Prepare yourself: next time you pick up the phone for a discovery call, you’ll know exactly how to engage your prospect and let THEM convert themselves. In this episode, our host Donald Kelly has a great conversation with David Newman, author of the business bestseller “Do It! Marketing”. They go deep on what makes a successful discovery call, and here’s a hint: it’s not a bunch of small talk.

Go Deep Fast

Don’t spend your discovery call having surface-level conversations. Most sellers don’t go deep enough because they want to be liked and sound smart.
Many sellers don’t ask questions to expand upon what prospects tell them. Instead, as David says, take off your ‘sales hat’ and put on your ‘investigative journalist’ hat.
Most sales professionals think being likable is the same as being talkative. This is boring to clients – get them talking early and often!

Become a Consultant

David’s first question on a discovery call is: how have you arrived at where you are today?
Another question David asks prospects is: do you mind if I treat you like a fee-paid client? This takes you and them out of buying-and-selling mode and puts you in a position to tell the prospect helpful information.
When you have the prospect’s permission to tell them what they need to hear instead of what they want to hear, you can be real and honest.

Treat Prospects Like Clients

Ask: How do you see this ending up if all goes well? (Then ask: “What else?” several times!)
Ask: What does that mean for you personally/professionally? What happens financially if this is successful or unsuccessful?
Ask: Can you put a number on it? Don’t be afraid to get specific about numbers.
Ask: Who else will notice these improvements? (This is key for finding out who else needs to be involved in this process!)

“The more you treat prospects like clients and customers, the more clients and customers you will get.” – David Newman

Resources

Order David’s new book, Do It! Selling, from Amazon

Get companion tools, videos, worksheets, and more at http://doitmarketing.com/selling

Set up an exploratory chat with David! http://doitmarketing.com/call

Sponsorship Offers

1. 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.

Mentioned in this episode:

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS

HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com