We've all heard it. Some of us have used it. And the more dad-joke inclined amongst us would likely retort with "usually bourbon or spicy food." It's the sales equivalent of, "do you come here often?" Given, we may not have gone so far as to say those exact words, but all of us have at times resorted to trite attempts to get the customer to share valuable information about their goals, strategies, and challenges.
Likewise, while discovery calls sometime lead to fantastic exchanges of information like you've just met your new best friend, other times they're awkwardly executed, laborious, and in the end only marginally satisfying for all parties involved. Oftentimes the challenge with the exchange is that one or both parties entered into the discovery call without a clear sense of how you will collectively receive and deliver mutual value.
A great discovery call requires some work on your part. Research the company and the people you are going to be talking to. Use that information to guide your questions, but never assume that you fully understand a prospect’s challenges based on that research.
Know what you (and any other team members who will be attending your call) expect to achieve with the meeting. Establish in advance the planned flow of the conversation. If you have team members joining you on the discovery call, agree in advance on speaker order and roles.
Use your questioning to uncover challenges and initiatives that might be addressed with your solution. As you uncover these challenges, ask yourself why it might matter to your customer relative to their goals.
Let the person you're interviewing know your agenda in advance. Better yet, give them the opportunity to weigh in on the agenda. During the call, avoid peppering the customer with short, closed-ended questions. Instead, maintain a dialogue to keep your discovery call conversational and relevant.
Plan your questions in a manner that encourages the customer to speak freely about their goals and challenges. You'll get much deeper and more meaningful information by asking open-ended questions that get a person talking. Rather than asking "does your team have sales reps and sales engineers," instead you may ask "can you tell me about the structure of your sales organization?"
Ask questions that urge your customer to think beyond the "what" (blunt description) of their problem and share more about the "why" (causes and impact). In some cases, a customer might not even realize they're experiencing a challenge or obstacle until you guide them to that conclusion.
Instead of accepting "we need to be more efficient" as an answer, encourage the customer to acknowledge the value. You may probe their answer to get more information such as, "if we were able to gain half an hour of efficiency in the service process, we could perform 1 more service call per day, per technician."
Never ask multiple part questions all at once. Most often the customer will fail to answer part of the question, and it's unlikely that you will pick up on it until after the call. Instead, give the customer a chance to answer each question before adding a second part to your question.
It's important to take notes as you go, but keep them abbreviated so your customer isn't waiting awkwardly while you finish recording their answer. Better yet, if you have multiple team members on the call, anyone who is not "on the mic" for the current question should be taking notes.
Above all, remember that discovery is always for the customer! The best discovery calls convey genuine customer curiosity, and our efforts to sell or set up a demo are secondary to our primary objective to create mutual value for our customers.
So the next time you go for tapas - figuratively speaking, of course - make sure it's a fulfilling engagement for everyone involved! By adopting a bias for customer value creation, planning effectively, and ensuring a constructive dialogue, you might find that your customers stay more engaged, provide more insightful answers, and offer greater trust as you move forward in your pursuit.