Make sure you nail the first step of your sales process: the discovery call, before moving on to the next.
This introductory conversation establishes the tone for your engagement with a prospect and allows you to guide them through the buyer’s journey, if one exists.
During this conversation, you will receive answers to important issues such as:
- Is my solution truly beneficial in resolving their issue?
- Is this the right person with whom I’m conversing?
- What are their plans for the future?
- Do they have a need for my product or service?
Following a successful discovery call, you should have a good understanding of your prospect’s needs and how your solution may help them overcome their problems.
You’ll also get rid of any dead leads in your pipeline and will have only quality leads. When you arrive at the sales meeting, you’ll have the opportunity to pitch to people you know are sales qualified prospects. AKA a less bumpy path to the jackpot!
It’s difficult to recover from a terrible discovery call. So win over your prospects by asking questions that put them in the appropriate frame of mind to contemplate a new solution, as well as inquiries that assist them identify problems they didn’t realize they had. Let us demonstrate what we mean.
The Comprehensive List Of Discovery Call Questions – Q’s For Success
Table of Contents
- 1 The Comprehensive List Of Discovery Call Questions – Q’s For Success
- 1.1 Close Them By Getting To Know Them!
- 1.2 Examine Your Timeframes And Objectives.
- 1.3 Get The Best Of Both Worlds: Needs And Pain Areas.
- 1.4 Investigate Your Rivals.
- 1.5 Is It Possible For Them To Afford You?
- 1.6 Find The Ones Who Call The Shots
- 1.7 Make Them Want To Contact You Again (Be Bold!)
- 1.8 Preparing For A Discovery Call Is Not Something To Be Taken Lightly.
- 1.9 Share this:
Your aim on each discovery call you conduct is to establish trust and ensure that your prospects feel more confidence in your ability to give a creative solution.
Here are some sales questions to ask that can confirm your discovery call research and move you closer to a win.
Close Them By Getting To Know Them!
Always be on the lookout for methods to connect with your prospects — it’s crucial to your ability to clinch a transaction.
Take an interest in their personal and professional life during your discovery call to uncover some common ground.
Build rapport by asking questions about books, movies, or sports they’ve mentioned on social media. Alternatively, try talking to them about their family on a more instinctual level. Do you like to communicate with people on a more professional level? Try to connect with a business they’ve worked for or a job they’ve held in the past. This call is similar to a first date in that you want to get to know the other person.
Use the following questions to develop a personal connection with your prospect and build trust:
1. Are you from [shared place] originally?
2. What drew you to [industry, club/group, work discipline, or hobby]?
3. What is it about [industry, club/group, work discipline, pastime] that you appreciate the most?
4. Do you follow [a sport, a cuisine, a team, a cultural attraction, or a well-known event]?
Examine Your Timeframes And Objectives.
The importance of timing cannot be overstated — but you already knew that. Being the appropriate solution for your prospect next quarter won’t help your bottom line, so ask discovery call questions that provide information about timing, implementation, fundamental reasons, and long-term ambitions.
Ask yourself the following questions to see if you can give the proper service right now (rather than later):
5. Do you and your team have the necessary time and resources to make the switch to a new solution?
6. What could be done to make this a smoother and more timely transition?
7. How do you envision your ideal team/business performance?
8. What business solutions do you believe will help you achieve your goal?
9. When does the contract for the present solution that you have in place expire?
10. What are your timeframes for objectives for making a decision?
11. When do you believe you’ll put this into action? What will it take to achieve that goal?
Must Read: 35 Closed-Ended Questions To Ignite Your Sales Strategy – And When to Use Them
Get The Best Of Both Worlds: Needs And Pain Areas.
It’s no secret that you want to close the deal, but real concern for whether your product or service provides a solution that helps your prospects is critical. Learn which pain spots you can alleviate by attentively listening to their specific requirements and being empathetic as they express their problems, previous challenges, and future objectives.
Ask these discovery call questions to find your prospect’s requirements and difficulties to go deeper and help them open up:
12. What aspect of your job frustrates you the most?
13. What are the most pressing issues you want to address? What are the hurdles that are preventing you from achieving your goals?
14. What has prompted you to make a change now?
15. Describe your present workflow and what you’d like to improve.
16. How do you envision our solution fitting into your long-term strategy?
17. What key performance indicators (KPIs) do you track? How often do you meet those goals?
18. What factors do you consider the most when deciding on the best option for you?
19. Would you adjust other aspects of your business to get the most out of the optimal solution?
20. How much of a difference would a [%] increase in your [metric] performance make to your company?
21. What is your top priority at the moment?
22. What do you think a successful outcome will look like? How would you feel if you were successful?
Investigate Your Rivals.
Never assume you’ll be the leadoff bat — you could be on occasion, but is it the norm? I wouldn’t put my money on that. You got a discovery call (congrats! ), but you’re a long distance from home.
Bite the bullet and inquire about their experience with competition to get a little closer. The idea is to find out how they handle their problems with a product or service similar to yours, therefore here are some questions to ask:
23. What solutions are you currently considering?
24. How do you plan to handle the issues you’ve discussed with me today?
25. How did you get along with [competitor]?
26. Has [competitor] had a good influence on your business?
27. How do you think we compare to the other options you’ve considered?
28. What features of the solution do you appreciate or dislike?
29. Do you desire more from your current solutions? What further features or capabilities would you want to see?
Is It Possible For Them To Afford You?
Money is a difficult subject to bring up, but if you don’t figure out your prospect’s budget, your discovery call will be a failure.
When it comes to money, expect them to remark that your solution is too expensive – but don’t let that deter you; after all, that’s what most of them say, right? That’s when you may emphasize value by using ROI numbers, success stories, and other examples to persuade them that what you’re supplying is exactly what they require.
It may surprise you how rapidly funds become accessible once they see your value!
Set yourself up for success by asking yourself the following questions:
30. Who approves purchase decisions?
31. Do you have a budget set out for this?
32. What do you want to invest in, and how can you tell if it’s a good investment?
33. How is your budget for a solution like this set up?
34. Do you have a budget set out for a solution upgrade? Who decides on the budget?
35. How would you calculate the return on investment?
Find The Ones Who Call The Shots
Your prospect does not bear the obligation of deciding to work with you since it is a significant, expensive, and crucial decision. Who’s the who’s who of their c-suite?
During your discovery call, be sure to inquire about your prospect’s purchasing process, key stakeholders with purchasing authority, and what drives them to give over their cash.
With these questions, you may learn more about decision-makers:
36. Is your ideal option supported by all decision-makers?
37. Should we contact anybody else at the company?
38. Is there anyone else who needs to evaluate and sign off on this than you?
39. Have you ever adopted and executed a similar solution?
40. Which departments are you a part of?
41. What is your company’s procedure for making significant decisions?
Make Them Want To Contact You Again (Be Bold!)
You’ve made it all the way to the end of the conversation! You may now concentrate on preparing for the next stage of the sales process. Keep in mind that the faster you move prospects through your pipeline, the closer you are to generating additional money.
You’ve set the stage for your almost-client to move the contract ahead, so if you believe they’re a good fit, ask these last questions:
42. When do you think you, the other stakeholders, and I will be able to meet next week?
43. What objectives do you hope to achieve at our next meeting?
44. When would be the ideal time to follow up with you on what we spoke about — later this week or early next week?
45. How can I get in touch with you later this week about [prospect agreed to see or hear]?
46. How can I make your decision-making process easier and more useful for you?
47. When is the ideal time for us to meet again?
Preparing For A Discovery Call Is Not Something To Be Taken Lightly.
The second part of nailing your discovery call is being well-prepared — examining your prospect’s LinkedIn and Twitter accounts is essential, but it only scrapes the surface of what you should know before dialling.
Your multistage preparation procedure should contain the following steps:
- Check your technology to make sure it’s all working and linked
- Look up your prospect’s company and see if there’s any recent news.
- Prepare a call agenda to establish the tone for the meeting and demonstrate that you value their time.
- To conduct smoother calls, create a tailored deck based on what you know about prospects.
This list of questions should be saved and brought up on your next discovery call to really get the conversation going.
How do you keep a prospect from canceling an appointment they set up after the discovery call? Do you want to know more about the scenario? Please contact us and we will take care of everything.
Must Read: Top 12 Recommendations For Effective Appointment Setting Calls In 2022
Vikas Bhatt is the Co-Founder of ONLY B2B, a premium B2B lead generation company that specializes in helping businesses achieve their growth objectives through targeted marketing & sales campaigns. With 10+ years of experience in the industry, Vikas has a deep understanding of the challenges faced by businesses today and has developed a unique approach to lead generation that has helped clients across a range of industries around the globe. As a thought leader in the B2B marketing community, ONLY B2B specializes in demand generation, content syndication, database services and more.