Discovering Hidden Potential: 3 Questions to Ask on Your Next Call

We have been making the same mistake during the discovery call.

If you’re a salesperson, you have to learn about your buyer. That’s a given. But there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. And too often, because of our human nature, we take the quick and lazy path on discovery calls - the path that makes prospects uncomfortable that they’re trying to win over.

We call it discovery but actually, it’s more like scoping which your prospects hate it.

I am talking about those tired baiting discovery questions at the bottom of every salesperson’s bag of tricks.?

• What is the problem you’re trying to solve?
• Is the budget approved?
• What is the decision-making process?
• When are planning to purchase? And so on.

This way of sales discovery gives it a real bad name - Actually this state can be a game changer for you and your buyers. Confused about what I’m saying?

I am talking about something bigger and grander: What about asking questions that prompt actually self-discovery in your customers? Trust me, it’s not easy and not for lazy salespeople but infinitely more powerful in their application and once you learn how to use them, you’ll never go back.

Techniques for Facilitating Self-Discovery in Your Prospective Clients

Like sales discovery, self-discovery is a process for your prospects that unlocks their true needs, fears, and hopes, allowing you to truly understand what they want and need. Here’s how to use the right questions during your sales calls to prompt self-discovery.

Step 1: Uncover the Real Problem by Going to its Root

As a new parent, From my real-life experience, when your wife is upset, it takes some time to figure out what’s actually going on.

She might melt down about not being to manage her workload and baby, but I know it’s never about it. It’s something else, usually, it’s about lack of sleep, tiredness, or maybe she is just not feeling well.

Don’t you think so, buyers are the same way? Your job is to dig to understand what they’re facing and what they’re trying to solve. Generally, the truth is at least three questions deep. So don’t take their first answer as the final answer. When you will get to the truth, you and your buyers will be amazed as sometimes even your buyer is not fully aware of what their challenge is.

There are always three levels of any given problem

• External
• Internal
• Psychological

- The prospect's external problem is the surface-level one. It’s something which you share when you’re asked the first question. This is something that brought them into the call with the salesperson.

e.g. We need a new CRM system for our salesforce

- Internal problem is more subtle. This is the frustration underpinning the external problem.

e.g. Our current CRM’s UI is very complex and old and lacks in major functionalities of reports and dashboards

- Little deeper is the psychological problem that gets to the core of someone’s identity. This is about fears and desires.

e.g. The CRM used by our company should reflect who we are: cutting-edge and high quality

Just think, if you’re asking basic questions, which answer are you going to get? Obviously the most basic, surface level.

No way someone is going to give up that third answer right away. They might not even know it themselves. But if you ask good questions - and keep asking, you’ll get there. And when you do, you’ll really understand your buyer.

Step 2: Help the buyer express the consequences of not solving the problem.

Before presenting your solutions, it is essential to make sure buyers understand what happens if we solve their problems.

• What does the future look like if they solve this problem?
• What does it look like if they don’t?

A great salesperson will help their buyers see the gap between Point A (Current State) and Point B(Future State). For most buyers, their problems have emotional elements. This is where patience and trust-building come into play. Don’t rush them. Work through this with the buyer. Don’t do it for them.

I usually follow the below script:

• Why now. Why is it a priority to address the issue now instead of six months ago or six months later?
• If you don’t solve this challenge, how your future will look like in the next 6 months or 1 year?
• How will you be feeling if the challenge is addressed or not?

?Let them understand what a solution will feel like. Relief, efficiency, simplicity. Whatever it may be, which leads us to step three.

Step 3: Help them see the connection between what you sell and what they need

In the final stage, it’s all about helping

• Help your buyers see a new and different future working with your company
• Help them see (and articulate) how your solution can fill in the gap that stands between them and the future they want
• How they can achieve what they want to and avoid what they don’t

This can mean you simply take the other tack: If you take this action now, how will your life be different in six months? How do you think you’ll be feeling at that point? Suddenly, they see that you’re indispensable.

I hope you had a great reading, if you find it useful, please share it with fellow BDRs and SDRs and help them to build trust with their prospects.

Umesh Khadela