How to conduct stunning discovery calls

Since moving into the sales profession, I read books from gurus with the secret formula how to close. Who doesn’t remember actor Alex Baldwin in the movie Glengarry Glen Ross where the phrase “always be closing” (ABC) has been aggressively demonstrated?

To be successful in sales, we need to start at the very beginning. “Opening is the new closing” – as Tony J. Hughes summarised Anthony Iannarino ’s book “The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need”. And the most important and overlooked part is the discovery call.

This is where the new sales book “Still Underrated – A Complete Guide to the Discovery Call” from Mario Krivokapic and NOAM TAMARI-WEKSER fills a gap worth closing. So many sales reps across the globe seem to skip this critical instrument in their arsenal of sales tools despite it is often the “make or break” element to progress a deal – or get lost.

Mario Krivokapic is an executive coach specialised in organisational transformation and revenue architecture with over 25 years of experience guiding businesses toward substantial growth. Having mentored more than 300 startups, his coaching experience includes NLP and other techniques to shape the future of business leadership, one CEO at a time.

His co-author Naom Tamari-Wekser implements advanced sales methodologies resulting in solutions that remove barriers to maximise growth. He also buys and sells companies applying his growth engine approach.

Being both equipped with a growth mindset, the authors recognised the importance of the discovery call early on in the buying journey of B2B sales processes. In his foreword, expert author Justin Michael repeated what most companies tell Gartner in surveys: “The salesperson simply did not understand my issues.” To solve this dilemma, the book covers the topic across six detailed chapters: General Guidelines set the scene, followed by a practical chapters answering when to run the discovery call. The third part gets into the nuts and bolts of Marketing Qualified Leads vs. Sales Qualified Leads before discussing the right timing.

The key element of this book is the author’s own methodology Peruse Compete Win (PWC) which is based on the three most critical qualification questions: is it worth to pursue an opportunity, can we effectively compete and can we reasonably expect to win? Each of those elements is spread across three parts to gather more information. The final chapter covers a suitable discovery call flow applying PWC across the meeting including follow up.

Some quotes jump into the eyes while reading, either being a new learning or confirmation what we already practice: “By maintaining a clear distinction between the discovery call and product demo, you’ll give each phase the attention and focus it deserves.” I also resonate with the insightful timing question: “Understanding the unique tempo of your prospecting cycle will help you identify the optimal moment to sprint into discovery call action.” Finally a recognition of the experts in this craft: “A truly exceptional salesperson is someone who constantly seeks to refine their craft, embracing change and adapting to new challenges with grace and poise.”

Every seller in technology B2B sales roles can adapt this book into practice. Too many of them go straight into demo or pitching mode as they are missing the right qualification framework. Only when they earn the time slot for the discovery, they can conduct this two-step approach with a demo following afterwards.

This book is special to me as it confirms what I learned and partially practiced without having proper guidelines. In my own sales career I have been most successful when those phases were separate, regardless of how much the buyers were pressing towards a single meeting. Nothing beats their feeling of being understood. Now I have a framework and methodology in my hands towards facilitating a much better buying journey.

Upcoming authors can find many sources of inspiration in this book. The intrinsic motivation of addressing a problem worth solving with detailed research and sharing the outcome with many relevant people to ensure it hits the mark is surely remarkable. Personally I like the practical approach to put the learning into action: the appendix includes cheat sheets, call scripts, templates, objections and responses, as well as role-play scenarios.

Q&A with Mario Krivokapic

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

Both me and my friend and colleague Noam have been long time in sales. I’ve been an executive and a coach. He’s been a sales consultant and an executive coach for a long time as well. And one thing we constantly see salespeople half ass is the discovery call. Hence the name of the book. Still underrated – because they just skip it. They don’t put enough effort, enough time, enough anything into it. So, our goal was to really dive into this subject and write a book on discovery. We saw that there is a book on the MEDDIC methodology, and there are some books that touch the subject, but no one has taken a deep into this book like we did.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

Oh, one year. Noam and I spent roughly between 600 and 700 hours writing this book. We had a first draft, then we got a whole bunch of feedback, and then we did the second draft. We got feedback for that as well. Then we took all of that and send it to an editor. Sonja came in, butchered it up, gave a lot of suggestions and polished it up.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

So, most of the research is from our own experience, from coaching and running teams. We both did executive work, sales work, and then just what we’re seeing happening in the sales world. We came up with the model PWC to reflect how people are mismanaging their sales opportunities. Apart from that, we’ve sent the initial first and the second draft of the book to over 200 people, and we got feedback, maybe from 40%. I think we got like 75-80 people to reply and give us their feedback.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

It was time. Both of us are busy, and then just try to find time to write, to focus, to kind of really dive into the content itself. That was the biggest challenge for both of us. When we saw we couldn’t kind of do it on our own, we had regular 15-minute weekly check-ins with each other. Just to see the progress, just to report to one another what was done and what needs to be done. When we sat that meeting, it was a lot faster after that.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

My goal, personally, was just: can I write a sales book? I read about 50 books every year. I know a lot. I’ve done a lot. For me, it’s all about learning-action, learning-action. So, my only goal was, can I transition from a sales executive and an executive coach to a writer? I got to tell you; this is not as easy as it looks. It’s difficult to do. We did have some help in a form of a brilliant young editor Sonja (who I mentioned). She’s just phenomenal. If any of the readers want her contact, I am more than happy to give. Without her, this book doesn’t happen.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

I think, put our thoughts and our experience into a logical sequence on what the discovery call should look like. And what a salesperson needs to consider when it comes to discovery. It was about taking everything we know, putting it on paper or screen, and then just going with it. But the two main goals for us is: one, can we write a sales book? And two: we didn’t want any fluff. There is no talk about mindset, no talk about wishful thinking, no talk about The Secret and all those things. Everything is actionable. There is no jibber jabber. I wanted a sales book that is from beginning to an end practical, useful, and applicable.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

Maybe just begin. How would you begin? What is your expertise? Where are you good at? Where do you have credibility? Where do you have network? Most of your sales and the exposure will come from your network. I would advise you to use the large language models (LLMs) for help. To help you with the headline, maybe even to help you with the table of contents. Use them to assist you. Also, get a good editor. An editor worth her salt is worth more than anything.

Mario Krivokapic & Noam Tamai-Wekser: “Still Underrated – A Complete Guide to the Discovery Call”, iLearn Ltd 2023, ISBN 978-86-80666-31-0 (Kindle). More about the authors on LinkedIn: www.dhirubhai.net/in/mario-krivokapic and www.dhirubhai.net/in/noamwekser

About the reviewer: Gunnar Habitz helps organisations navigate and simplify computing and SaaS complexities as Senior Partner Manager and held management roles with entrepreneurial and mature global brands in Australia, APAC and Europe. As a Chartered Manager at the Institute of Managers and Leaders (IML), he mentors the next generation of leaders. Having published a range of books like “Connect & Act — Systematic Social Selling”, he is regularly reviewing good books. Find more content about leadership, networking and digital reputation on www.gunnarhabitz.com.au .