When Googling That Sh*t Leads To More Eye Rolls From Prospects During Discovery - Do This Instead

Wait, just one more question!

How many times have you or your team fallen victim to asking just one more question on a discovery call? It's like we are playing a game of Where's Waldo and frantically searching for what next question we can ask to keep them on the hook.

But where does that next question come from?

Been there!

In this part 1 of a multiple part series, I'll help you make make some shifts so your team knows exactly what to look for during discovery.

Low And Behold - The Checklist

The number one question we are asked is by VP's and Sales Team is, "what questions should my team ask during discovery calls?".
A quick google search has you going down the rabbit hole frantically searching for what your team should ask during discovery.

You know what you'll get when you search "what questions should my team ask during discovery"?

268 Million results on what your team "should do".

Every Tom, Dick and Harry has a checklist or a guide to follow and you are so overwhelmed, nothing changes.

And if you follow the Hubspot's line of questioning (the #1 hit at the time I GTS'd this), your prospect will roll their eyes. You SHOULD know what it is that they do/their role and their day to day let alone, what is happening in their industry and business (more on that later).

Ok, But What Do We Do?

In the latest Gapinar titled - DISCOVERY CALLS: Use these 5 approaches and watch your prospects go from eye roll to engaged, I went deep into HOW to start.

When teams ask us, "what questions should I ask during discovery", we answer with this question:

"What information do you need to know in order to help your prospect?"

We get blank stares....

We get the smile and nod because we are not taught HOW to think about the information that we need to gather in order to help a prospect. We are told what to do but not how to do it.

Remember driving for the first time?

I do. After getting my permit at age 16, my mom handed me the keys and said - now drive home.

I smiled and nodded, but deep down, I had no clue what I was doing. I had heard all the directions for months, but without actually doing it step by step and getting the feel for it, I was lost.
Dang that was a long 7 miles home (in a stick shift).

Start Here:

Your number one job / your presences on the call is to get the customer, buyer or prospect to let you help them.

What does help mean?

If a customer ever buys from you or not, the time spent and information shared allows them to benefit from your expertise because you are an expert in their problems - you have seen their problems play out.

We move away from, I'm trying to gather information so that I have everything I need to sell to them, to a place of being rooted in diagnosing their current state and future state in such a way that they see the world more clearly.

The prospect leaves the call knowing if they should change, why they should change and what happens if they do not make a change. They are equipped with the criteria to make the best decision for their business whether they ever do business with you are not.

Next Up:

Start thinking about your product. Yes, I said it. Get into that place where you think about all the bells and whistles and how nice it is to have.

Have that in your mind?

Great, we will circle back next week and pick up from here.

No matter what you’re selling, until you can get buyers to trust you enough to be vulnerable, open up, share information, offer you insight into their current state and expressly ask you for your help, you will not make progress.