Key Questions for Successful Discovery

When we dissect discovery calls, we hear this same motion almost every time - the buyer opens up about what they need, which prompts the seller to meet them with exactly how they can help. Perfect, right? Nope. We are SO eager to hear something that we can solve that we don't pause to ask the critical question - why? ***We know what you need, we don't know why you need it.*** What's the business pain? What's the cost of inaction? How much does this one issue impact dozens of people, dozens of times/day? How does this impact your goals for the year ahead? Is this enough of pain point that it's worth the trouble of changing? What's the monetization associated with the pain? Why is it important to change now? Have you tried to tackle this change before? And so on... Toss a sticky on your laptop and simply pause when you hear what they want. This is your moment to... differentiate significantly better qualify this opp get a host of details that will help you figure out how to best solve their challenges understand if you're talking to the right team ...and up your odds of advancing this opportunity #samsales

Here's a discovery question that helped me sell my first 7-figure Enterprise deal as an AE. Prospect was looking for negotiation training. The company I was working for didn't sell negotiation training. Instead of trying to convince her negotiation wasn't the right answer, I sought to understand why they were looking to solve for negotiation. I asked, "How did the leadership team arrive at negotiation as the right problem to fix?" Her: "Because we sell a commoditized product. Customers don't see a difference between our parts and our competitors'. We keep losing to low-cost competition. Every deal is turning into a price war." Me: "This may be an awkward question, but, is there actually a difference?" Her: "When it comes to our ability to outperform on reducing plant downtime - yes." Me: "And, how often are customers factoring the cost of excess downtime into their decision?" Her: "Not enough. They're usually just looking for the cheapest replacement part." Me: "Does the negotiation phase feel like the right time to raise that?" Her: "No - it's too late in the sales cycle." Boom. That was the magic moment. That was the moment SHE introduced doubt that negotiation was the right problem to solve. It became her a-ha moment. Her realization. Her idea. It opened the door for me to share a different POV on an alternative root cause of the known problem. That led to a meeting with the ELT to discuss root causes, not solutions. TLDR: People hate to be told they are wrong. Help them revisit their own beliefs/assumptions by seeking to understand HOW they arrived at a conclusion. There's a lot of insight to be gained by asking, "How did the team arrive at X as the right problem to solve?".

Ace your next sales call. 10 smart questions to ask in your next sales call: 1. What are your biggest priorities and challenges right now? ↳Get to the heart of their pain points and how motivated they are to solve them. The bigger the challenge, the bigger the opportunity. 2. What has prevented you from solving these challenges so far? ↳Understand the roadblocks and objections upfront. Their answer will reveal decision criteria and potential landmines. 3. Who else is impacted by these challenges across the organization? ↳Identify all the stakeholders and influencers you need to engage. The more people invested, the stronger your internal allies. 4. What are the consequences of not addressing this? ↳Quantify the cost of inaction to create a burning platform. Hard numbers make a compelling business case. 5. Have you explored other solutions? What didn't work? ↳Get visibility into competitors and previous failed attempts. You can then position your unique differentiators. 6. What would a successful outcome look like for you in 6-12 months? ↳Understand their definition of success and desired outcomes. You can then align your solution accordingly. 7. How will you measure success and ROI? ↳Identify the specific metrics that matter. You can then build a ROI model to justify your pricing. 8. What's your budget range for a solution like this? ↳Get a sense of their investment appetite upfront. If the budget is too low, you can re-qualify or reset expectations. 9. What's your decision-making process and timeline? ↳Map out the steps, stakeholders, and timeline involved. This allows you to control the process and mitigate stalls. 10. What are your biggest hesitations about moving forward? ↳Surface objections early so you can directly address them. Unresolved concerns are deal-killers. --- Pro Tips: ➤ Be as specific as possible with your questions. (Example: Instead of "What are your priorities?", ask "What are your top 3 priorities for reducing customer churn this quarter?") ➤ Ask open-ended questions that can't be answered with a simple yes/no. Those lead to deeper insights. ➤ Leave room for the prospect to ask questions too. A two-way dialogue builds more rapport. --- Repost ♻ to help your network with this important skill Comment “SEQUENCE” below if you want me to send you 13 email sequences that sell like crazy. 

Struggling with your discovery calls? Let’s change that I just wrapped up an awesome session with Leslie Douglas on the Sell Better show and we dove deep into the art of discovery calls Here are some highlights and my must-have questions to level up your game ⤵️ 𝘿.𝙄.𝙎.𝘾 𝙁𝙧𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝘾𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝗗 - Discover the prospect’s business and strategic goals • "What are your top priorities and goals for this quarter/year?" • "How are your current processes aligned with these goals?"    𝗜 - Identify pain points and requirements • "What challenges are you facing that prompted you to seek a solution?" • "What solutions have you tried, and what were the outcomes?"    𝗦 - Scrutinize the decision-making process and competitor landscape • "Who are the key stakeholders involved in this decision?" • "What criteria do you use to make your final decision?"    𝗖 - Clarify success metrics and establish next steps • "How will you measure the success of our solution?" • "What are the next steps from your perspective?"    𝙈𝙮 𝙈𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙃𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙨 ⤵️ • Understand their top 2-3 strategic priorities • Identify their biggest risk in new launches • Know their current metrics and where they want to be • Quantify the ROI they’re looking for • Learn what they’ve tried and why it didn’t work    Discovery isnt just a stage Its an ongoing process Keep digging, keep understanding and you’ll stop the status quo from eating you alive P.S. What are your go to discovery questions? Lets share and learn together!👇

I lost 22 of my first 23 opportunities when I first joined Gong. I focussed on our 10+ competitors and learning every unique feature we had. Since then, my win rate shot up and it all centers around one principle: 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘂𝘀 𝗾𝘂𝗼. Before any selling is effective, you need to deeply understand their problem. You need strong mutual buy-in on 'why change.' 6 non-negotiables for me to uncover: 𝟭. 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆-𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗼𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 How to ask: ↳ "Gong aside, what are the top 2-3 strategic priorities you're most focussed on." ↳ "What company-specific objective does Gong align most to, in your eyes?" Example: ↳ New product being launched 𝟮. 𝗔𝗿𝗲𝗮 𝗼𝗳 𝗢𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝗜𝘁 How to ask: ↳ “For this new launch, through your lenses, what's the biggest single risk to making this a success?” Example: ↳ Sellers are all over the place demoing + messaging it 𝟯. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 How to ask: ↳ "What metric is that most affecting today?" ↳ "Where is that at today?" Example: ↳ 20% win rate 𝟰. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 How to ask: ↳ "In an ideal world, where would you want to get that to?" Example: ↳ 25% win rate 𝟱. 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗢𝗜 How to ask: ↳ "If you bridged that gap, have you done the math on what that would be worth? Example: ↳ Growing 5% in win rates, is worth $2M / annually 𝟲. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸. How to ask: ↳ What have you already done to try and solve that? Example: ↳ Having managers sit in on more calls which has been time intensive. You won't uncover all 6 of these on the first call and that's okay Build on each and uncover them through the entire cycle Discovery is a never-ending process Not just a sales stage 😁 P.S. Join 700+ sellers who've grabbed my full discovery blueprint: https://lnkd.in/dmYbzPGi