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Master Discovery Calls

Template and Questions to Build Relationships and Close Deals

From the first point of contact to the discovery call and beyond, sales teams must build a rapport with prospects to uncover and address their business challenges and needs.

 

This guide will explain what a discovery call is, how salespeople can benefit, and how to prepare using a discovery call template and questions to help prospects feel comfortable sharing their pain points, decision-making criteria, and process.

 

For seasoned sales professionals or beginners, this guide offers tools and knowledge for enhancing discovery call effectiveness and closing more deals.

Learn more about discovery calls:

What is a discovery call?

Discovery calls are initial conversations sales representatives have with potential customers who’ve shown interest in a product or service. These exploratory calls build trust and gather information to aid in deal negotiations and closure.

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Why are discovery calls important for sales professionals?

Discovery calls help salespeople build ‌rapport with prospects, establishing a foundation for a strong business relationship.

 

The discovery call’s objective is to gather insights on a prospect’s pain points and priorities, enabling the account rep or team to understand the buyer’s journey and confirm the customer’s fit for their product or service.

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1. Is this a qualified lead?

 

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2. What challenges or pain points are they facing?

 

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3. What is their ideal solution (e.g., priority features and benefits)?

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4. How does their decision-making process work, and what is the budget and timeline to decide?

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5. Who are the key decision-makers, and what do they need to know?

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Before the call, salespeople should research the customer’s company and team, preparing to address their potential questions and concerns.

How to ask for a discovery call

Sales organizations employ outbound sales strategies to contact prospects fitting their ideal customer profile (ICP) or buyer persona to request a discovery call.

 

Below are tools to aid in discovery call outreach.

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1. LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator, a relationship intelligence tool, helps salespeople in researching interested prospects and gathering customer insights before crafting a personalized introduction email via InMail to request a discovery call.

 

Sales reps use the tool to research a prospect’s role within their organization, personal and professional achievements, interests related to the product or service, social media activity, degree of mutual connections, and engagement with company pages.

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2. Warm introductory email or phone call

On LinkedIn, sales reps can leverage Sales Navigator TeamLink to identify leads connected to their team's network. They can then request warm introductions to key stakeholders. 

 

Reps can send a concise introductory message and a calendar link for a discovery call. If a phone call is preferred, they can arrange an introductory conference call through a mutual connection, followed by a detailed discussion with decision-makers.

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3. Cold calling and emailing

If prospects haven’t expressed interest in advance through inbound email or phone channels, outbound sales teams can identify leads by cold-calling potential customers. They can use tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator to identify prospects that fit their buyer persona or ICP, then save that information to their account to track their progress. 

 

The first cold call or email should be short to ask if a prospect has challenges related to what the business solves. Tailor questions to insights research has surfaced about the prospect's roles and responsibilities and what competitive products fail to deliver to customers.

 

Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator, sales reps can personalize those first calls or InMail messages with customer insights to turn cold outreach into a warm introduction. From there, a sales representative can ask to schedule a time with the stakeholders on their team for a full discovery call.

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Discovery call checklist for research and preparation

Sales professionals should conduct extensive research when preparing for a discovery call to demonstrate knowledge about the prospective customer's company and expertise in their industry.

 

Answer the pre-discovery call questions outlined below as part of the research process

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What are the company’s historical sales revenue earnings and projected growth?

 

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Is the company on the same growth trajectory as their industry, or are they falling behind?

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What industry trends or insights about the product or service might influence customers?

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Who are the obvious decision-makers and stakeholders at the prospect’s company?

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What are their most significant known challenges or pain points?

 

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Have they publicly shared goals, needs, or new product launch plans?

 

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How does the potential client align with the sales organization’s ICP or buyer personas?

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Some practical tools sales representatives can use to find answers to these call structure questions include the following:

LinkedIn Sales Navigator and personal profiles

LinkedIn Sales Navigator provides real-time, first-party data that helps teams quickly identify the personal profiles of current employees who work at the prospect’s company. While these profiles are open to the public, sales reps can quickly save all of them to their Sales Navigator account to access later.

 

Use “Sales Preferences” filters to learn about a prospect’s professional interests, roles and responsibilities, and the target account over time. Additionally, identify mutual LinkedIn connections to request and gain personal intel about the stakeholders they'll meet on the call.

# 1

Existing customer relationship management (CRM) data

LinkedIn Sales Navigator also integrates with tools like Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365, enabling sales reps to import insights into their existing CRM data for further analysis. 

 

For instance, a past sales rep may have already started a conversation with a prospect. There might be logged call notes on essential details or materials they previously shared, or intel about the prospect’s pain points or challenges reps can use to prepare for the call. Reps can also add other team members or stakeholders from that company to their CRM to include all stakeholders in the decision-making process.

# 2

Trained AIs

Sales teams can train AIs like Chat GPT to act like their ICP by inputting the buyer persona data they already have about a prospect. Then, ask it for new insights about those buyers, suggested questions, and scripts to use for discovery call prep.

# 3

Trade magazines and industry reports

Finally, look for profiles about the company and its market or industry in trade magazines, news articles, third-party industry reports, and consultant company whitepapers offering additional trends and insights to paint a clear picture of the target account’s business challenges and needs.

# 4

Plan Ahead With This Discovery Call Checklist

Adequate preparation for each discovery call sets the tone for future conversations. Refer to the checklist below for call preparation.

Prequalify or disqualify leads

Researching customer challenges and needs will help salespeople prequalify or disqualify their leads before the discovery call. It also helps sales pros identify any product or service features and solutions prospects might benefit from in advance, enabling them to guide the conversation in the right direction.

# 1

Ask who'll be on the call

Knowing which stakeholders will be on the call can help sales teams to research each prospective company employee in advance. Use the information gathered from various sources to understand the roles, responsibilities, and personal interests of every stakeholder you expect to meet to share mutual interests and personal anecdotes that break the ice.

# 2

Pull up relevant case studies and marketing content

Look for supporting case studies, client testimonials, and content that might resonate with the prospective customer. Come prepared with quotes and stats relevant to the product or service that might spark their interest in learning more about the product or service.

# 3

Plan for potential questions, objections, or concerns

Anticipate and plan for any questions, concerns, or objections the prospective customers may have. Being prepared builds trust and credibility, makes the call more efficient, demonstrates expertise, and provide a security for the prospect.

# 4

Set an agenda and get consensus in advance

Preparing a discovery call agenda will make sure everything is covered in the time allotted by the prospective client. Share it with them beforehand and ask if they want to add anything before the call to establish trust.

# 5

Write out key questions to move the conversation forward

Finally, write out all guiding questions sales teams want answered on the call. These questions can also be shared with prospects, when appropriate, to help them prepare beforehand and make the conversation go smoothly and quickly.

# 6

Discovery call template with key questions

Senior salespeople can boost confidence by role-playing and asking scripted discovery call questions with junior team members. The call’s length should be as long as needed to complete the process.

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1. Build a rapport by asking open-ended questions

Experienced sales representatives spend the first few minutes building rapport with the prospect, understanding their interests, sharing commonalities, and identifying the call participants and their decision-making roles.

 

Ask prospects if recording the conversation is alright – so sales teams don’t miss any critical details when taking notes. Sales representatives should then ask open-ended questions (e.g., those that won’t get a yes or no answer) as the first step in the discovery call agenda. 

 

These discovery call questions will vary depending on what sales teams have learned through pre-call research. Below are some suggestions to use as a guide.

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  • Who is on the call with us today, and what is your role at the company?

 

  • What does a typical day look like for you?

 

  • What do you enjoy most about your job/industry?

 

  • I read the recent news article or industry report about <insert a title>. What are your thoughts about it?

 

  • I saw on LinkedIn that you like to do [insert activity or personal interest]. I am also a big fan of [insert activity or personal interest]. 
    What do you like most about it?

Review the goal and call agenda, and ask whether they’d like to discuss anything else before moving forward. Use the prospect’s name several times and look directly into the camera (when on video calls), smiling to show you’re engaged and friendly. It will help prospects relax and feel comfortable discussing the qualifying questions covered next.

2. Qualify fit and interest

To qualify for fit and interest, sales professionals should ask situational questions and actively listen to understand the prospective customer’s interest in the product or service. Potential discovery call questions include:

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  • What goal (related to the product or service) is your business working towards?
 
  • How do you currently handle or plan to meet that goal within the organization?
 
  • Are you already using a solution to help with that goal? If so, why are you seeking a new solution? How does it fall short of helping you meet your goal(s)?
 
  • Did any recent changes or events within your company lead you to find a new solution?
 
  • What is your decision-making process for finding a new or better solution?
 
  • Who within the organization will be involved as a stakeholder in the decision-making process?
 
  • What are each of their roles or stakes in evaluating the solution? Can we meet with them to better understand their needs and challenges (if they’re not on the call)? Or, can you please summarize each of their needs and challenges?
 
  • Are any industry regulations or compliance requirements affecting your decision-making process when choosing a solution?

  • Is there a budget in place for the product or service?
 
  • If the budget doesn’t match the costs of the new solution, are you willing to invest more if it meets your criteria?
 
  • What is your timeline for evaluating and selecting the new solution?
 
  • How quickly do you plan to start using or switching to the new solution (e.g., importing all of the customer’s files or data from one platform to another)?

Customers will naturally answer some questions in their other responses. Let them do the talking and determine where prospects are in their buying cycle and whether the solution provider or sales team can meet their needs, budget, and timeline criteria.

 

If prospects aren’t a good fit, sales reps won’t proceed with the rest of the call. They can move on to the next item on the agenda if it is a good fit

3. Uncover pain points and implications

After lead qualification, salespeople can guide the customer to reveal their pain points and their impact on company growth and costs. Below are open-ended questions for a proven discovery call structure.

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  • What challenges or pain points is your company or team experiencing right now?
 
  • How are you addressing these pain points? Or, what have you tried in the past to address these pain points, and why didn't it work out?

 

  • How do employees and stakeholders describe their challenges with these pain points or problems?

 

  • Can you share any obstacles or limitations you've encountered in solving those challenges or completing internal tasks and processes?

 

  • How do these challenges impact your company’s or team’s productivity, sales revenue growth, or customer satisfaction?

 

  • What are your known criteria and ideal outcomes for solving these issues? How would they help your team or organization?

 

  • How might our product or service help you solve those challenges or pain points?

Implication questions

 

Next, guide prospects to articulate the implications of delaying the solution.

  • How much time and resources are you currently investing in efforts related to team pain points?

 

  • What is the long-term implication of diverting time and resources away from other priorities at the company?
 
  • What is the opportunity cost of dedicating outside resources or solutions to this problem?

 

  • How much of your budget is dedicated to solving these pain points?

 

  • If you can’t afford to tackle all of them right away, can you prioritize which solutions could significantly impact your business in the short term?

Implication questions can elevate the buyer’s urgency and desire to find the best solution.

4. Highlight possible gains

Need-payoff questions get prospective buyers to articulate the solution’s value.

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  • How important is it for your organization to quickly resolve your challenges or pain points?

 

  • What does the ideal solution’s success look like for you, your team, and your organization?

 

  • How can the solution improve your daily operations, productivity, job satisfaction, product or service development, customer satisfaction and retention, and sales revenue growth strategies?

 

  • How can the right solution give your organization a competitive edge?

While answering these questions, prospects will naturally consider the benefits of using a new product or service.

5. Summarize and commit to the next steps before signing off

Before finishing the discovery call, sales reps should summarize the conversation to show they understand the prospect’s challenges and needs and reinforce how a new product or service can help achieve their vision of success.

 

Discuss the next steps and get customer feedback to inform the sales team’s proposal development process and any timelines they need to hit. The next steps might include hosting an online or in-person product demo, follow-up calls with other team stakeholders or decision-makers, and sharing case studies, custom content, or industry reports to help prospects make their final purchase decision.

 

Ask for their commitment to move forward and whether they want to schedule the follow-up call(s) while still on the phone. Be polite and open to their input to demonstrate that the sales team is collaborative and easy to work with.

 

Finally, send a follow-up email after the discovery call to summarize the notes and next steps – so everyone is on the same page moving forward.

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Practice and prepare for better sales discovery calls

Salespeople should listen to the discovery call recordings (when possible) and take notes on what worked well and what didn’t. Then, share lessons with junior sales reps to help everyone master their skills.

 

Discovery calls allow sales organizations to initiate new customer relationships, gather information to move the sales cycle forward, and demonstrate their sales team’s professionalism and product or industry expertise. Use our discovery call template and key questions to guide the pre-call strategy.

 

The right research and customer insight tools can help teams prepare for calls and close mutually beneficial deals. LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a relationship intelligence platform that provides real-time, first-party data and insights to help sales teams research their prospects and understand the roles, challenges, and needs of all stakeholders on the discovery call. This upfront work will allow for a more productive and consultative two-way conversation, helping to build stronger customer relationships and sustain long-term revenue growth. Redeem your free-trial or request a free demo today.

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