A Sales Discovery Call is the foundation of any sales process as it helps you and the prospect determine if synergies exist between your organizations. You need to step into the prospect’s shoes, understand their priorities, and craft a viable solution. Your potential customer must be assured that you understand their business issues and are capable of providing a professional assessment and solution.
Discovery calls are crucial as prospects may be in the early education stage or ready to make the final buying decision, and it is important to properly assess the prospect’s needs and timing of a purchasing decision.
Build rapport
Embrace a more engaging approach with your prospect as you begin the meeting. Talk about common interests in an attempt to ease into the conversation before getting to the business on hand. In B2B sales, it is always beneficial to research the prospect and their company through social profiles and the latest news to understand compelling events that created the need to discuss your product or service. Creating quick rapport in sales conversations will put your prospect at ease and set up for a candid business conversation.
Listening is the key
Listening is a learned skill that requires both cerebral and emotional effort. Prospects do not engage in a conversation to listen to a sales pitch. They are looking for a trusted advisor who understands their business issues and pain points. In this light, let the prospect take the lead at the beginning of the conversation and continually ask relevant questions to assess whether your product or service is a fit and for you to qualify the prospect further.
Keep in mind that your potential customers have questions they need answered before they make a purchasing decision. Take the time to listen, understand, and communicate with them that you have understood what they have said. Once this is done, a relationship based on trust will have been established to ensure they come back to you as they continue their buying journey.
Whereas effective listing eliminates future obstacles, ineffective listening results in damaged relationships, lack of trust, and lost selling opportunities.
Ask probing questions
Probing questions are the underpinning to any Sales Discovery Call. You must understand where they are in the sales process and if they meet your standards of a qualified prospect. Is this their first conversation, or are they familiar with similar solutions available in the marketplace? If they have had previous conversations, what are their likes, dislikes, and wish list items?
Asking the right questions and listening in an attempt to understand their problems and priorities is a must for a great sales discovery call. If you ask pertinent questions, your potential customer will tell you what they want and expect from your product or service and how they want their problems solved.
On a final note, from your pre-call research, make a note of three to four key areas that you need to cover in the meeting, and be sure to spend time the appropriate amount of time on each. Your potential customers will appreciate that you are taking time to assess a mutual fit of your product or service rather than hurrying them through the sales process to get to the next step.
