Demystifying the Technical Discovery Call for Solutions Engineers

The mystical technical discovery call. It can be nerve-wracking for some, and exciting for others. Historically, discovery calls, and more importantly qualification calls, are handled solely by the Account Executive. As technologies become even more advanced, similar to much of what we do at DroneDeploy, it's more critical for Solutions Engineers/Consultants to be engaged early and assist with the technical discovery to ensure that the solution matches what the customer is looking to achieve.

Over the years, I've worked with numerous AEs and SEs to identify, validate, and confirm the most successful tactics for an effective technical discovery! Let's get started.

What is a Technical Discovery Call?

Discovery calls for a buyer are similar to test driving a new car before purchasing them. Today, Tesla has upended the car industry, by removing dealerships and selling directly to buyers. However, buyers don't buy a car directly in store, they log on and purchase the car online after getting a test drive at the store. Whether you're in the market for an electric car or not, it's a big decision. What will convince you to take the plunge and pull out your wallet?

The same factors go into discovery calls. The goal is to see if you (the service provider) and the buyer are a potentially good fit for one another. It’s the chance for both of you to test each other, to understand each other’s goals and expected outcomes, and identify whether we, as a pre-sales team, can help the buyer achieve that outcome.

Effective discovery happens at every stage, not just the initial call, but in this article we'll discuss what it takes to conduct a successful discovery call.

By the end of the call, your goal should be for your client to say to themselves; “Yes! This is exactly what we need.”

So how do you conduct an effective discovery call?

While discovery calls can go in any direction, it's not a matter of luck. The fate of a discovery call can be highly dependent on how well prepared you are, the value you bring to the call, and the quality of the discussion.

1. Prepare, Prepare, Prepare

Prior to jumping on the call, make sure you do your own research. Align with your AE to best understand the outcomes of the qualification call. Who is the buyer, what is their objective, and what is their timeline. Preparation doesn't just involve research on the buyer, but gaining alignment with your AE on the call's objectives.

Prior to discovery call, I often look up each of the people I'll be speaking with on LinkedIn and search their website or blog for articles relating to them. This helps me understand who they are, what motivates them, and what their focus might be going into the call. If you don't know who is joining the call, ask in advance, or do your own research to find out who might be the most relevant stakeholders to join the call. This is not an area you just want to "wing".

Once you've conducted your research, you'll want to go one step further and identify the key selling points. What can you add that will wow your prospect? What information can you give them; what problem can you solve; what idea can you throw their way?

2. Identify and Validate an Agenda for the call

To conduct an effective discovery, you likely don't need more than 30 minutes. If the call takes longer, you risk dis-engaging your prospect and losing the opportunity. Don't waste their time, and certainly don't waste your time.

It's important to draft an agenda prior to joining the call, and validate that agenda when you're on the call. You want the prospect to leave the call feeling like they were heard, they had their questions answered, and are intrigued enough to continue the conversation with you.

3. Now's the time to Uncover not Unleash

Uncover details about the company, the prospect, and what their ultimate objective is. This is not the time to unleash and dump every feature, use case, and product that your company has to offer. While you may need to share some information for someone that knows very little about the company, this is the time to learn more about the customer's business objective, not the feature requests.

I've heard the word "Disco/Demo" come up frequently in conversations with SEs, which often leads to more confusion. While I won't get into the multiple types of "Demos" you could do during the buyer's process, it's important to align with your AE on the Discovery component of the call. Any Demos at this stage should be short, succinct, and provide just enough information for the prospect to understand your business.

Figure out the issues that your buyer is having and provide value. Don't take the first answer as the core issue. Dig in and ask deeper, Level 2 and Level 3 questions to identify what is the core issue the buyer is looking to solve. As Simon Sinek would say "Start with Why".

• Why is that feature important to them?
• Why is that data product important to them?
• How much that feature/data product impact their business?
• How do they accomplish this today?
• What happens if you don't choose a solution soon? What's the business impact?

Show them that you are the person to solve their issues and make their dreams come true.?These are all questions you would ask in conjunction with your AE, but is critical you understand how this relates to the value you provide.

At this stage, you're also likely get to questions that you may not know the answer to, and that's ok. In order to build trust with buyer, don't provide false information, rather note down the question, add it to the parking lot, and followup after the call to get them the answer.

4. Wrap up the call and discuss next steps

While you've got them on the call, now is the time to schedule a followup call. If you're conducting this call with your AE, it's important that you leave enough time at the end of your conversation to discuss next steps. Don't go over your allotted time. It not only is disrespectful of your buyers time, but it creates increased risk of the buyer going dark.

Recap your discussion, highlight any open questions and action items, and ACTUALLY followup on those questions and action items shortly after the call. This stage is also a discussion. Instead of forcing your next steps, open a dialogue with the buyer on what they feel the appropriate next steps would be for them. If they're unsure, perhaps it's time to schedule another discovery with more team members, or a deeper dive demo to discuss the specifics that the buyer wants to see.

Either way, be clear on the next steps, and get the call scheduled before logging off.

Discovery Call Checklist

A discovery call doesn't need to be nerve wracking. Here's a quick summary of what you should and shouldn't do to run an effective discovery call.

• Prepare, prepare, prepare - not only with the buyer, but with your AE as well, and come prepared with discussion topics and questions
• Research your prospect, and their company in advance
• Be short and concise, let the buyer do most of the talking
• Ask open-ended questions. Don't make the buyer like they're being interrogated. This is a conversation, not a presentation.
• Don't do a deep dive demo! If the buyer is unsure of what your company does, you can use visual aids, such as images, videos, or slides to guide your conversation, but don't do a detailed demo within the product itself

Every call is different. If you've know of other tips or tricks to running successful technical discovery call, shoot me a message!