The sales process and discovery

No matter what company you work for, sales methodology you've been trained on, or what product or service you're selling, the sales process starts with determining your target audience. You may have an enormous list of names or contacts to begin with, but at some point, that list gets fine tuned and you have viable lists that you want to cultivate. This is where sales discovery begins. When we look at a graphic of a sales pipeline, our attention often goes right to the stage where sales are closed. This is no surprise since this is where final results are tracked and revenue is calculated. However, you won't even get to this stage unless you have qualified prospects that have resulted from effective sales discovery. This is where the foundation of the pipeline is established and, frankly, the most critical part of any sales process or methodology you use. You could also illustrate it with a simple view of a sales funnel. You are feeding the funnel with leads that then become qualified prospects after the discovery call, and then hopefully flow down to eventually being a closed sale. These prospects are the life blood of a healthy pipeline. Your objective is to assess the lead and feed the pipeline with healthy prospects and with the greatest potential for closing business. As critical as it is to fill the pipeline, it's also ensuring that you're not clogging it with long shots or minimal revenue opportunities. That's why the discovery call is important. We're going to review the call in eight distinct steps. First, going into this process unprepared is foolish. Pre-call work begins with proper coaching and training to get comfortable with the situation of communicating with the lead. Next comes doing research about the contact, their company, and industry before making the call. The third step begins the call and having objectives you want in place from your company's point of view. What are you trying to accomplish? This then ties into setting an agenda with the lead that also confirms time allotted and mutual goals for the call. This is often referred to as an upfront contract. The next one seems like it would be simple, but the first minute of any session can always feel a bit awkward. You need to be able to engage. You follow that with steps five through seven, which gets into the meat of the discussion. You're learning more by asking probing questions, getting a feel for the decision-making and approval process, and then discussing a path for formulating a solution. The last and eighth step is recapping and agreeing to next steps. It's important to remember that discovery continues throughout the entire sales process. You'll need to continue to ask questions, listen, and better understand your client's goals, priorities, and business requirements with the objective of providing a solution and closing a sale.