Throw away your discovery questions

Throw away your discovery script.

It’s the best way to gain a true understanding of your buyer. And the outcomes that are most important to them.

Persistent curiosity is the key to truly understanding your buyer.

Truly understanding your buyer is the key to winning.

So, how do you avoid turning your curiosity into an interrogation that repels your buyer?

By throwing away your list of standard discovery questions.

Look at it this way.

The first thoughtful question you ask a buyer rarely moves the needle.

It’s the second, third, fourth and fifth insightful questions you ask in follow up to the first question that get the buyer really thinking about the scope of their challenges and their desired business outcomes. And how you can help them.

Those questions, the ones that really provide insight into the buyer, aren’t on your discovery checklist.

Why?

Because the best questions you can ask are not the next ones on your checklist of standard questions.

They’re the ones you ask based on the buyer’s answers to your previous question(s).

One of the golden rules of selling is the following:

It’s not about what’s next. It’s about what comes next based on what happened before.

So it is in discovery.

The best next question is not the next one on your list.

It’s the one you ask in reaction to the information you just received from the buyer.

Ask good questions. Listen carefully to the answer.

Then formulate a relevant, insightful question for the buyer that helps them think more deeply about their challenges and the desired business outcomes they hope to achieve from making a change.