Table of Contents
A SUCCESSFULLY RUN DISCOVERY CALL WILL INCREASE YOUR CHANCES TO CLOSE BUSINESS
STEP 1: GO AROUND THE TABLE AND FIND OUT THE ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF EVERYONE PRESENT
STEP 2: UNDERSTAND WHAT YOUR PROSPECTS ARE LOOKING FOR IN A SOLUTION
STEP 3: CHALLENGE YOUR PROSPECTS STATUS QUO, ASK QUESTIONS, ANSWER OBJECTIONS, AND UNCOVER BUSINESS DRIVERS
STEP 4: OUTLINE RELEVANT NEXT STEPS THAT ARE MEANINGFUL TO YOUR PROSPECTS
RUNNING A SUCCESSFUL DISCOVERY CALL IS A KEY TO UNLOCKING YOUR ENTIRE SALES PROCESS. WELL RUN DISCOVERY CALLS CAN SHORTEN SALES CYCLES AND PROPERLY POSITION SPEED BUMPS FOR YOUR COMPETITORS.
ON THE FLIP SIDE, A POORLY RUN DISCOVERY CAN STOP A SALE BEFORE IT EVEN STARTS.
The first step is understanding everyone’s role and responsibility.
- Are there decision makers?
- Are there people who can sign the check?
- Is there potential technical champion?
- Who’s job will this impact most?
- Who will be the primary point of contact for a proof of concept (PoC) or when the deal goes through?
Having this information will help your sales team map out your sales process and uncover your prospect’s buying process. Often times sales teams will clear articulate their selling process. Telling prospects about your selling process and points where you stop engaging with prospects allows you to build trust by relaying that you won’t waste time chasing leads that are not a good fit. This opens the door to asking the prospect what their buying process when the opportunity presents itself.
The second step is to gain an understanding of the business drivers that will help push adoption of the your product or service internally. If you cannot uncover a business driver or a particular need that your product or service solves, your chances of closing your prospect are slim. If you do manage to sell something to your prospect the chance of an unhappy client and churn when they come time for a renewal will be very high.
The third step is to challenge their status quo. Everyone’s biggest competitor is doing nothing {links to articles BTC & LI}. Sales teams need to challenge the status quo, ensure prospects can see a solution will make their lives ten to one hundred times better. Sales teams need to be able to adeptly handle objections and make sure they present objections that typical prospects. Presenting objections to the prospect early in the sales cycle builds trust and ensures that prospects that cannot overcome the objection presented to them are removed from the sales process.
The fourth and final step is outlining relevant next steps. This is often the largest failure point for most sales teams. They often define next steps relevant to their sales process or next steps for the wrong members of the buying team, not the individuals present. Outlining proper next steps ensures that the sales team understands the business problem and motivations of the prospect. A sales team that understands their prospects business problems and motivations have a higher chance of not having prospects going silent and of prospects becoming customers.
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