of a solution? What integrations can your team simply not live without?
Sales type: Inbound or outbound What it tells you: Product fit based on features and integrations this prospect needs.
When would you expect to see those kinds of results?
Sales type: Inbound or outbound What it tells you: Timeline.
What solution are you currently using to do that? What's working/not working with that solution?
Sales type: Inbound or outbound What it tells you: What they like and dislike about their current solution, and whether that matches with what you're offering.
What's your current process for dealing with [challenge]?
Sales type: Outbound What it tells you: Identifies outdated or inefficient processes that can be improved.
Questions about authority
Sometimes early in the sales process, you'll want to check and establish prospects' authority to and influence on the decision to buy. These questions will help determine if you have the right person to move forward with and if there are others who should be part of a conversation, plus uncover more about their buying process. In addition to you, who else in your organization faces the same issues? Are there similar issues any of your colleagues are concerned about? Who is typically involved in the decision-making process? What's your typical purchasing process like? Do you have embedded decision criteria for choosing a vendor? Who compiled the criteria for choosing a vendor? Have you ever made a purchase like this before? What metrics are you responsible for?
Discovery Questions
Tell me about your company. Tell me about your role. What do you do day-to-day? What metrics are you responsible for? Tell me about your goals (financial, customer-related, operational). When do you need to achieve these goals? What problem are you trying to solve? Are you having problems in [area as it relates to the product]? What's the source of that problem? Why is it a priority today? Why hasn't it been addressed before? What do you think could be a potential solution? Why? What would a successful outcome look like? If you didn't choose a product, do you have a plan in place to address this problem? What are your primary roadblocks to implementing this plan? What's your timeline for implementation? What's the approximate budget for solving this problem? Whose budget does the funding come from? Is the budget owner an "executive sponsor"? Who else will be involved in choosing a vendor? Do you have written decision criteria for choosing a vendor? Who compiled these criteria? Have you purchased a similar product before? Is this a competitive situation? What's the process for actually purchasing the product once you decide on it? Are there legal or procurement reviews? What are potential curveballs? How can I help make this easy? How will this solution make your life better? If you implement this solution, how do you hope things are different in one year? Can I follow up with you on mm/dd?
Your 6-Step Sales Discovery Process
The discovery process in sales is meant to accomplish a handful of goals simultaneously. Make sure to consult this sales discovery call checklist to see if you're doing it right.
How can I help make this easy?
The prospect might not have anything for you, or they might ask for additional resources and documentation. Either way, you want to give them a chance to articulate ways you can make the process easier.
Why is a sales discovery call important?
The sales discovery call sets the tone for the rest of the negotiation because it is where the seller and buyer build trust. The seller's aim is to establish what the buyer's needs are, what their purchasing power is and they establish themselves as an advisor to the buyer who knows about their situation and can find workable solutions that can help the buyer.
Amplifying pain
These questions aim to turn up the heat. It might sound cruel, but intensifying prospect pain is key when it comes to creating a sense of urgency. Here are a few examples of questions you might ask to tap into buyer emotions. 22. How much money are you losing to [key problem]? 23. How many opportunities have you lost due to [problem]? 24. How has [problem] impacted your team's morale? Can you talk about that?
Basic info
These types of questions are often answered during the pre-call research process. You should have a clear idea what your prospect's role is, where they work and what that all entails. That said, every organization is unique and you might start the conversation by asking buyers to explain more about how things work internally. 1. Tell me about your company 2. What do you do day-to-day? 3. What does success look like to you and how do you measure performance?
Who else will be involved in choosing a vendor?
This is a critical question for understanding whether your prospect is a gatekeeper, influencer, or decision-marker. Indirectly, you'll also find out just how involved the decision-making process is.
What are your goal deadlines?
This is huge. If you have a chance of helping your prospect achieve their goals, you need to know what kind of timeline they're looking at. For example, if they're trying to accomplish something by the end of the year, that could give you a perfect opportunity to step in now and ramp things up. If they're working with a 10-year timetable, they may not be ready for your solution yet.
Tell me more.
This is listed last and it's not technically a question, but it's one of the most important phrases in this entire list. Simply ask your prospect to tell you more - about anything that seems interesting or important. Keep them talking and absorb even more information. Open-ended sales questions are excellent ways to get prospects talking so you can get closer to closing the sale.
Questions That Set the Stage
This is where you validate your research and learn about the customer's situation. This gives you the proper insight you need to move forward. Tell me about your company. Tell me about your role. What do you do day-to-day? What metrics are you responsible for?
2. Why is that important to you?
This open ended discovery question will help to not only understand why this 'may' be a priority to resolve or unlock, but crucially it is personal - Why is it important to YOU? What would solving that problem or unlocking that opportunity make a difference to them personally? Does this problem give them endless headaches? Take them valuable time and resource (by the way - what would they do with that time if they had it back
2. What do you do for your company?
This person has a specific role within the company. What is it? You don't need to get into the weeds here. Just find out their job title and a bit about how they function in the hierarchy. It can help you learn about their perspective, and whether they're a decision maker worth persuading.
Are you ready to solve the problem today?
This question only gets rolled out if you get some positive answers on the questions above. You've got them interested. They know they need a solution. Are they ready to solve the problem today?
Tell me about your company.
This seemingly simple question begins with an easy topic: The prospect's own company. This gives them a chance to introduce themselves in their own terms, but be careful: If you ask this question too early, it might seem like you didn't do any research at all. Begin by stating what you already know, then ask the question so they can build upon your description of their business.
What's your timeline for implementation?
This will give you a good idea of whether your product's implementation timeline and your prospect's timeline align. If not, then they're not a good fit.
1. Tell me more about that?
We are starting to get somewhere. The seed of a pain or opportunity may be emerging, but we don't know enough yet. One of the most frequent mistakes sales reps make is not going deep enough at this stage - they note the insight, pain or value and fail to fully understand its cause, cost, repercussions and the extent of the issue. You can ask a further direct question, but it may be too specific, loaded (assumptive), multi-choice ('is the cause x, y or is it z') or even worse, plain useless in eliciting any greater value to you or your prospect. 'Tell me more about that?' invites them to continue to share more detail and granularity, without risking any of the above.
5. Is it (current solution) working?
What are the existing problems, issues, concerns or missed opportunities in their current solution. The sentiment and tone of response will guide as to whether this represents an area you can add value and solve, or whether the opportunities to help are elsewhere. 'Is it working?' is not abrasive, but gets immediately to the point of revealing remote sales in the new normal
Questions about their company?
What does a regular day look like for you? How do you measure performance? How do you measure success? How did you get into this work? What do you like most about this industry? What metrics are you responsible for? Related: What Is Cold Calling?
Questions about timeline
What is your timeline? Will your budget be able to sustain a long-term solution? Is this an obstacle for everyone on your team? Are there any obstacles that might prevent this deal from moving forward? Is your team interested in exploring solutions to this issue? Does your team have the tools needed to implement this solution? Do you have questions about our services as I've explained them? Related: Sales Prospect: Definition, Benefits and How To Find
How is this issue affecting the rest of your team?
What it does for the prospect: Helps them consider the effect on others, not just themselves.
What would success look like to you with a new solution?
What it does for the prospect: Lets them imagine a world where they are using your solution.
How much money would you be saving if you could solve [problem]?
What it does for the prospect: Puts a dollar value on the problem.
What are the main obstacles to these goals when it comes to [area that relates to your product]?
What it tells you: Whether or not your solution can solve key obstacles to important, upcoming goals.
Talk me through the goals your team/company has for the upcoming year.
What it tells you: Whether the company's goals match with the solution you're selling.
Is this a priority for your company as a whole?
What it tells you: Whether the prospect already has buy-in from key decision-makers at the company.
Where is this on your list of priorities?
What it tells you: Whether this is a top priority or something they want to do down the road.
Obstacles contact's face
What obstacles might we face when implementing this solution? You can ask questions to establish any hesitations that the potential client may have that would hinder their ability to move forward with the deal. This is important information to know going into negotiations because you can prepare to refute them or provide solutions that will help move the selling process along. Ask these questions early in the sales call in order to identify any red flags that might disqualify the potential client from moving forward with the deal. For example, you can detect if your services are not in the client's price range or if there has been a misunderstanding about what services you can offer. Understanding these obstacles can guide the productivity of your phone call. You can rule out any disqualifying factors with the following questions:
Questions about the current solutions or competitors they are using?
What other providers are you looking into? Have you had a positive experience with your current solution? What impact has your current provider had on your business? How do you feel we compare to other companies you've looked at so far? Related: What Is a Call Cadence and What Are Its Benefits?
If you don't find a solution for [challenge they mentioned]
What will [process] look like in 6 months?, Ex: If you don't find a solution to the high level of churn at the end of your sales process, what will your sales pipeline look like in 6 months? What it does for the prospect: Gets them to think about the challenges they'll face down the road, not just today. This increases motivation to solve those challenges before they get worse.
Questions about the contact's challenges
What's the biggest challenge you face?, How does this challenge affect your ability to do business? How will your business react if you don't solve this problem? What is preventing you from reaching your top priorities? If this happens again, what measures are in place for solving it? How much time are you losing in dealing with this issue? How many resources are you using to maintain this situation? Have you spoken with any of our competitors?
4. Can I ask you a difficult question?
You are just about to ask the 'tough question'. It's going to get uncomfortable, but is crucial in helping all parties get real value. This question achieves three things: a) Prepares the prospect - this is no longer a bolt from the blue that can cause upset or lack upset the rapport you have built b) Seeks permission - you are respectful and don't want to ask if it's not with permission. You can still hit reverse if required (it rarely is) c) You can explain why you wanted to ask - even though you appreciate its uncomfortable. 'In order to help suggest a solution, can I ask you a difficult question?' for example. This question takes all the edge away from your 'tough question'. Pete Caputa, formerly of Hubspot and now tearing it up at Databox, wrote a great article on this subject. https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/how-to-ask-your-prospect-tough-questions
Asking about their current solutions and are they using your competitors?
You can also use your discovery call to find out if your potential client has spoken with any competing companies. This could be useful information for your own business model, as your company may want to keep track of its biggest competitors. You can also use this information to determine how serious your potential client is about making a deal. You can inquire about any competitors with the following questions:
I read about a recent change. How has this affected you?
You can ask questions that validate the research you did before the sales call to show that you have an interest in the company and that you are informed about the industry. They may announce recent changes in the company on social networking sites, which can help you understand what situation the company is in and what challenges they may be facing. Validating your research can also help you clear up any confusing information that you found and make sure you have an accurate representation of the company when you move forward with negotiations. If you appear well informed about the company, you can also set the buyer at ease to make them feel as though they are communicating with a knowledgeable person who has enough information to help them solve the problem they are facing. This can go a long way towards building rapport and trust with the client. Here are some questions you can ask to validate research:
Are you satisfied with your current situation?
You can ask questions that will emphasize the problems that the potential client is having that you might solve for them. This is a sales technique to highlight how much they need your product or service. Once you identify their points of struggle, you can supply the solutions to counter their problems. Focusing on the obstacles they need to overcome can help create a sense of urgency in your potential client and entice them to close the deal faster. Once you have uncovered the points of struggle in their business, you can ask questions that highlight how that struggle is affecting their ability to grow or reach their goals. Sales professionals call this practice amplifying pain points. These pain points are the problems that you want to solve with your product or service. This is how you can use the trust you have established with your client to make the sale. You can use the following questions to emphasize paint points and drive urgency:
Customer Challenges
You can ask questions to determine what the customer wants, or what you can do to help them establish their goals. This is the information that you can use to shape your sale because you can position your product as something that will solve their issues or help them reach their goals. Try to find out specifics about any challenges the potential buyer faces, what they have done to mitigate any issues and what has or hasn't worked for them so far. These types of questions are going to build the bulk of your understanding of how you can help them. You want to look for three to four issues or goals they have that your product can help them with. Here are some questions you can ask to help explore the customers' goals and needs:
How can we move forward?
You can close your discovery call by asking questions that will clear up what next steps you or the client can take to move forward in the sales process. You may make a recommendation about a product or service that will help them with the obstacles you have spoken about on the call. You may want to ask for the contact information of any other professionals you may need to reach to move forward with the sale. You can also let the client know what you will do to move the sales process forward and ask if they have any preferences in how the sale will proceed. Here are some questions you can ask to wrap up your sales discovery call:
What can you tell me about your company?
You can do research before beginning your sales call, which may answer most of these questions. However, beginning with soft questions can help build rapport with your client. You want to understand what their day-to-day business is, so you can offer them the best solutions that match their business style. You may also want the client to feel you understand what they need and can help them. Here are some exploratory questions that you can ask to find out more about their business and build rapport:
How will this solution make your life better?
You can instill relief in your prospect by helping them envision how their work life will improve after they purchase your product. This will do a lot of work when it's time for your prospect to present your solution to stakeholders.
What are your goals?
You can phrase this as an individual question or as a question of the organization. First, focus on aspirations for the next few weeks and months. Then, focus on aspirations for the next several years. Again, you can use this as an individual-level or organization-level question.
Asking Budget Questions
You can use your exploratory questions to establish how much the potential client can spend. Once you clearly understand the limits of their budget, talk about the solutions you can offer in their price range. You can tailor your negotiations for the best likelihood of closing the deal. Being respectful of your client's budget may build trust between you and your potential buyer because it shows that you are interested in helping them solve their problems or achieve their goals, and may only offer solutions that are realistic.
Why is it a priority today?
You could potentially skip over this question if your prospect naturally reveals why it's a priority in their previous answer. That said, knowing exactly why it's a priority can help you uncover how urgent this problem is for your prospect.
Tell me about your goals (financial
customer-related, operational)., You might also append a timeline to this question: Tell me about your goals for the next month/quarter/year. Choose a timeline depending on the implementation process of your product. For instance, if you sell an enterprise-level tool that takes six months to set up, you might ask about yearly goals instead of monthly goals.
Questions that uncover needs, challenges and goals
You likely have an idea of prospects' needs and challenges. But you want to dig deeper to make sure needs and challenges are a good fit for the solutions you'll share with them. What is the biggest challenges you look to solve? Have you tried to solve that problem so far? What's led to you wanting to make a change now? What part of your job is most frustrating? What caused you to address this issue today? What do you think could be a potential solution? What prompted you to explore our solution? Can you tell me about your current process? What are you looking to improve? What if you didn't do anything and kept the process/situation the same? How do you see our solution fitting into how you plan to move forward? If you could wave a wand and have exactly what you wanted most for a solution, what would those things be? How does picking the right solution impact you? How would picking our solution make things better for you? Which components matter most when figuring out which solution is right for you?
Questions about timing and implementation
You probably won't close any sales at the end of a discovery call. But you can still use the conversation to uncover information about timing and implementation - which will help you both understand if you're the right solution for now. Ask: In an ideal world, when do you see yourself implementing this? What are your timeline goals for making the decision? When is the contract up for the current solution you have in place? Do you and your team have the time and resources in place to transition to a new solution? What could be done to make this an easy transition in the time frame you imagine?
Your 6-Step Sales Discovery Process - 6. Make the pitch
You should have their attention now. The next step is to prove that your vision is logistically possible. Cite statistics, name drop big clients, list referrals - do whatever it takes to show off that you're not all talk. Social proof goes a long way here.
How can I make things easier?
You're the problem solver. You're a beacon of help and hope. It's your prerogative to make things easier. Figure out how.
Disqualifiers
Your lead qualification process should take care of most of your major red flags. However, you'll want to play it safe and make sure you don't miss any major roadblocks that could prevent a deal from happening. Examples include: 13. What roadblocks do you face in implementing this solution? 14. What is your timeline for implementing a solution? 15. Do you have the budget for this project? If not, when do you think you'll have the funds? 16. Is this a pain point for everyone on your team? If not, are there any stakeholders that might prevent this deal from moving forward?
you're a member of their team trying to achieve a common goal. Use this
and frame yourself as an expert. Educate them about the problem - and about your solution.
Questions That Disqualify Next
ask questions that might disqualify the prospect. Find out what you can about the decision process, from budget to scheduling. What are your primary roadblocks to implementing this plan? What's your timeline for implementation? What's the approximate budget for solving this problem? Whose budget does the funding come from? Is the budget owner an "executive sponsor"?
6 questions that highlight the value of your solution If you don't find a solution for [challenge they mentioned]
what will [process] look like in 6 months?, How is this issue affecting the rest of your team?, What's the main metric your team uses to track success? If you found the right solution, what would be the effect on that metric?, How much money would you be saving if you could solve [problem]?, What would a [percentage] boost in [metric] mean for you?, What would success look like to you with a new solution?,
What's the main metric your team uses to track success? If you found the right solution
what would be the effect on that metric?, What it does for the prospect: Shows them how a key team metric can be improved and helps them think about the results for them and their team. (After all, an improvement in a key metric is a good reflection on the team, not just the product.)
8. If we fixed that
what would that mean?, What is the value of making this change - solving this problem or exploiting this opportunity? What changes or happens? These may of course be financial, resources, focus, strategic, risk mitigation. It also may be very personal - and you should ask that too. The subtly is in the word 'we'. Subliminally 'we' are now going to solve this problem together.
10. If I can propose a solution
what would we need to do to make that happen?, Before even revealing how, can we understand the steps to making this happen. This presents a clear roadmap on how such a solution gets approved. It's also coupling the solution just about (but not yet) revealed to this roadmap or series of actions.
Your 6-Step Sales Discovery Process - 2. Warm-up Spend some time warming up with small talk. Yes
yes, we all hate small talk, but you know what? It works. It loosens people up. Talk about the weather or a sports team or raising a family. Learn about how they work. Learn about how they live. Learn about their values, their beliefs, and their mannerisms. The better you know them, the more effectively you'll be able to sell to them. On top of that, your path to better understanding will help you bond with them. It's good stuff, and it can eliminate that awkward cold feeling that can come with initial introductions.
