Do you win them at discovery?

I had this interesting conversation with Jeb Blount about the fact that most times you win buyers at the discovery stage. Is that true?

I am inclined to say that there is a compelling logic for the sheer importance of the discovery stage in the sales conversation.

Let’s start with the evidence. Multiple B2B sales reports from Salesforce, HubSpot, and InsightSquared allow me to estimate with quite some confidence that 40-60% of deals fall in the discovery stage, 20-30% of deals fall off during the proposal stage, and 10-20% die in the negotiation-closing stage. Yes, most deals die early on, in the discovery stage.

Now, let’s discuss the reasoning. The discovery call is not about selling. It’s about understanding. And, as I often like to say, decreasing uncertainty is the most important task of the sales conversation. In the discovery call, you don’t just reduce your uncertainty, realizing whether the prospect is qualified or not. You reduce the prospect’s uncertainty by helping them better understand their own problems. This is your chief goal. Period. Prospects discuss symptoms. You help them see root causes. You are there to help them better understand their problems. And if you succeed, you will be able to establish a powerful channel of trust that will ignite the whole sales conversation. If you can be positioned in the mind of the buyer as an advisor rather than a vendor, the sales conversation will take off.

Now, of course, let me be very clear. Doing a perfect discovery phase does not compensate for a weak product. Your product must still be the best to solve the clients’ problems. There is no value in showing you can identify a problem if you cannot solve it. However, a product solves a problem while a seller understands it. You still have to be able to explain well the benefits your product offers, but it is in the deep understanding of the problematic situation of your clients that you can build the connection that pushes the conversation forward.  

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