How to Write Strong Discovery Call Questions

I've spent 10 years perfecting the art of discovery calls: - reviewed over 2,500 discovery recordings - analyzed millions of discovery calls with AI - personally run (estimated) 3,000 disco calls Here's 5 of my best discovery call tips for 2023: 1. Discovery is a process. Not an event. It’s not a STAGE during the sales cycle. It’s a process. Your buyer’s situation is in flux. If you do “set it and forget it” discovery, you lose. Bad salespeople treat discovery as “check the box." They "front load" discovery. Great salespeople do continuous discovery. Don't set it and forget it. 2. The best discovery CREATES value. It makes buyers THINK. "Most" discovery CONSUMES value. It merely gathers info. Yes, you need to uncover things. But if that's ALL you do? You build a transactional relationship. Don't settle for transactional. Settle for transformative. - challenge your buyer - diagnose the cause of issues - make them consider new angles $500k+ earners do that. 3. Uncover the 'need behind the need.' For whatever reason: Most buyers share surface-level info. I'm not sure why. I suspect it's just how humans crystallize thoughts. Try asking this: "Thanks for sharing that. Do you mind if I ask what's going on in your business that's driving that to be a priority to begin with?" Or, ask them to take you back in time. Your buyer once had a meeting with colleagues to discuss the issue they're trying to solve. That triggered them to reach out to you (among other actions). Ask them about that: "I have to assume you had a meeting with colleagues where you discussed the issue, and agreed to act on it. What did that meeting sound like?" There's gold behind that question. 4. Re-validate everything. Never assume that what you uncovered remains true. Priorities change. Buyers’ needs are transient. When things change, you’d better know. If you followed the last tip, you’ll uncover priorities. But if you treat discovery as “set it and forget it," you’ll miss. Here’s how to re-validate: Start every follow up sales meeting with this: "What’s changed since the last time we talked?" 5. Phrase questions to get LONG answers Hate it when buyers answer with one-word responses? It sucks. According to data, successful salespeople get LONG answers to questions. Here’s how: SIGNAL to your buyer that you want a long response. Do that by phrasing your questions the right way. Start your question with one of these phrases: - help me understand... - walk me through... - talk to me about... This phrasing signals that you want your buyer to answer in depth. You’ll get richer answers. I'm out of space. If you want more, let me know? Until then, know this: Questions are the most powerful tool you have to sell. I spent 10 years collecting the best sales questions in a Google Doc. I tested them. I refined them. Now you can use them. Here's the mega list sales questions: https://lnkd.in/g-VRcCsq

Here's why most discovery calls FAIL… It's not what you ASK. It's what you QUANTIFY. "What challenges are you facing?" = 20% close rate "What are the ripple effects on the business when your team misses revenue targets by 20%?” = 80% close rate Do the math. One approach leaves you with DEAD deals. The other puts MONEY in your pocket. I've run 10,000+ discovery calls and here's what I’ve found: Most reps are allergic to quantifying pain. They ask surface-level questions. They accept vague answers. They fail to go DEEP. Here's my battle-tested formula to 3X your discovery call effectiveness: 1️⃣SEEK PAIN FIRST Humans are driven by pain or pleasure. Guess which drives more action? Pain wins. Every. Single. Time. 2️⃣GO 10 LEVELS DEEP Don't accept the first answer. Use follow-ups like: "Can you give me a specific example?" "How exactly did that affect your team?" "Tell me more about that..." You're peeling an onion. Each layer reveals MORE PAIN. 3️⃣QUANTIFY EVERYTHING "This is frustrating" = weak "This is costing us $250K monthly" = POWERFUL When it's THEIR numbers, it becomes REAL. 4️⃣TRIGGER EMOTIONS B2B is still H2H (human to human). "How has this made you feel personally?" "What was your boss's reaction when this happened?" Emotions drive decisions. Logic justifies them. 5️⃣EXPAND THE IMPACT Most prospects haven't considered the FULL cost of inaction. Ask: "What happens if a year passes and this problem remains?" Their answer will terrify them more than you ever could. 6️⃣MULTI-THREAD THE PAIN "Who else is affected by this problem?" "How is your team's performance measured on this?" Pain that affects MULTIPLE stakeholders creates URGENT deals. 7️⃣DON'T PITCH (YET) The moment you uncover serious pain, you'll want to pitch. RESIST. KEEP DIGGING. The deeper they feel understood, the less you'll need to sell later. 8️⃣USE A DELIBERATE SEQUENCE Random questions = random results. Strategic sequence = predictable urgency. Here's my exact pain sequence that's closed $15M+ in deals: "How long have you been dealing with this?" "What have you tried so far?" "Why hasn't it worked?" "What metric is most impacted?" "Where is it now vs. where you need it to be?" "How has this affected YOU personally?" "Who else is feeling this pain?" "What happens if this continues for another year?" This isn't theory. This is 15 years of trench warfare from selling SMB through the Enterprise. When I switched from asking WHAT to asking HOW MUCH, my close rate jumped from 22% to 78%. Want even more Discovery training? Go here: https://lnkd.in/g2-Dw_jp

Stop drilling for pain on cold calls That’s not the SDR’s job Your job as an SDR? ✅ Sell the meeting ✅ Sell why them ✅ Sell why now That’s it Think about it like this 👇 When you call your doctor’s office the office manager doesn’t ❌ Diagnose your problem ❌ Prescribe a treatment plan ❌ Spend 30 minutes unpacking your symptoms Their job? ✅ Qualify you (is it urgent?) ✅ Get high level context (what’s going on?) ✅ Confirm your insurance (can we even help?) ✅ Decide if/when you need to see the doctor ✅ Sometimes they even say “Ice the knee for a few days and call back if it gets worse” Same goes for SDRs You’re not there to solve You’re there to open the door But here’s where I see most reps fumble ❌ Word vomiting the value prop out of the blue ❌ Forcing “pain” discovery in a 5 minute call ❌ Treating every connect like a therapy session and then wondering why prospects ghost 🤷♂️ The Tom Slocum approach looks like this 👇 Ask good leading discovery questions → “Is this on your radar at all?” → “How have you been tackling this?” → “What have you tried before?” → “If you fixed this what would success look like?” Talk to them Understand their world Share quick stories or ROI examples that land If it aligns then and only then → Justify why a 30 minute meeting makes sense → Sell them on the value of carving out that time with YOU and if you’ve done it really well? They flip the script “Okay Tom… what’s next? Can we book some time?” That’s the win 🤙 Reality check Prospects get 300+ cold emails a week Most are AI written, zero relevance, pure junk Everyone’s begging for “just 30 minutes” on their calendar If they said yes to every SDR they’d spend their week in 100+ pointless meetings…and probably lose their jobs It’s HARD to earn that time from a 5–10 min cold call out of the blue So stop trying to force it Talk. Qualify. Tease SELL THE MEETING! That’s the SDR’s role Full stop The Tom Slocum method ✅ Sell time not solutions ✅ Surface curiosity not deep pain ✅ Train delivery not just the script ✅ Track conversations not just meetings Do that and you’ll book more, show more and build healthier pipeline 💪 So… agree or disagree? Should SDRs uncover pain on cold calls or just sell the damn meeting?

The key to mastering discovery has nothing to do with asking questions. Here's a flip in perspective that recently changed my discovery calls: Before deciding which question to ask...you need to know what you're trying to get your prospect to say in the first place! When you know what you need them to say...it's much easier to reverse-engineer what to ask. Great discovery requires that you understand the relationships between: 1. The most common prospect "types" you'll encounter. 2. The most common problems for each type of prospect.  3. The broader business impact each given problem creates. When you know the flow of how situations --> problems --> impact, you can just authentically ask questions that lead the call in that direction. But if you just ask questions for the sake of asking questions, you come off as canned and don't even guarantee you'll "discover" what you needed to. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲: Define in advance what you need to "discover" for YOUR sale. 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝟭: 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗦𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 What information do you need to know about your prospect to determine what problems they are likely to have? --- 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝟮: 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 Based on the "type" of prospect you're meeting with, what problems do they usually have? If you know the top 3 pain points you solve for this type of prospect...just ask if they have any of those 3 problems. --- 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝟯: 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 "Pain points" are usually 4-5 figure problems. You won't sell a 6-figure deal solving a 5 figure problem. Map out in advance why the "pain" you discovered might actually matter to an Exec. Hint: You can usually tie the operational problem to 1 of these things: 1. Help them make $ 2. Help them save $ 3. Mitigate risk --- 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝟰: 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 You probably won't get here on the first call. But if you can eventually get your prospect to articulate how the Exec problem impacts the entire business, you have a much stronger business case. Look for things like: 1. A C-Level Metric 2. A Board-Level Priority  3. Existential Business Risk ____ TL;DR Knowing where you need to take the call is FAR more important than knowing the "perfect" discovery questions to ask. Liking this concept and want help building out your discovery plan? You may enjoy the new 30 Minutes to President's Club discovery course where we teach you step-by-step how to build this for whatever YOU sell.