10 Steps for a Successful Discovery Meeting That Leads to a Sale

The discovery meeting is one of the most crucial steps in sales. Salespeople who can skillfully manage this stage transform from mere salespeople into trusted advisors in the eyes of the customer. For this reason, we have created a guide with up-to-date suggestions that will help you easily navigate this phase. Here is the step-by-step guide to the discovery meeting:

Before the Discovery Meeting:

1. Prepare for the Meeting: Research the buyer's business, understand their role and challenges, identify potential needs, and prepare specific questions for them. This makes the meeting efficient and respects the buyer's time. You can use common acquaintances, the internet, or artificial intelligence to speed up your research. You can find examples of questions you can ask during the preparation in this article: [Link]

2. Send Your Questions in Advance: Share the questions you've prepared with your client before the meeting. You can also prepare surveys to make it easier for them to respond. Even if your client does not respond to these questions, they will see that you have prepared, which increases the value of the meeting. If they do respond, the sales process may be shortened, you engage with the buyer early, and initial insights are gathered.

During the Discovery Meeting:

1. Use Different Types of Questions: Uncover both obvious and hidden needs by using open-ended broad, open-ended specific, and closed-ended questions. You can find sample questions in this article: [Link]

2. Focus on Goals as Much as Problems: First identify the buyer's problems, then move on to discovering their goals, which helps you understand all aspects of their needs. This can also provide clues on how to better position your products/services. For example, if the topic of your meeting is HR software, but your company also sells smart factory solutions, you can gather information about a new factory they plan to open next year, and plan a separate meeting for the needs of this factory. Or, you could optimize the scope of the products currently discussed for those who will start working at the new factory.

3. Investigate the Root Causes of Problems: Use the "5 Whys" technique from Design Thinking to delve deeper and uncover the underlying root problem by repeatedly asking "Why?".

4. Uncover Rational and Emotional Needs: Recognize the logical and emotional reasons behind the buyer's needs, so you can effectively personalize your approach and solutions. Remember, people often buy with their hearts and rationalize with their minds.

5. Use the Power of Writing: Record the meeting visually, whether it's face-to-face or online, to ensure mutual understanding and accurate interpretation of needs. Writing down also proves that you are on the same page.

6. Prepare a List of Analysis Questions: Prepare analysis questions that cover all common needs related to the buyer's industry or situation. Don't forget to use your team's experience when preparing these questions. If you haven't prepared such questions before, you can ask ChatGPT to detail the customer's situation and prepare a list of analysis questions divided into subheadings.
   

After the Discovery Meeting

1. Determine Next Steps: Follow up with an email or document summarizing the discussion, confirm the needs, and suggest next steps to maintain momentum.

2. Continue Discovery: Continue the discovery process beyond the initial sale, adapt to changing needs, and strengthen customer relationships, transitioning from a salesperson to a trusted advisor.