How to prepare for your first sales discovery call as a new sales person

A discovery call is nothing close to a fierce negotiation or a back and forth argument. It’s an opportunity for you to learn about your leads company, needs, challenges and goals.

Meanwhile, for them, it’s an opportunity to learn more about your company’s services, team and work ethics. It’s also a chance to ask us any pressing questions they might have.

The main aim of a discovery call is to understand your prospects needs in detail and how you can help solve them.

Why a discovery call in important?

The discovery call is the first call you will have with your prospect after they have filled your contact form on our website, reached out to you through social media or called your office requesting for one service or another.

In making any business work, it’s important to begin with a very solid relationship. Establishing credible relationships with your prospective clients should sit at the core of our company. Place your relationship with your customers above everything else.

At least, you don’t intend to be a onetime fix and run company. You want to be a solutions partner working hand in hand with your prospect and be there when they reach their goals.

Also, a discovery call will ensure you have a complete understanding of you prospect company or business, background, products and services.

How long does it last?

Time is very important to your prospect, very busy persons, hence the reason to keep your call very shot. A typical call should last Minimum 15min and Maximum 30min, especially when the prospect is in the entry phase. Use a platform like zoom, hangout or anything else that will allow you record your calls.

PS: Ask for their permission to record the call.

How to prepare for a discovery call.

Before a discovery call, it’s important you set clear specific goals of what you want to achieve during the call. Over 90 per cent of your prospect must have visited your website, researched you several times and definitely will have some questions to ask us.

Questions mostly about your team, methodology, pricing, work timeline, experience, services and many more.

Go ahead and take notes of your observations, question and recommendations, so you will remember to talk about it during the call. Remember, the faintest pen is better than a retentive memory.

Also, it’s very important you have done your homework and you already know the following:

· What your prospect might want.

· Who they are.

· Why they want what they want

· Details of the person you will be talking to including company position and background.

· Company size and likely budget for your product or service.

Don’t worry about getting everything together, you will discover more about your prospect during the call.

Possible questions to expect during a discovery call.

A typical conversation with you will begin like this:

“you”

“Thank you for reaching out and taking the time to speak with me today. The purpose of this call is to understand your request and to see if we’d be a good fit for working together. Now, let’s begin with you telling me about yourself and your business and why you contacted us to help you?”

Though not all conversation will begin like this, I believe the above will give you a clue of where to start.

Tailor each question to your prospects business needs. Here’s a few:

• Tell us about your company?
• Tell us about your role at the company?
• How will our service be of help to you?
• What problem are you trying to solve?
• Why is solving this problem a priority for you?
• What are your goal and how do you measure them?
• What’s your budget for solving this problem?
• What’s your timeline for implementing a solution should you find one?
• What are the consequence for not finding a solution to your problem?

The above are some questions that will help you determine how best to add value to your prospects business or recent startup.

I know it’s a lot of questions. Don’t fret, you won’t go through it alone. It will be more of a happy conversation than a burden.

What to expect at the end of a discovery call.

At the end of a discovery call, you should be able to predict if you both are good fit for each other.

Expect to have a very good grasps of your prospects needs, pain points and a clear direction. You now have information you can leverage on to provide the solution you need and ready to set up the next steps.

In summary,

A discovery call is a must. It sets the tune for a successful working relationship together. Before the call, it’s important your questions ready and also be ready to answer questions regarding your company’s background, timeline and much more.