This week I had a coaching session with a rep that reminded me how easy it is to miss what's right in front of us on a discovery call. The lesson became this week's issue. The feedback from the coachee is above
Welcome to issue Number 1 of Selling Problems?!
This week we're talking about one of the biggest mistakes reps make on discovery calls: failing to understand a prospect's experience with previous vendors.
🚧 Objection of the Week
Prospect:
"Just send us some information."
What no to say….
"Sure, what's your email address?"
The problem:
You've just agreed to lose control of the sales process.
The information never gets read and when you call back they’ve blocked your numebr
What I'd do instead:
"Happy to do that. Can you I just ask is there something specific you really want to see or is that just a polite way of trying to get me off the phone?
No wrong answers either’s fine I just don’t want to waste your time or mine (more on this and abundance mindset in future episodes.)
I had a great coaching conversation with a rep this week when we we;re reviewing one of his discovery calls.
The prospect said:
"We've used a couple of your competitors in the past. We need a solution that helps us streamline our current process and do everything in one place."
Most reps hear that and respond with questions like:
Tell me more about why you want to streamline things.
What does that look like?
Why is that important now?
Those aren't bad questions.
But there's a huge risk hiding in plain sight.
The prospect has used solutions like yours before.
Which means there's a very good chance they'll use one again.
If you don't understand their experience with previous vendors, you're missing the most important part of the conversation.
Instead, I'd ask:
"I'm curious, Chris. You mentioned you've used X and Y in the past. I'm guessing they're probably getting strong consideration again?"
What happens next is gold.
One of two things usually happens.
Option 1:
"Yeah, we're definitely looking at them."
Now you know you're trying to displace a familiar option. You’ve got your work cut out you need to understand why they might change.
Option 2:
"Actually, no. They weren't great because..."
Now you've uncovered the reason they're shopping.
Maybe support was poor.
Maybe implementation failed.
Maybe the product couldn't do what they needed.
Whatever it is, you've found the real problem.
Too many reps jump straight into needs analysis without understanding the prospect's buying history.
Before you start uncovering future requirements, make sure you understand the past.
Otherwise, you never really know why they're taking the meeting.
Are they genuinely looking for a better option?
Or are you just quote number three?
The answer changes everything.
Did You Know? "The average salesperson spends less than 36% of their time actually selling.”
Dad joke of the week “"Why did the salesperson break up with the calendar? Because their days were numbered."
I’ll get my coat.
Till next time,