The very best Discovery question

Here’s my question to you: what is the very best Discovery question? Especially the first time you meet somebody. I’m going to keep you hanging, to encourage you to read the rest of this blog, trusting that won’t leap ahead to find the answer at the bottom.

Discovery matters because of one very simple thing: the definition of sales. “Okay”, I hear you cry “what is the definition of sales?” I’m glad you asked. Sales is the process of (1) understanding your prospect’s business need and (2) validating with them that you can meet that need efficiently.

Please don’t think of sales as pitching-the-best-product, overcoming-objections, persuading-people-to-buy,… All of those ideas focus on what you want to do, not what they need.

If you focus exclusively on identifying a business need that you can satisfy efficiently, you will generate a lot of trust amongst your prospective clients. You will learn everything you need to help them understand that you are a great solution to their business problem.

Which brings us back to Discovery – how do you know what is their business need? That business need will be different for different individuals at the prospect. Moreover, that business need will change and evolve, even from the people you know. So you need to show the same curiosity when you meet new people, and you need to show the same curiosity as your relationship deepens with your initial contacts.

And so to that question, the very best Discovery question: “why did you decide to spend time with me in today’s meeting?” Whether the individual responded to a cold call and scheduled time, or reacted to a conference follow-up, or was an introduction from third party, or any other source, this is the critical question. And if they say “because you asked me to” or “because so-and-so suggested it”, double down on your original question “that’s great, but I’m going to bet you have an incredibly busy calendar and there is therefore some reason you think it’s worth investing 30 minutes with me, so I am really interested to know what it is that caught your attention”.

You can use the same question when you meet new people in the business. Subtly different as they will have been brought to a meeting by their peers. But you can still ask “I know that XX introduced us, but would really great to understand why you agreed it was worth spending time with me”.

Go ahead, try it. In whatever you hear, follow-up with genuine curiosity.