The aim of sales discovery questions is to assist you discover more about your prospect’s needs, desires, and pain spots. They’re an essential element of the sales process because they allow you to see whether or not your product or service is a good match for the customer.
Why are these calls necessary?
There are a few reasons:
To ensure that you’re not selling your prospect something they don’t need or want
To help you better understand their unique circumstances so you can customize your pitch
To find out what’s important to them so you can speak to those needs
To uncover any objections they may have so you can address them head-on
Stages of Questioning in a Sales Discovery Call
Asking questions is a skill, and like any skill, it takes practice to get good at it. The best salespeople are constantly honing their questioning techniques to understand their prospects better.
That said, there are three general stages of questioning in a sales discovery call:
Rapport-building questions help you establish a rapport with your prospect and build trust. These are usually light, straightforward questions that help you get to know the person personally.
Needs-discovery questions are meant to help you understand your prospect’s needs. These questions should be more probing and specific than the rapport-building questions.
Solution-validation questions are designed to help you validate that your solution is a good fit for the buyer’s needs. These questions should be even more specific than the needs-discovery questions, and they should also be asked in a way that allows the prospect to picture using your solution to solve their problem.
Rapport-building questions might include:
How’s your day going?
What did you do over the weekend?
What’s been keeping you busy lately?
Needs-discovery questions might include:
What are you looking to achieve with this project?
What are your main pain points?
What’s been your experience with similar projects in the past?
Solution-validation questions might include:
How would our solution fit into your existing workflow?
Can you envision using our product to solve your problem?
What would be the most significant benefit of using our solution?
If you’re not sure what questions to ask during each stage of the sales process, don’t worry. We’ve compiled a list of 20 sales discovery questions to ask your prospects, broken down by location.
Rapport-building questions:
- How’s your day going?
- What did you do over the weekend?
- What’s been keeping you busy lately?
- How’s the weather where you are?
- Did you catch any good movies or TV shows lately?
- Have you been to any good restaurants recently?
- What hobbies do you have outside of work?
- Are you a fan of any sports teams?
- What type of music do you like?
- Do you have any pets?
- What’s your favorite travel destination?
- Did anything interesting happen to you lately?
- How are things going with your family?
- How’s your significant other?
- Do you have any kids?
- What are some of your favorite things to do?
- What’s the best book you’ve read recently?
- What’s the best movie you’ve seen recently?
- What’s the best TV show you’ve seen recently?
- What’s the best restaurant you’ve been to recently?
Needs-discovery questions:
- What are you looking to achieve with this project?
- What are your main pain points?
- What’s been your experience with similar projects in the past?
- What are your goals for this project?
- What’s the timeline for this project?
- Who is going to be involved in this project?
- What’s the budget for this project?
- Have you looked into any other solutions?
- Why are you considering a new solution?
- What’s been your experience with our company in the past?
- Have you worked with our competitors before?
- How did you hear about us?
- What do you think of our website?
- Have you read any of our blog posts?
- What do you think of our product?
- What do you think of our pricing?
- Do you have any questions about our product?
- Do you have any questions about our company?
- Is there anything else you’d like to know about us?
- Do you have any other questions?
Solution-validation questions:
- How would our solution fit into your existing workflow?
- Can you envision using our product to solve your problem?
- What would be the most significant benefit of using our solution?
- How soon are you looking to implement a solution?
- Have you been able to find a temporary workaround for your problem?
- How long has this problem been going on?
- What’s the impact of not solving this problem?
- Do you think our solution is a good fit for your needs?
- What do you think of our product?
- What do you think of our pricing?
- Do you have any questions about our product?
- Is there anything else you’d like to know about our product?
- Do you have any other questions?
- Would you like to see a demo of our product?
- Would you like to speak to one of our references?
- When would you like to schedule a follow-up call?
- Are you the decision-maker for this project?
- Who else do we need to talk to about this project?
- What’s the best way to reach you?
- When can we expect to hear back from you?
Closing questions:
- Are you ready to move forward with this project?
- Do you have any concerns that we need to address?
- When would you like to start using our product?
- What’s the next step in your decision-making process?
- How soon do you need a solution?
- When would you like to schedule a follow-up call?
- Are you the decision-maker for this project?
- Who else do we need to talk to about this project?
- What’s the best way to reach you?
- When can we expect to hear back from you?
- Would you like to sign up for a free trial of our product?
- Would you like to purchase our product?
- How would you like to pay for our product?
- When would you like to receive our product?
- Would you like to schedule an installation or training call?
- What’s the best time of day for us to reach you?
- What’s the best number to reach you at?
- Is there anything else you’d like to know?
- Do you have any other questions?
- We look forward to working with you!
By asking these questions, you can better understand your prospect’s needs and pain points. This will help you tailor your pitch and close the sale.
How to Design a Successful Line of Questioning
When you design your line of questioning, think about what you want to learn and what kinds of questions will help you get that information. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
Invest the time to research your prospect’s company ahead of time.
This is self-evident, but I’ll say it all the same: to learn and understand your prospect’s company as much effort as possible. Understand their vertical, challenges, and objectives. Examine their history of engagement with your firm to see if they downloaded any materials. That might give you a clue about their interests and requirements.
Don’t ask too many questions at once.
You want to avoid overwhelming your prospect with too many questions. Ask one question at a time and give your prospect time to answer. If you’re unsure how they’ll respond, you can always ask follow-up questions.
Don’t ask leading questions.
Leading questions are those that assume a particular answer. For example, “Isn’t our product the best on the market?” These questions put your prospect on the defensive and will likely result in a less than honest answer. Instead, ask open-ended questions that allow you a chance to share your genuine thoughts and feelings.
Listen more than you talk.
When asking discovery questions, listening carefully to the answers is essential. This will help you better understand your prospect’s needs. It’s also important to pay attention to nonverbal cues, such as body language and tone of voice. These can help you understand how your prospect is feeling.
Send your prospect a plan before the meeting.
If things go wrong early in the transaction, you don’t want the conversation to be sidetracked. To ensure that you’re covering everything your prospect wants to talk about, including a schedule in your email. If necessary, offer them a chance to add more items to the list.
Make sure your questions are relevant.
Your questions should be relevant to your prospect’s specific needs. Don’t ask general questions that could apply to any customer. Instead, focus on the specifics of their situation.
Avoid yes/no questions.
Yes/no questions don’t give you much information to work with. If your prospect answers “no,” you’re not closer to understanding their needs. Instead, ask open-ended questions that encourage your prospect to share more information.
Ask clarifying questions.
If you’re not sure what your prospect means, don’t be afraid to ask for clarification. This will help ensure that you’re on the same page and understand their needs.
Be prepared to take notes.
You’ll want to have a pen and paper handy to jot down notes during the conversation. This will help you remember what was said and ensure that you don’t forget any essential details.
Follow up after the meeting.
After the meeting, send a thank-you note to your prospect. This shows them that you appreciate their time and are interested in working with them. You can also use this opportunity to build rapport further and strengthen your relationship.
Will You Use These Discovery Calls To Help You Close More Deals?
Asking the right questions is only half the battle. You also need to know how to use the information you learn to close more deals. Schedule a free consultation with one of our sales experts to learn more about how we can help you complete more business.
Make a note of each conversation.
Even the most attentive listeners miss important information from time to time. Make sure you save all discovery calls and sync them to your CRM. For a few key reasons, this is critical:
What was said may be more important than you realize.
You never know when a casual comment will come in handy. By recording the conversation, you can go back and listen to it again to catch anything you may have missed.
The recordings can be used for training purposes.
If you have new sales reps starting, you can use the recordings to train them on how to discover calls effectively. This will help ensure that they ask the right questions and use the information they learn correctly.
It’s an excellent way to keep track of your progress.
Listening to old discovery calls is a great way to see how far you’ve come. As you get more experienced, you’ll be able to ask better questions and get more helpful information from your calls.
When making discovery calls, it’s essential to ask the right questions. But it’s also necessary to know how to use the information you learn.
Final thoughts
Discovery calls are a crucial part of the sales process. They allow you to learn more about your prospect’s needs and see if there’s a fit between their needs and your product or service.
Asking the right questions is essential to having a successful discovery call. But it’s also crucial to know how to use the information you learn. By following the tips above, you can make sure that you’re getting the most out of your discovery calls and closing more business.
