Discovery Is The Selling Part
A lot of sellers like to hurry through discovery to get to the selling part.
Discovery IS the selling part!
When you think of all the things that need to happen in order for a sale to be made, they all happen in discovery. It’s so rare, especially in a B2B setting, that a dazzling presentation makes the impact that you’re hoping it will. You’re putting all of your eggs in the wrong basket. Stop it.
Discovery ≠ qualification
Yes, there’s an amount of deal qualification that happens at this stage, but it’s so much more than that. In fact, the parts you’re leaving out are the ones that get between you and making the sale.
When your sole focus is qualification, you end up comparing your prospect to a checklist. It’s reductive, and if you don’t think they feel it, you’re wrong again. This makes your disco sessions feel like interrogations, and what kind of buying experience is that?
An interview, not an interrogation
What if you thought of these conversations as interviews instead? What if you asked deeper questions about the implications of solving the problems they’re encountering? What if you created the space inside of those conversations for the pertinent details you’re looking for to come out naturally?
How much more information would you get? How much more rapport would you build? How well would you differentiate yourself from the other sellers out there?
How valuable would all of that be?
Yes, you need to understand if there’s an appropriate budget, if the person you’re speaking with has the authority to make a decision if there is a real need, and if the timing is right. BANT isn’t irrelevant; you’re just going about getting it the wrong way.
If you approach discovery the right way, the ANT should come out in the conversation, and you will have earned the right to flat-out ask about the budget if it doesn’t come up naturally.
Six outcomes of great discovery
I talked about this on the podcast this week, so I'll be brief here.
There are six outcomes of great discovery
you create a connection
you create an understanding
you create tension
you create context
you demonstrate expertise
you create comfort
You do this by asking three types of questions
questions your prospect doesn’t know the answers to
questions you don’t know the answers to
questions neither of you knows the answers to
Want a little more color? Check out the episode, but when you approach these early sales conversations this way, you create an environment to buy, not just an opportunity to pitch.
Savvy the difference? Top performers do.
