In short, the Discovery Process is a Q&A based sales approach that’s designed to uncover your prospect's pain points to better understand their needs, wants, and goals. 

While most “salespeople” know how to ask carefully crafted questions to get the answers they’re looking for, a relationship-based sales approach requires a deeper, more empathetic layer of listening. My goal in any discovery process is to find the alignment between what I’m offering and what they need- something I refer to as Intentional Alignment. 

The way I achieve this is to remain in a constant state of discovery until we reach a point that’s beyond the transaction. Ideally, I can reach a point of authentic connection between me and my prospect, developing an understanding of who they are, what they want, and why they want it, in a very short period of time. 

This approach can actually be applied to an interview/ hiring process, managing a team, and even understanding your own motivations for professional and personal growth. It goes beyond the what, when, and how and pulls from the great Simon Sinek’s approach to understanding the WHY behind someone’s motivations. 

In order for this approach to be truly effective, however, it requires a quality that cannot be taught or learned-  one must posess genuine care and curiosity. 

I hate to break it to you, but if you don’t actually care what your prospect is telling you, then this approach is not for you. Stick to your list of questions that will help you close the deal and leave this approach for those who seek genuine connection. I can sniff out disingenuous salespeople pretty quickly and nothing will lead me to walk away from a sale faster- even if I want what the person is selling. 

In my opinion, genuinely curious people make “cleaner” sales. What I mean by this is that they sell with honesty and transparency and do a better job at preparing a buyer for the reality of what they’re buying. No gimmicks, no surprises, no BS. This is what I consider a “clean” sale. Consequently, curious salespeople who genuinely care about their buyers may not always be the highest producing or close the most deals. That’s usually because they’re willing to short themselves a sale for the sake of what’s in the buyer’s best interest. This all boils down to Intentional Alignment, something I’ll discuss in more depth in another blog. 

If you’d like to prescribe to a relationship-based sales philosophy, I’ve mapped out the 5 key requirements to conducting a genuine discovery process below: 

1. Belief in what you’re selling-This one should be pretty obvious but you’d be surprised at how many good people are selling something they don’t actually believe in. If you think that what you’re selling is over-priced, poor quality, unreliable, or won’t actually meet the person’s needs, then maybe it’s time for a new job? 
2. Deep, active listening and observation- this extends beyond what a person is saying and takes into account their body language, tone, pausing, and seemingly unrelated bits of information. You can learn a lot from people by watching them while you listen. 
3. Asking hard questions and being prepared for the answers. This requires the ability to walk a fine line between what’s appropriate and relevant. This is where you tiptoe into their personal beliefs to better understand who they are as a person. This takes a lot of practice and unfortunately some trial and error as these questions have the tendency to take the discovery in a different direction if you’re not careful. That’s where #4 becomes a critical step in this process…  
4. Reeling it in- this is hands-down the hardest tactic to apply when you’re a genuinely curious person. If you’re not careful with your questions, you can quickly slip into the “friend zone” where your prospect now thinks they’re just gabbing with a friend.  After you reach this point, it’s really hard to come back to the sale. It takes an extreme amount of focus and strategy to remain a genuinely curious listener who can also keep the train from going off the rails of the sale. 
5. Knowing when (and how) to wrap it up- I’ve had a lot of genuinely kind and curious people on my team who conducted beautiful discoveries but could never quite figure out how to wrap it up. There’s an art to knowing when it’s time to close the discovery process without it feeling sudden, abrupt, or awkward. I have a lot more on this step in my next blog, The Art of Closing a Deal (made this up but will write another blog on this). 

The truth is, there is no perfect discovery question (or list of questions). The best discoveries stem from authentic curiosity, being an active listener, and knowing how to ask the right follow up question based on the answers you’re hearing along the way. 

Conducting a thorough discovery is critical for making an aligned sale that feels thoughtful and meaningful, but it also requires a great amount of strategy and patience. It’s taken me close to 20 years to develop my process and I’m continually making micro adjustments with every prospect I meet. 

It would be a lie if I said I didn’t love sales, but at its core I really just love human connection. I am far more motivated by finding alignment for my prospects than I am by closing a deal. I may not have the highest close rate compared to my competitors, but at least I rest easy at night knowing that my clients feel heard, understood, and are deeply aligned with me and my process.

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