Just like when qualifying a prospect, the discovery processes needs you to ask the right questions, at the right time, to the right people. In this stage of the sales process you need to find out everything you can about:

• The business and how it operates with respect to the problem needing to be solved
• The people and how the work together
• The problem that YOU can solve

Be careful not to dive right into a list of questions you have prepared. This will more than likely throw your prospect off guard and they will lock up, not giving you any information and preventing any further relationship development. Rapport must first be established. The questions you ask should be a natural extension of building a relationship with the prospect and the business. Always remember that you’re not trying to “sell” anything; you’re providing a solution. You’re on their side.

The Business 

Your goal in discovery is to understand the business you’re selling to. Imagine if you ended up trying to sell socks to a car manufacturer. It just wouldn’t make sense and would put you, and your company in jeopardy for future deals too. Even though you have already researched the prospect’s business beforehand, it’s important to have the prospect tell you again in more detail and in their own words. Often, you will get a much greater level of depth and insight into how people “feel” about the business.

You need to understand the different groups in the business and how they interact. How are decisions made (this will also help when identifying the decision makers)? Who are their customers and where do they find them? Do they deal with other businesses, consumers, or both? What does their customer life-cycle look like?

There are an infinite number of questions you can come up with to help you understand the business. Each question should be carefully crafted to help you acquire some specific piece of information that will help you provide the right solution and continue building relationships.

The People

Understanding the people in the business is perhaps the most important aspect to achieve. Start by asking some fairly obvious questions about roles and responsibilities. You should also ascertain the chain of command. Who does the person you’re talking to report to? Who is their manager, and their manager’s manager? This helps you get higher in the business to people with more influence and more authority.

You also need to find out what the politics are like. Is there someone that continually prevents new opportunities from proceeding? Find out why. If there are people like this, you will need them on your side so it’s imperative that you understand as much as possible about them and build a relationship with them individually. The old saying rings true – keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Unless people like this are well known to be “trouble-makers” in the business, finding this can be tricky. You should continue to ask leading questions and listen for changes in tone of voice or attitude. If you’re in a meeting, look for changes in body language. People may start to get defensive. If this happens, you’ve found something out, stop that line of questioning and get them back on your side.

The Problem

Ultimately, your goal is to provide a solution that the prospect needs. To do this, you will need to find out as much as possible about the problem. The prospect may not be totally aware that a problem exists or, if they are, they may not understand the depth or complexity of it.

You will need to have the prospect articulate their business objectives that relate to the problem. What is it they are trying to achieve, and more importantly, why? You will often come across people that want to do a thousand things, just because their competitors do it, or they’ve heard about it somewhere. While you may be tempted to simply say “Yes, we can do that…”, you should make sure the prospect can identify and prove the business objective behind each of their “requirements”. Anyone can provide bells and whistles and shiny objects, but if YOU can provide real benefit to the business, you will drastically improve your chances of success.

When asking questions to uncover the real business problem, it’s important to ask questions that give your solution extra value.

Asking the Right Questions 

Ideally, you should meet with the prospect to perform the discovery. If that isn’t possible, use an online meeting tool, such as GoTo Meeting with video enabled. Use the phone as a last resort and never ever perform discovery via email. You will need to be able to see the person, or people, you’re talking to so that you can read body language and facial expressions. Never meet with your prospect or customer without first preparing what you are going to ask. Write down at least three main questions, or pieces information you want to know before you contact them. Also write down smaller points to bring up. The main questions should lead into the smaller points and they should all lead into each other. Try to avoid asking polar questions (questions that have only a “yes” or “no” as an answer). Instead, ask open-ended questions that force the prospect to really open up. Leading questions can also be used to guide the conversation into a strong point of your solution. The questions you ask should flow naturally. They should be conversational. Don’t interrogate your prospect, you won’t get them to open up and the responses you get will be very short. The more conversation that you can have, the more rapport you will build, and the more comfortable your prospect will be in providing the details you need to formulate the right solution.