Sales Discovery Call Strategies

I've spent 10 years perfecting the art of discovery calls: - reviewed over 2,500 discovery recordings - analyzed millions of discovery calls with AI - personally run (estimated) 3,000 disco calls Here's 5 of my best discovery call tips for 2023: 1. Discovery is a process. Not an event. It’s not a STAGE during the sales cycle. It’s a process. Your buyer’s situation is in flux. If you do “set it and forget it” discovery, you lose. Bad salespeople treat discovery as “check the box." They "front load" discovery. Great salespeople do continuous discovery. Don't set it and forget it. 2. The best discovery CREATES value. It makes buyers THINK. "Most" discovery CONSUMES value. It merely gathers info. Yes, you need to uncover things. But if that's ALL you do? You build a transactional relationship. Don't settle for transactional. Settle for transformative. - challenge your buyer - diagnose the cause of issues - make them consider new angles $500k+ earners do that. 3. Uncover the 'need behind the need.' For whatever reason: Most buyers share surface-level info. I'm not sure why. I suspect it's just how humans crystallize thoughts. Try asking this: "Thanks for sharing that. Do you mind if I ask what's going on in your business that's driving that to be a priority to begin with?" Or, ask them to take you back in time. Your buyer once had a meeting with colleagues to discuss the issue they're trying to solve. That triggered them to reach out to you (among other actions). Ask them about that: "I have to assume you had a meeting with colleagues where you discussed the issue, and agreed to act on it. What did that meeting sound like?" There's gold behind that question. 4. Re-validate everything. Never assume that what you uncovered remains true. Priorities change. Buyers’ needs are transient. When things change, you’d better know. If you followed the last tip, you’ll uncover priorities. But if you treat discovery as “set it and forget it," you’ll miss. Here’s how to re-validate: Start every follow up sales meeting with this: "What’s changed since the last time we talked?" 5. Phrase questions to get LONG answers Hate it when buyers answer with one-word responses? It sucks. According to data, successful salespeople get LONG answers to questions. Here’s how: SIGNAL to your buyer that you want a long response. Do that by phrasing your questions the right way. Start your question with one of these phrases: - help me understand... - walk me through... - talk to me about... This phrasing signals that you want your buyer to answer in depth. You’ll get richer answers. I'm out of space. If you want more, let me know? Until then, know this: Questions are the most powerful tool you have to sell. I spent 10 years collecting the best sales questions in a Google Doc. I tested them. I refined them. Now you can use them. Here's the mega list sales questions: https://lnkd.in/g-VRcCsq

I’ve done 350+ discovery calls in the past 3 years and closed 7+ figures in contract value. I always structure my 1st call in the same 5-step format: Great sales is nothing more than a structured approach to help prospects make a decision. It shows them that I’m understanding and have their best interest at heart. I consider sales to be part of the service. It’s consulting. Here's how my discovery calls look: 𝟭. 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 I want to find out as much as possible about them. My goal is to understand their journey & personality, and also make them feel heard & understood off the bat. They talk, I shut up. If they jump straight into business, I gently steer them back. ___ 𝟮. 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘇𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝘁 Next, I dive into their business model, bottlenecks, and top goals: • Who’s your ICP? • What do you offer? • What’s your marketing status quo? • etc. I figure out if a collaboration makes sense and whether they need our help or something else entirely—like coaching, a new tool, a different vendor, or just advice on improving their current setup. ___ 𝟯. 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝗠𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 I recap what they’ve shared and then introduce myself. Here, I try to mirror how they shared their story: • what topics did they focus on? • how far back did they go? • what did they highlight? At the same time, I look for similarities between us to create relatability. Then at the end, I explain what I do on a high level. ___ 𝟰. 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲𝘀 & 𝗥𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 From there, I introduce the 3 key theses they need to believe for us to work together. • Thesis 1: The decisions we make are influenced by the people we trust and the content we consume. • Thesis 2: Content helps build relationships & trust at scale. • Thesis 3: Content is an infinite game If they're not aligned with this thesis, it usually indicates we're not a fit. At the same time, I also discuss the rough budget range to make sure we're on the same page about expectations early on. ___ 5. 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 If it feels like a fit, I lock in a follow-up call right then. I never leave this for later—it just adds uncertainty and hassle. If it’s not a fit, I still try to offer value—maybe I send some free resources or give advice. ___ 𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗜 𝗙𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄: • I call out any elephants in the room. • I recap what they say to confirm my understanding and give them a chance to add details. • This also helps me process what they’ve shared. • I always leave room for their questions. • Their needs are #1 priority. #b2bsales #founderledsales #consultativesales

A rep called me frustrated. "I ask all the right questions, but they clam up after 10 minutes. Discovery feels like pulling teeth." I listened to her last call. She was doing everything "right" according to most sales training. Except for one thing. She was treating discovery like an interrogation instead of a conversation. Here's what I told her: Stop trying to get everything in 30 minutes. You're not a police detective gathering evidence. Instead, go deep on what matters most → their pain. Three questions that changed her entire approach: "What's driving this to be a priority right now?" "What happens if you don't solve this in the next 6 months?" "How is this impacting you personally?" Notice something? No questions about budget. No stakeholder mapping. No buying process. Just pain. Deep, emotional, get-them-talking pain. Here's what happened on next call: Prospect spent 20 minutes explaining their challenges. Shared things she never heard before. Got emotional about the daily frustration. Old Rep would've panicked: "I didn't get the buying process info!" New Rep said: "Based on everything you've shared, this sounds complex. Let's schedule another call to walk through how companies typically solve this." Prospect immediately agreed. Why? Because she proved she understood their world. The follow up call? Prospect brought their boss. Shared budget range. Outlined their evaluation timeline. All because the first call was about them, not about her information gathering checklist. Look, I get it. Sales methodology says you need certain data points. But prospects don't care about your methodology. They care about feeling understood. When you nail the pain, everything else flows naturally. The reps's close rate went from 18% to 29% just by changing her discovery approach. Same questions. Same product. Different mindset. Sales VPs: teach your reps to be consultants, not interrogators. The reps who master this thinking close bigger deals because they uncover the real emotional drivers behind every purchase decision. Ever noticed how your best discovery calls feel more like therapy sessions than sales calls? Strange, isn’t it? 😎 — How 700+ clients closed $950 million using THIS 6 step demo script: https://lnkd.in/eVb32BUx

Here's a naughty lil secret about discovery in mid-market and enterprise deals. Many of us were taught that the purpose of discovery is to understand the customer's needs, so we can map our solution back to those needs and show how we can help. Here's the fatal flaw in that theory. If we're asking our customers to tell us their needs, chances are, they're telling our competitors the same thing. So, the odds that our solution will be meaningfully different than our competitors are slim. As a result, customers commoditize us around the one area they CAN tell a difference. Price. How could we approach discovery instead? Here is my 5-step process: 1 - Build a hypothesis on what the company trying to achieve, and seek to understand what you're missing as an outsider. *Find this in CEO letter to shareholders, interviews with the Founder, CEO guest appearances on podcasts, etc.. Bring it to the call, and frame it as, "As an outsider - this is what it seems like the business is trying to achieve. But, what have I missed?." 2 - Be curious about HOW that stakeholder currently believes/assumes they will accomplish that goal, and ask HOW they formed that opinion. *Example: Company's goal is to 4x subscription revenue by 2025. To do so, CRO believes they must hire more SDRs and raise activity targets. CRO believes these are the right needs, because this approach worked at his/her last 3 companies. 3 - Introduce evidence that contradicts those beliefs/assumptions. *This is your reframe. Our goal isn't to tell them they're wrong. It's to introduce an enemy to that belief/assumption that breaks it. Key is to make it so you aren't attacking the person, but rather, exposing them to something environmental that makes 1+1 = 3, not 2. 4 - Give them a formula to calculate the implications of continuing with their current approach. *This is NOT an ROI formula. That's what happens IF they change. This is about COI (cost of inaction). What happens if they don't change? 5 - If you've piqued their curiosity, suggest that they collect the inputs needed to calculate the size of the pain, and bring those to the next call. Don't assemble or sell the solution yet. Just agree that we'll explore the size of the pain together, to see if this is even an area worth exploring. Discovery shouldn't feel like death by 1000 questions, or a qualification exercise so that we can pitch our stuff. It should feel like two colleagues exploring a problem together. TLDR: When approached this way, discovery convos are one of the best places to drive a competitive wedge. Not around our product. But, around our ability to be a strategic partner to how the prospect thinks about their own business. (PS - if you're planning your 2025 sales kickoff, this is one of the sessions I love to teach)

I’ve joined 100s of discovery calls as a buyer—only 1 in 10 was run to help me vs the AE. Most companies treat discovery as just a stage and rely on weak BANT. That’s why AEs get stuck at ‘Level 1’ thinking Disco = Qualification and NEVER win 6-figure deals. Here’s my breakdown of Discovery Levels 1–3 (and the exact steps to finally break free): LEVEL 1 - Thinks: “Discovery is for me—are they worth my time?” - Uses BANT as box ☑ qualification (and to get managers off their backs).  - Asks a few surface questions (“Why are we here?”, “Do you have budget?”). - Disco isn’t leveraged throughout the sales process; it sits in call-1 notes. - If it is used, it’s only for ‘guilt-trip’ moves—“I guess solving X is not a priority?”. - Deals lost/stall/heavily discounted; disco never influenced the buying process. LEVEL 2 - Thinks: “Discovery is for prospects; to help THEM see why they should buy”. - Levels up from BANT to *real* disco using GAP Selling, MEDDIC, SPICED, etc. - Dives deeper than Need—to Impact, Priorities, and Rout Causes of Problems. - Disco is leveraged to tailor demos—give problem-solving tours vs generic tour. - Deals close at OK win rate. Buyers feel understood and see high $$$ problems. LEVEL 3 - Thinks: “Discovery IS the sales process—shaping buying and sales decisions”. - Framework agnostic; digs deep, letters only used for consistency & forecast. - Every call is about shaping the ultimate buying moment—the Business Case. - Every call gets documented; discovery continuously builds their Account Plan. - Doesn’t use a bank of questions; but prepares points to explore (e.g. urgency). - Leverage MAPs to discover & align on how to best run the process—together. - Disco drives unstoppable business case narratives that unlock $6-7 fig budgets. —— Stop treating discovery like just another task. Turn it into your entire selling strategy. Business Case > BANT Qualification. Mutual Plan > “What’s your Timeline?” Discovery as a Service. That’s how you go from chasing… To being a partner that gets trusted with 6-7-figure budgets. Always be discovering.

Your prospect just uploaded your discovery call to ChatGPT and asked what red flags it noticed. You thought the call went great. Good rapport. They asked questions. Said they'd discuss internally. Then they did this: "I just had a discovery call with a vendor. Here's the transcript. What did I miss? What red flags did you notice?" "Red flags: Avoided direct pricing question three times. Changed implementation timeline from 6 weeks to 8-10 weeks. Vague language around success rates. Didn't ask about budget or decision process. Mentioned feature as "coming soon" without timeline." Your buyer now has a list of everything you glossed over. A rep from one of our Sales Assembly member companies had this happen last quarter. Thought discovery went well. Buyer seemed engaged. A week later, buyer came back with six specific questions...all from ChatGPT's analysis: "You said 6 weeks but later said 8-10 weeks. Which is it?"  "You said 'most customers see great results.' What's the actual rate?"  "That feature you mentioned - when exactly will it be available?" The rep was caught off guard since they were being held accountable for every word. Deal didn't die. But trust took a hit. Best to presume your buyer is studying your calls as closely as your manager is. Here's how to speak knowing AI will analyze later: 1. Be consistent throughout. Don't say "6 weeks" early and "8-10 weeks" later. If it depends on variables, say that upfront: "Implementation ranges from 6-10 weeks depending on your tech stack. For a company like yours, I'd estimate 8 weeks." 2. Don't deflect questions. When a buyer asks about pricing and you say "we'll get to that," AI flags evasion. Instead: "Pricing typically ranges from $X to $Y depending on [factors]. Based on what you've shared, you'd likely fall in [range]. Happy to build a precise quote after we dig into requirements." 3. Replace vague claims with specific data. Don't say: "Most customers see great results."  Say: "87% of customers in your industry see [specific metric] within 90 days." 4. Clarify timelines for everything. "Coming soon" is a HUGE red flag phrase. Say instead: "That feature launches August 15th. I can send you the roadmap." Or be honest: "That's on our roadmap for next year. If that's critical now, we won't have it for at least 9 months." 5. Summarize at the end Before you hang up: "Let me make sure I captured everything: You need [X], timeline is [Y], budget is [Z], and you'll loop in [stakeholders]. Did I miss anything?" This lets you correct inconsistencies before the recording gets uploaded. Now, buyers aren't trying to catch you lying. But the ARE using AI to make sure they didn't miss anything. So if your call has inconsistencies, vague claims, or deflected questions, AI will find them. And your buyer will start the next conversation wondering if you're full of shit. Assume every word is being transcribed, analyzed, and flagged. Because it probably is. 🫣

I recently closed a $15,000 deal with the potential of being a $100K deal. We had 3 discovery calls w/ 2 presentations. Here are 6 strategies I did to close this in less than 30 days that you can copy: 1/ Shared My Research: I did my homework on the company, industry, and buyer persona. I got to the call and shared my notes about my research and how I connected the dots. E.g. "Btw, from my understanding, you're dealing with a really antiquated buyer persona for the most part who is either using a competitor or some old school method of doing things, like managing their tasks on Excel..." Don't keep your notes private. 2/ Be Radically Transparent: Most salespeople try to hide that they're taking notes and looking at another screen, but prospects want to feel like you're taking their problems/goals seriously. E.g. "Btw, if you see me look at another screen, it's because I am. I'm writing some notes and ideas down as we talk through this, which I'll share at the end." Be candid. 3/ Looked For Problems: Salespeople hate opening a can of objections during a call, but I'd argue that is your best bet for maintaining control of the deal. I asked questions that would get me and my business in trouble. The prospect ends up selling you on why you'd be a better fit. E.g. "You mentioned you used to use [COMPETITOR] training program, why not just continue with them since the team is sold on it already?" Unsell yourself. 4/ Gave Value Before The Pitch: Most prospects expect you to spend more time pitching your services or product, but I flipped it on its head. I spent more time giving them strategies and advice on how to better run their department. E.g. "Whether you go with me, another provider, or none at all, here's what I recommend you do in the next 30-60 days.. [INSERT VALUE ADD]." Always teach something new. 5/ Set Up Next Steps Upfront: Most salespeople set up next steps at the end of the call, but that's when prospects are out the door. I like to set them up front because there's the least amount of resistance. E.g. "Assuming this would be fit, you'd probably want another call to dive deeper into your process so we can scope out the work and proposal, so let's set some time in the end to do that later this week for 30 minutes, sound good?" Make next steps worth it for them to agree. 6/ Recapped In The Beginning: At the beginning of our follow-up discovery call, I recapped their challenges/goals from our last call, but I did it by sharing my screens and showing them my notes. E.g. "Based on our last call, these were top of mind for you [LIST CHALLENGES/GOALS] - 1) What's missing from here? 2) And are these still top of mind? Use slides strategically. The takeaway: prospects don't want to be sold to, they want to be helped. #helpmedontsellme P.S. Here are my top 24 discovery questions to quantify pain that helped me close this deal: https://lnkd.in/edAVrn2v

I've listened and coached over 3,785 calls over the last few years. Here's what makes a good first call: 1. The sales rep or founder is seeking to understand the world the prospect lives in. Systems, people, workflows. Pains within those. The impact of pain on other parts of the business. This is priority no. 1 for any good sales call. 2. The call has structure. There's a framework at the start of the call that sets a mutual outcome for both prospect and rep/founder. Time check. People check. The purpose of the call. The ideal outcome for the prospect. Then permission to discuss next steps if outcome is met. 3. There are pain-based probing questions. The way this happens differs from call to call. But the most typical ones I've seen are either menu-option pain questions that a prospect chooses from. Or a "walk me through" type of question to better understand workflows, then a follow-up around "where are things breaking down?" 4. When pain is present, the best reps/founders dwell in it for a while. They'll ask follow-on questions. They'll ask for specific examples. They delay solutioning. The try to go as deep as they can into the pain they've found. 5. The solutioning part of an intro/disco call rarely takes more than 30% of the allotted call time. It's tailored to what was uncovered in discovery. The rep/founder doesn't show everything. They have a structure for demoing the right stuff. They avoid training a prospect on what features exist + how to use them. They repeat the context + problem, share capabilities gained, then show specific workflows for how to solve the pain. 6. There is a solid next step conversation with an attempt at discovering the decision process. This is usually 10-15% of the allotted call time. The best reps/founders don't rush this. And the very best ones book another meeting before leaving the call. My biggest takeaway with good calls - they all sound different, but feel the same. The components of the call never change, from rep to rep, product to product, industry to industry. Founders - learn what a good call looks like, and think through these components. Just doing this, slightly better than what you're doing now, will have a major impact on deals moving forward. The first call is the most important call. It happens 100% of the time. So spend the bulk of your upskilling here.

Your discovery questions are terrible because they produce predictable answers. "What's your biggest challenge?" "What keeps you up at night?" "What's your goal this year?" Prospects have answered those questions 100 times already. The best discovery questions make the buyer stop and think. Here are 10 of my favourites and why they work: 1. What changed in the last 90 days that made you take this call? - This is my favorite discovery question. - Because buyers don't wake up one morning and randomly book demos. - Something changed: A missed target, a new leader, a budget shift or a customer complaint. - Find the trigger and you'll usually find the real opportunity. 2. What happens to your team in 6 months if this stays the same? - Most reps talk about pain. - Top reps uncover the cost of inaction. - If there's no consequence, there's usually no urgency. 3. Walk me through how you handle this today. - Not: "What tool are you using?" - Actually walk me through it, step by step. - This is where you understand manual work, bottlenecks, spreadsheets, workarounds and hidden frustrations. 4. What have you already tried and why didn't it work? - This question saves months. - You immediately learn: What they've tested? What they hated? What failed before? - And what you should avoid pitching. 5. Six months after we go live, what's true that isn't true today? - This forces buyers to define success. - In their words, not yours. - Those answers become your future ROI story. 6. Walk me through how a decision like this gets made. - Don't ask: "Who's the decision maker?" - Ask about the process. - The process reveals the people, the reverse rarely works. 7. If you had to rank your top 3 priorities for the quarter, where does this fit? - Everything sounds important on discovery calls. - Very few things are actually urgent. - This question helps separate the two. 8. If we agreed on terms tomorrow, what happens next on your side? - A real buyer and a real champion knows. - Someone who says "I'm not sure" usually doesn't control the process. 9. Who else are you evaluating and what's pulling you toward them? - The second part matters. - Most reps ask who, but very few ask why. - The "why" tells you what buyers actually care about. 10. What's the worst-case scenario if you choose the wrong vendor here? - This is where the real risk shows up. - Not company risk or personal risk, but the fear nobody talks about. - And those are often the real reason deals stall. One last thing: Don't ask all 10. Discovery is a conversation, not an interrogation. Pick the questions that fit the situation. Then listen longer than feels comfortable. Most prospects will tell you exactly how to win the deal if you stop trying to pitch and start trying to understand. — Follow Noam for more AI × Sales systems.

Most 3PL reps sell like they’re scared. Great ones sell like they are on the brands own team. Let’s be honest, most 3PL discovery calls sound the same: “What’s your volume?” “What’s your product?” “Where are you shipping?” That’s not discovery. That’s data collection. Discovery isn’t about you. It’s about how the buyer sees their world. It means understanding their real problems, and what’s at stake if those problems don’t get solved. Here’s how to think about discovery in stages: Stage 1: Open with friction, not features. Start with, “What’s the biggest pain in your fulfillment setup right now?” Or, “If your CEO asked you what’s holding back growth on Amazon, what would you say?” You’re not pitching. You’re poking around for the business problem behind the logistics. Stage 2: Layer your questions. Don’t move on after one answer. Dig. “Oh, you said you're struggling with bundling what happens when you try to launch a new one?” “How long does it take to get that live?” “What’s the impact if you miss a product drop?” Layered questions = deeper insight. And now you're speaking their language. Stage 3: Create contrast. Make the pain feel real by comparing it to what could be. “So just to clarify… right now you have no way to test new bundles without blowing up your ops team? What would it mean if you could launch one in 3 days instead of 3 weeks?” Now they’re not just thinking about problems. They’re imagining solutions with you. Stage 4: Keep discovery going Discovery is not one call. It’s a process. The best 3PL reps bring new insights in every touchpoint. They ask smarter questions each time. They involve ops, ecom, finance, & marketing because fulfillment affects all of them. If you want to win bigger deals, stop jumping to solutions too early. The best close rates come from the deepest understanding of the buyer’s business. You’re not quoting rates. You’re solving real operational problems that impact revenue, retention, and reputation. If you’re in 3PL sales and want to stop selling like it’s 2015, let’s jam.