#251 A Brief Introduction to The Purpose of Customer Discovery Calls

Notes:

Demos and discovery calls can often be overlooked in the sales process. However, they are most likely the difference maker in whether or not we make a sale. Instead of looking at demos and discovery calls as just another insignificant chore, we need to start asking ourselves how we can get better at using these avenues to build long-term relationships with our potential customers.

In this episode of the Sales Engineering Podcast, we explore the different purposes of demos and discovery calls. We consider the different challenges inherent in them and the strategies we can employ to get around these challenges. Specifically, we focus on business discovery and technical discovery.

Key Takeaways:

The challenges of a demo
What you need to show when invited to give a demo
Why discovery calls can have different purposes for different people
My idea of what a discovery call should be
The flow of a demo
The importance of inviting the right people to a demo
The difference between business and technical discovery calls
Questions to ask during a business discovery call
What to explore during a technical discovery call
The danger of saying something negative about a competitor during a discovery call
The accordion rule
What the complexity of a discovery call tells about your product

Quotes:

If you asked me, what’s the purpose of a discovery, I would say it’s a combination of many things. One, you want to qualify that you can solve the problem, you can solve the problem in a timely fashion or within the timeline that the customer wants, and how much it is going to cost them. — Ramzi Marjaba

The purpose of the discovery is to build excitement for the demo. — Ramzi Marjaba

If there is no business problem, there is no technical problem. — Ramzi Marjaba

Sales engineering is the process of solving a business problem through technology. You’re not solving a technical problem; you’re solving a business problem. — Ramzi Marjaba

People switch from one vendor to another, even though they’re similar, because they have a problem they’re trying to solve. And it’s our job to understand that. — Ramzi Marjaba

You can repeat the last few words they say or just sit in silence. — Ramzi Marjaba

Generally speaking, for the technical discovery, I’m looking to find out what the current state is. You have a certain situation right now, and you want to get to a future situation. I need to understand what the current situation is. — Ramzi Marjaba

Generally speaking, if it’s not a complicated solution, then it’s a very cheap sale. — Ramzi Marjaba

Sometimes, the goal of a discovery is just to earn another discovery call where you can discover more because there are more people involved in the deal. There are more influencers. And in every meeting, we’re just trying to earn the next meeting. We’re not trying to close the deal. We’re trying to close the next meeting to earn the right to ask more questions. And that’s done through relationship building which can be done during the meeting by asking the right questions, by listening to the customers, and by answering the customer’s questions. — Ramzi Marjaba