The discovery call is at the heart of the sales process. If you want to make the most of it, you have to come in with a plan. In this episode, your host Donald Kelly talks with Jessica Schultz, the CEO and Founder of strategic consulting and execution firm Amplify Group. They take you from determining which prospects are worth your 30 minutes, all the way through using your disco to write a great proposal.
Fail Fast - Don’t Waste Time on a Bad Fit
New reps often sink a lot of time into every prospect - even unqualified ones. Discovery is all about figuring out whether the person you’re selling to is a good fit.
In tough economic times, it gets harder to close deals. Reps might be tempted to try to “make it work”, even if their product isn’t a great fit for the customer. Even if you manage to sell successfully to a “bad fit,” your customer will have a poor experience.
Take the time to match your prospect up to your value proposition. If you don’t know your value prop or ICP, work with your sales leader!
Before Your Discovery Call
A 30-minute meeting goes by quickly! Send out an e-mail a couple of days before the meeting. Share information about what the business offers to give your buyer an opportunity to ask you questions.
Putting the time into doing some research about the company and its pain points shows that you value your buyer’s time, which can help set you apart.
Making the Most of Discovery
When you’re doing your Q&A, pay close attention to your prospect’s pain points and outline solutions to them. Use these answers to help build your proposal.
Record your calls and use a transcription service to refamiliarize yourself with your buyer before you talk with them again.
Offer the price up front! If that disqualifies a lead, you can move on and your prospect will be glad you didn’t waste their time.
“[The discovery call] is super important. It’s your first interaction, your first impression. This is true in any relationship, and sales is a relationship – it’s like a first date. You want it to go well. Leave a good impression.” – Jessica Schultz
Resources
Amplify (https://www.amplifyscales.com/): Go-To-Market and RevOps Expertise and Execution
Sponsorship Offers
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2. This episode is brought to you in part by TSE Sales Foundation.
I think we can all agree that sales should be fun. However, many times, we find ourselves in a quagmire where we’re not progressing and deals are not going the way that they should. This is why we created TSE Sales Foundation. It’s a program designed to help sales professionals just like you master the fundamentals of sales so they can radically improve their sales pipeline and close more deals. To find out more about TSE Sales Foundation and our next start date, simply go to thesalesevangelist.com/foundation.
Credits
As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.