6 Short But Powerful Questions to Ask on Sales Discovery Calls
The discovery call is one of the most critical steps in the sales process. It‘s your opportunity to uncover key information about the prospect‘s challenges, needs, objectives and decision-making process. According to HubSpot, salespeople who ask 11-14 questions on discovery calls have a 74% greater chance to book a meeting than those who ask 1-4 questions.
But it‘s not just about asking a laundry list of questions. The key is to craft thoughtful, targeted questions that go beyond the surface level to dig into what really matters to the buyer. In fact, research by Gong.io found that there‘s a clear correlation between the number of "engaging questions" asked and win rates.
So what exactly makes a question engaging and impactful in discovery? Often it‘s the short, specific questions sprinkled throughout the conversation that make the biggest difference in understanding the prospect‘s world. Try weaving these six types of questions into your next discovery call to uncover valuable insights.
1. The Clarifying Question
One of the most important things to do in discovery is to make no assumptions. When the prospect makes a broad statement, dig deeper with clarifying questions to hone in on the specifics.
For example:
Prospect: "We‘ve been having some issues with our current software."
You: "I definitely want to understand more about that. Can you clarify what specific issues you‘ve been experiencing?"
Clarifying questions prompt the prospect to provide more context:
Prospect: "Well, the integrations with our other systems haven‘t been working properly which has created a lot of manual work. And we‘ve had a lot of downtime recently where the software is completely inaccessible for hours at a time."
Now you have clearer insights into their pain points around integration limitations and unreliable performance to inform how you position your solution. Harvard Business Review emphasizes that skilled salespeople "work to explore and clarify the buyer‘s needs before presenting their own ideas or solutions."
2. The ‘Why‘ Question
‘Why‘ questions are a salesperson‘s secret weapon to understand the prospect‘s underlying motivations and bigger-picture objectives. When they state a challenge, don‘t just take it at face value.
Prospect: "We need to accelerate our sales cycle."
You: "Why is that a priority for you right now? What‘s motivating the need to speed things up?"
Asking ‘why‘ pushes the prospect to think through and articulate the reasoning behind the problem:
Prospect: "Our sales cycles are typically 6+ months. Our CEO needs to drive more revenue this quarter, so we‘re tasked with closing more deals faster to hit our targets."
With this added context, you can better connect the value of your offering to their goals. Plus, you demonstrate genuine curiosity to understand their situation. Top-performing salespeople are naturally more curious, "digging deep to understand not just what customers want to accomplish but why those goals are important," notes SalesFuel.
3. The Implication Question
Effective discovery is both analytical and emotional. To truly motivate the buyer, uncover both the business and personal implications of their current challenges.
Prospect: "The team is spending hours manually inputting data because our systems aren‘t synced."
You: "Wow, that‘s a lot of extra time. How is that impacting you and your team?"
By asking them to consider the personal consequences, you tap into the emotional drivers behind the need:
Prospect: "Honestly, it‘s been draining for everyone. We‘re all working overtime and pulling away from other important projects. Personally, I haven‘t been able to get home for dinner with my family most nights. It‘s really frustrating and stressful."
Research shows that over 70% of B2B buyers are strongly influenced by their emotions. Uncovering the personal and emotional impact helps you demonstrate how your solution won‘t just solve a business problem, but make their life better too.
4. The Elaboration Prompt
Sometimes prospects will give a short answer that just scratches the surface. Give them an invitation to expand with an open-ended elaboration prompt.
Prospect: "We‘re looking to increase productivity across our sales organization."
You: "I‘d love to learn more about that initiative. Can you tell me more about what prompted it and specific areas you‘re focused on improving?"
This gives the prospect space to elaborate and go into more detail unprompted:
Prospect: "We recently did an audit and found our reps are only spending about 30% of their time actually selling. The rest is eaten up by administrative work, preparing for meetings, following up with prospects, etc. So we want to find ways to streamline non-selling activities and give time back to reps to focus on revenue-generating activities. Improving our sales tech stack is a top priority to enable the team to be more efficient."
Encouraging the prospect to share more provides additional context to hone in on the most relevant aspects of your solution. CSO Insights reports that sales reps top two challenges are understanding the impact of their solution on the prospect‘s business and a lack of knowledge of the prospect‘s business.
5. The Silent Question
As salespeople, we often feel pressure to fill every pause. But allowing moments of silence can actually be a powerful questioning tactic. When the prospect finishes a thought, resist the urge to immediately chime in. Just pause and maintain an interested facial expression.
Prospect: "We‘re hoping to implement the new solution by Q3."
You: [Make a note, nod, and wait with an expectant look]
Most people are uncomfortable with silence in conversations. The prospect will likely keep talking to fill the quiet:
Prospect: "…We have a big industry event coming up in the fall, so we really need everything up and running before then to showcase it. To be honest, I‘m a little worried about the timeline, especially with getting all of our data migrated and the team fully trained on the new system."
With just a silent beat, the prospect revealed valuable information about their timeline drivers and hesitations you can proactively address. Allow space for your prospect to keep sharing. Chances are, they‘ll provide additional insights you would have missed out on by jumping in too quickly.
6. The Reverse Question
Some of the best discovery questions aren‘t actually questions you ask, but responses to the questions prospects ask you. Flipping their question back to them creates an opening to learn more.
Prospect: "Can your solution automate the quote-to-cash process?"
You: "Great question. Streamlining the quote-to-cash cycle is definitely a priority for a lot of our customers. Tell me a bit more about your current process and where you feel automation would be most impactful."
Now instead of just a closed yes/no answer, you‘ve created an opportunity for the prospect to share specifics about their current situation that you can tie your answer to. Gong‘s analysis found that top reps actually answer 54% fewer prospect questions in discovery. Instead, they create a "cauldron of interaction that lets customers ask more questions and share more information."
Putting Your Discovery Questions Into Action
Of course, artful questioning must be matched with active listening. Sales discovery is a two-way dialogue, not an interrogation. Focus on asking questions in a conversational, natural way.
Avoid jumping from question to question. Instead, thoughtfully weave them in, allowing each answer to flow into the next relevant question. Make the prospect feel heard by noting key points, mirroring their language, and asking follow-ups.
Jot down important details you hear around:
- Their biggest priorities and challenges
- How these challenges are impacting their business and them personally
- Past or current initiatives to address the challenges and the results
- Aligning your discovery questions to these key insights shows you‘re listening and keeps the focus on the buyer. And be sure to paraphrase and summarize what you hear to check your understanding.
With the right questioning approach, you‘ll gather essential information to tailor your solution to their individual needs. The final step is connecting the dots between their situation and your offering.
Map what you learned across four key dimensions:
- Current state (their existing process)
- Challenges (the problems and pain points with the current state)
- Impact (the quantified cost/lost opportunity of the current state)
- Desired outcome (how they want to improve the process)
Then, align how different aspects of your product or service can take them from their current state to their desired outcome by addressing the specific challenges and driving the impacts they care about. Build a clear ROI case personalized to their priorities.
People buy emotionally and justify logically. Paint a before-and-after picture contrasting the frustrations of today with what‘s possible in the future with your solution. As sales expert Geoffrey James writes, "the most powerful closing technique is to show customers that you care about their welfare more than you care about making a sale."
Put Your New Discovery Call Skills to the Test
A sales call with no discovery is like throwing darts in the dark and hoping you hit the bullseye. By dedicating time to understand the prospect‘s world, you earn the right to share how your solution can fit into it.
Remember, the most impactful discovery questions aren‘t always the most complex. Try asking these six short but mighty questions in your next sales call:
- "Can you clarify what you mean by that?"
- "Why is that a priority right now?"
- "How is that impacting you and your team?"
- "Tell me more about…"
- Pause and let silence prompt elaboration
- Turn their questions back to them before you answer
The devil‘s in the discovery details. Those key insights are often hidden in the prospect‘s offhand remarks and passing comments. Give them room to reveal this "golden information" with targeted questions and active listening.
You‘ll be able to better read between the lines and craft a relevant, compelling solution that truly resonates. And you‘ll be well on your way to not just hitting your sales quota, but blowing it out of the water!
