Discovery Call Best Practices

90% of salespeople run terrible discovery calls. At best, they "check the boxes." At worst, they annoy the hell out of buyers. Use these 5 tips for discovery calls that buyers actually THANK you for: 1. "Prime" the call for success. Bad discovery calls start with bad expectations. You do one thing (ask questions). Your buyer expects another (demo). Get the first 5 minutes of the meeting right: After a few min of small talk, say "Do you mind if we talk about the agenda?" Then ask: "Here's what I have in mind for this call. Lmk if you're thinking something different. This meeting will be successful if ________________. Does that feel right?" Fill in the blank with an objective. THEN set the agenda to get there: "The way we'll accomplish that is first by talking about X, then Y. Anything to add or remove?" Do that, and you're ahead of most sellers. 2. Match your questions to the buyer's journey Meet your buyer where they stand. If they're exploring solutions, ask: "What's driving you to explore this category?" If they're not, and they're still crystallizing their challenges, ask: "Let's talk about the top challenges in [you area] that would be an issue if you didn't solve in 6-12 months." The point? Your first few questions should "meet them where they stand." Match your questions with the buyer's journey stage. 3. Firm up the 'why' When your buyer gets off the Zoom call: - they have 100s of emails - they have missed phone calls - their Slack is lit up like a Christmas tree They'll forget about you. Unless you get to the 'need behind the need.' Ask this: "What's going on your in your business that's driving [challenge they shared] to be a priority? What's the origin story of how this challenge got prioritized?" That question is as close to magic as you'll find. 4. Banter on the root cause Bad salespeople do nothing but get information. Great salespeople *create value* in the sales cycle. Here's how: Help your buyer think through the 'root cause' of their problems. - Offer new perspectives - Share what you see with customers - Ask challenging (but tactful) questions Business problems are messy. They're hard to figure out. If you help them do that, you create value. 5. Quantify the value 'Quantifying value' is misunderstood. Most sellers: Do it because it serves you, the seller Great sellers: Do it because it serves the buyer When you help your buyer quantify the value: - you help them appreciate the full magnitude - you help them know what they can ignore - you help them set priorities Try asking: "What metric will improve the most if you solve this issue?" That will start the process. - What tips would you add for better discovery calls that buyers enjoy? P.S. I've kept a list of 39 questions that sell over the last 12 years. These come from watching 3,000 Gong calls, and running over 1,000 discovery calls myself. Here's the free list of 39 questions that sell: https://go.pclub.io/list

I hired a sales coach last month. First session, he asked to observe my discovery call. I was confident: - I had my 27 discovery questions ready - My demo was perfectly polished - My objection-handling guide was open The call started well. But 10 minutes in, the coach passed me a note: "STOP TALKING." I was confused, but I paused. The prospect filled the silence: "Actually, what I'm really struggling with is getting various stakeholders aligned. We keep having the same conversations over and over." This wasn't on my script. After the call, the coach explained: "Your discovery process is all about YOU getting information. Not about helping THEM discover their own problems." This hit me hard. I had been: - Asking questions to fill MY knowledge gaps - Taking notes to build MY sales strategy - Following MY playbook regardless of their responses The next discovery call, I tried something different: Instead of firing questions, I created a collaborative digital space where the prospect could: - Map out their own buying committee - Prioritize their challenges visually - Document their questions in real-time - Outline what success would look like to each stakeholder The call took half the time. The prospect did most of the talking. And they left with clarity they didn't have before. They signed 3 weeks later. What changed? Old discovery: Interrogation disguised as conversation New discovery: Collaborative problem-solving Your prospects don't need your questions. They need clarity. And often, they'll sell themselves if you just create the right space. Agree?

Here's a "deal killer" no one talks about: Random acts of discovery. And a lot of sales teams still treat discovery calls like a checkbox on the sales process. If your team is struggling to qualify, position value, or move deals forward. Don’t even start with closing skills. Start with how they’re running discovery calls. Help them to prep for calls. 📍 Teach your team to do 30 - 60 minutes of research before every discovery call. A great discovery actually starts before the call. Yes. The "gold standard" is to spend 60 minutes researching before every discovery call. They don’t have to be asking questions during the call where answers could have been found with a simple Google search. 📍 Break the habit of scripted questions. If they have a standard list of discovery sales questions and run through it in every call. ALL WRONG You should be guiding them on asking thoughtful, open-ended questions that encourage deeper exploration and reveal key pain points and objectives. Every discovery call questions should feel spontaneous and next questions based on what the buyer just said. 📍 Listen to the calls together. It’s never just tell your reps to “ask better questions.”  Call recordings are a goldmine of insights waiting to be unearthed. Pull up a real call, listen together, and pause to unpack what’s working and what doesn’t in discovery calls. 📍 Debrief every discovery call. Salespeople should not come back from a sales call and dive right into their next task. They need to reflect on the opportunity to see what went well, what did not go well. After each call, always review What happened during the call? What pain did you uncover? If they can’t answer those, they didn’t run a strong discovery. Deals are either won or lost in the discovery. If your reps master this step, everything that comes after becomes easier