The discovery call is among the most crucial steps in any sales process. It is the call where the salesperson gathers information about the prospect's needs and pain points. It is also an opportunity for the sales rep to build rapport with the customer and establish trust. Since sales professionals are always looking for ways to boost their pipelines and fill them with quality prospects, how can they prepare to be effective during a discovery call?

In this episode, Ron Halbert and Rusty Jensen talk about the discovery call. They will discuss how to prepare for a discovery call, the three key components to a successful call, and how to close it.

Enjoy!


In This Episode

00:48 - What is a discovery call?

04:09 - Why discovery calls are important in the sales process

05:15 - How to prepare for a discovery call

11:20 - Why it is important to assist sales reps in building credibility with prospects

14:08 - The three key components to a successful discovery call

• 15:15 - Environmental questions
• 18:52 - Pain funnel
• 21:21 - Translating the issues to a business outcome

28:59 - How to close a discovery call

• 30:32 - Foreshadow the sales process
• 33:31 - The summary email

Favorite Quotes

03:15 - "There's a mentality in the sales world where in a discovery call, do I qualify out or do I qualify in? Do I try and turn this into something that I sell, or do I try and figure out whether or not I'm wasting my time by trying to sell to this person?" - Ron Halbert

04:09 - "Regardless of what you're doing as a salesperson, you should be able to be conducting these discovery calls and these first calls in a way where you are selling, you are finding value. You are helping a customer to see the light and what your solution can do for them." - Rusty Jensen

05:34 - "The first thing that you need to understand about any prospect or customer that you're talking to is you need to be able to understand what it is that they do as a company, what department your prospect is in, and what their typical role might be like." - Rusty Jensen

11:20 - "If you're an enterprise sales rep and you're talking about a potentially huge account or very important relationship, get prepared and get ready so that you can align yourself and your psychology in the way you communicate with them." - Rusty Jensen

13:07 - "When you think about sales as 90% building trust, it doesn't matter how smart you are and what you know, if they don't trust you, you're done." - Ron Halbert

23:24 - "You mentioned how they might defend the way they're doing things. There's a reason, and it's not easy to change. And they have to decide, are we going to go through? Is this worth trying to go through and replace all of this architecture, all these systems, these processes, and change, they can decide. And I'll tell you what, they're not going to make that decision just based on how personal individual feels about it." - Rusty Jensen

30:32 - "One of the most important parts of closing any call is to ask questions about the next steps, and the way you do that is you foreshadow the sales process." - Rusty Jensen

Connect with our Hosts
Rusty Jensen on LinkedIn
Ron Halbert on LinkedIn
The Sales Prescription on LinkedIn

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