Welcome to module five less than one preparing for a discovery call. In this lesson, you'll learn a really powerful framework for leading a discovery call or meeting with ease and confidence so you know exactly what to say and what key questions you need to ask a potential prospect during the call. Within 30 minutes, you should be able to properly vet and prepare a potential prospect to become an opportunity. The reason that you should know this is because you should never get on a call without knowing exactly what you're going to say to a potential prospect that you've scheduled a discovery call with. So let's get started. First off, when you schedule a discovery call that is amazing because that means your targeting is working.

Your emails are working and you are refining your skills to be effective, overcoming objections and closing for the next step. If you've been moving along and employees minting along with the with the process. You may have already scheduled some discovery calls, you may have even already had some. And that is great. It means you're really in the sweet spot for understanding what your customers want. And you're actually able to speak to that really effectively.

So first off, hearty congratulations to you. That's not something to look lightly on. You're making huge progress. The strategic purpose of a discovery call is not to sell or close a sale. And that is one area that a lot of people kind of strike out before they even go up to bat because they get on the call feeling the pressure that they need to get this customer in the bag and that is not at all what you should be expecting or what you should be trying to do. You don't want to spend a lot of time talking about shoe.

You don't want to spend a lot of time ruminating on your product or discussing your company. Now your customer thinks that they're going to be getting on the call to discuss this stuff with you but they're not will see that In a minute, the purpose of the call is to ask a lot of strategic questions and get your prospect to talk and share as much as possible with you. So your job is to listen. Like really listen, actually listen to what they're saying. Don't wait for your turn to talk. Don't kind of tune out while they talk so that you can say the next thing.

Really pay attention. I want you to listen to the words they use, the phrases they use, how they word things, listen to the tone of their voice, the way that they may or may not say something, how they might dance around something. This is all telling you very important information that you need to know. You need to listen to your customer on this call. Because the way what you hear from them will help you help them and ultimately help you determine whether or not they're a great customer and get a new client for your business. Before you get on A discovery call, you absolutely have to do your homework.

Do not get on a call if you haven't had the chance to do your research. In fact, if you haven't had a chance to do your homework, you should either postpone the call. Or you should rework your schedule for whatever you have going on before the call in order to make sure that you have enough time to sit down and do your homework. Never get a call on a call without knowing exactly who you're speaking to, and exactly what their role is, and a lot more about their background to as much as you can find. Nowadays, researching is easy. It's easier than ever.

You can review their company's website, Google the company for information for articles, check out LinkedIn, see what they're posting, look at their Facebook page and Twitter. I mean, the information is so easily out there. So it's important to also get a sense for who this person might be on a personal level. Check out what their interests are, maybe where they attended school, if they have Instagram, look at that. Just get a feel for who they are and be ready to listen and tailor. You know the way that you might explain or the way that you might present things in a way that might best make sense to this person or resonate with them.

So it's all about the mindset in preparing yourself to speak to them in a way that will most resonate. Always confirm your calls if you can, it's impossible to avoid no shows you're going to get no shows. I like to generally wait like 15 minutes for someone to join a call, but I don't wait any longer than that. And if they don't join the call, I'll leave them a voicemail or send them an email letting them know I missed them and seeing if they want to reschedule and they usually do. I want to just put this out there real quick before we get into the meat of a discovery call. You are not priority number one for your prospects.

You are priority number 9999. It is not something that has anything to do with you. It's something about the fact that this early in the process, their urgency to speak with you and their urgency for for what you offer is generally pretty low, they may not be feeling the the need or the acute need or the pain yet and and you need to try to be careful not to portray yourself is too needy. At this stage, you are in a position where you have something very valuable to offer them. They are in a position where they don't necessarily know yet that they need it. So you don't want to come off as sounding or giving the impression that you're desperate because you're not desperate.

You are looking for people who will be a great fit for you and your business. You're looking for people who really have a need and will value what you have to offer. You're not looking for the first person who comes along and is willing to say yes. So I just want to put that out there. So here's the framework to have an effective and powerful discovery call. First, we set the frame which sets a tone and really establishes your leadership on the call in terms of you're leading this call and you are going to let them know what they can expect during the call with you.

Discuss them, focusing on their role and their goals, ask a ton of questions and 90% of the call will be spent asking questions and discussing them, not you. them. The next step in the framework is what I call level setting. It helps them see the world from your perspective and this is extremely powerful, do not skip this step. The next step level setting flows from into what we call matching. Matching allows us to outline the fit and position to your product as the item Deal solution for what they're looking for.

And then we closed for the next step, which is easy, non threatening and very low pressure. So setting the frame, they agreed to a call. But that doesn't necessarily mean they're quite comfortable with it, people like to be told exactly what is about to happen. So setting the frame means establishing your leadership on the call in that you are in charge, you are going to take charge on the call and you are going to lead them through the call it confidently and with ease. So I like to start by just verifying that it's still a good time for them. It's courteous, but it also gets them to verbally say, yes, this is still a good time.

They're committing to being on the call and spending time with you. Do not thank them for their time. This is something that you have probably heard yourself or maybe you've even done to say, thank you so much for your time. Oh my gosh, I really appreciate you coming on this call today. It's just so great that you're able to think like, No, don't do that. This is something That is called a beta trap, you can read a lot more about beta trap and Pitch Anything.

But we don't beta trap by effusively thinking them both your time and their time is valuable. And we need to make sure this The tone is set for an equal relationship, you don't want to be in a situation where you are setting the tone and that you are on a lower rung or a lower tier in terms of the relationship than they are. You are both busy. Don't thank them abusively for taking the time. Explain the goal of the call next, say something like my goal is to learn more about you and get an understanding for what the challenges you're facing in your role. And then, you know, I'll tell you a little bit about us and what we do and then we can kind of go from there.

So let's start kind of with that. You're the VP of operations at XYZ, which can mean a lot of things for us depending on the company so what would you say are your top three areas of focus this year, boom. This will kick them off. They will start to Talking and you listen, take notes if you can, and listen to what they have to say, ask them to elaborate, and just get them talking about themselves, their goals, and what they're trying to accomplish. It's a great way to also establish connection and rapport with them. People love to talk about themselves.

Another question that I like to try to wrap up with, as you're sort of noticing the grounds getting covered pretty well, I like to say, what would you like to see different in your role or company? Like, I mean, if you could change those things, what would that look like? And this is where you can start getting some really interesting and meaningful insight and information in terms of how you could help them. Listen for the compelling events, we discussed the compelling event, what that means is the the trigger or the event or the reason that they would need to purchase your product, maybe they're having an expansion, there's a trade show, they're growing a certain business, you know, unit, whatever it might be. What is that compelling event in which they need your services for if you're in the wedding industry, a compelling event is a wedding.

So what is your customers compelling event? Listen for it. And if you hear something that sounds like the compelling event, maybe just ask some quick clarifying questions to suss out whether that's true. And then also, it's helpful to note the words and the phrases that they use exactly. Write it down, even if you can, because you should use their words and their phrases back at them. So this is something that is really helpful because when you are listening to them, you're asking them questions they're answering, and then you're reiterating their answers right back to them using their words and their phrasing.

It establishes rapport, it builds trust, and they'll tell you everything that you need to know. The next step after we set the frame is we level set we levels To help our prospects really understand the problem from our perspective, we want to do this through referencing data and industry information, things that are facts that they can't argue with. It's a given that it's true. So wait for them to latch on to or really emphasize some sort of particular issue is being important or top of mind for them. And this will be really easy to do since they already told you what they care about, and what's a goal and what's a concern. So for example, you might say, I can see why those are your goals for this year.

I mean, zebra acrobatics industry is growing so fast. And just two years ago, nobody would have even imagined that juggling would have been the fastest area for growth. In fact, I was reading in zebra Acrobat weekly that these areas are expected to increase tenfold. And just this morning, I saw on the zebra journal that the rate of growth is going to create a shortage and talent. And your customer might say something like, yes, we're definitely concerned about having enough trained zebra To meet demand, well, there you go. They need.

They're short zebras, they're concerned about zebra. So this works because you're seeing the problem. They're starting to see the world from your perspective. And in this example, an industry is changing fast, and the companies have to adapt, and they're telling you what their pain points are. So now you can speak directly to those. We do that through a process called matching.

Matching is the process of taking their articulated issue or concern either what they told you or what they agreed with you on and matching it with what you do. This helps the person that you're speaking with to see that your product is the perfect fit, and it uses their own words and phrases as much as possible. So it just feels really good and natural. So you know, you basically say you said that you're worried about, about the speed on which the answer industry is changing and having enough trained zebras to meet demand. Our company helps onboard the train zebras in a way that meets all compliance and standards. And we can do this within 90 days.

So you are taking what is the typical solution that you offer to address the pain or the issue that they have. And you're matching them together. So they say, Oh my gosh, these people do exactly what we need. You're not making stuff up. You're not saying, you know, oh, we do this one thing that you don't actually do, and you've never done before. The point is to sell the product that you already have not to create something new, make more work for yourself more work for your product teams and create more bad fit customers you need to match the typical solution you offer to the pain or issue that your customer has that frankly is also very typical.

Although I have to say do not tell your customer that their pain or their issue or Or whatever they do is typical. People generally want to feel that they're unique. And they want to feel that they're special and that they're different. So you don't, they don't want to be told that they are typical. But they do want to know that you offer and aren't experts expert in offering the thing that they need to address the pain and issue and that it's typical for you to address it. So the product is now sounding like a perfect fit solution for them.

They're going to start to see the potential future of what it could be like to have this problem solved. Hopefully, through your language and the way that you're presenting things to them using their words, their phrases, they're going to get a sense for what it might be like to have this problem solved by you. At this point, they're going to start getting nervous because they feel that there's a sale coming on and they're worried that they're going to get upset. pitch, they'll start to kind of feel it. And you'll you'll notice that a little bit, it'll be a little uncomfortable at this point. be okay with it, because you're not going to hard sell them.

But I'm just letting you know, at this point you'll notice that So at this point, we're not going to hard sell them, we'll never going to hard sell our customers. What we do is we close for the next step. I like to call it a casual prescription closed. So to this point, you've created the right environment, through framing and setting the tone. You've recapped their known key points, using their own words and phrasing, and you've matched them to your product to illustrate the value. So you lay out a plan to solve their critical and agreed upon needs.

Your plan is your typical product delivery. It doesn't color way outside the lines. This is just what you do. But you lay it out in a way that feels very custom for them exactly what they need. You remove any of the Barriers to sale or implementation that they might or might not have expressed, either you're aware of this or maybe they've expressed it to you. And then you lay out the complete prescription or schedule a time to do so.

So the way that this might look is like this. You recap. They're known pain points, you know, you told me a, b, and c. So it sounds like this could potentially be a fit because recap quickly the matching conversation that you have, you need a we do B, you need C, we do D. I think we could really help you overcome these things and get to reiterate their goal using their words and phrases. There's a few ways we might go about doing this. One way is to discuss your product in detail and make it feel totally custom tailored to them like a perfect fit. What do you think?

At this point, be quiet. Wait and allow them to respond. Don't let You're uncomfortableness with what they may or may not say, force you into continuing to hammer on. What do you think? Shut up. Let them talk.

At this point, you're gonna probably get some objections. The typical one is the brush off. They'll say something like, sure that sounds great. Why don't you send over your stuff? And I'll take a look at it with my team. This is where a lot of people will be like, okay, yeah, that's great.

I'll send it over. And let's figure out a time to follow up. Okay, thanks, bye, because it's uncomfortable. And people kind of that alleviates the pressure people want to get away from it. That's the brush off. So what I like to do at this point is what we call acknowledge, ignore and resume.

So when someone says, sure that sounds great, why don't you send some stuff over? I'll take a look at it. And you can say, absolutely, let me get that put together for you. Or actually, you know what, let's do this. We just covered a ton of ground and it sounds like we might Be a really good fit for you guys. And I just want to make sure that we're fit for your team too.

So I'm looking at my calendar. Now, how does Tuesday at 2pm look for a follow up to loop and Brian and Mary. At that point, you want to kind of just acknowledge that they, you know, said something, don't totally ignore them. But then you want to ignore it and kind of push through because when someone gives you the brush off, it's generally because they're uncomfortable. They don't know what to say. It's not because they don't want it.

If they didn't want to discuss it, they would tell you, I don't think this sounds like a fit for us. Something like that. So acknowledging your resume is a great way to go about it. You know, we've covered a lot of ground, I want to make sure we're a good fit for you guys budget budget wise to, you know, why don't you give me a sense of a general range of where you would need this to fall in order to make it doable. If you get a sense that budgeting is their objection. You know, you can use this to work for you, but just kind of Push through and don't be pushy.

But also don't pause. Give them something that's easy to say yes to for the next step. How does Tuesday at 2pm look for a follow up to loop and Brian and Mary? Oh, yeah, I think Tuesday 2pm works great. Cool. I'll coordinate an invite.

Done, you just closed for the next step. You've alleviated the pressure, no one's uncomfortable. And you're moving forward to the next step, which is looping in the rest of the team, Brian and Mary. The other objection that may come up is the Oh, you know what this is, you know, this could be great, but we can't make any decisions. I've got to talk with my boss. You know, this is normal.

You want you would want to say at this point, something like this. Absolutely. Typical next steps, our our, you know, we scheduled a loop in with your boss Tuesday at 2pm. Sounds great. At that point. Then I'll have budgeting and proposals ready for you guys to review you can look at things and you can decide from there.

So you are again, alleviating the pressure. You're also letting them know, typical next steps people want to know. And they want to do what the normal typical thing is people are like, what do What does everyone do, I'll just do that. It makes people feel confident that you know what you're doing. And it also makes people feel good that they're following a process. And while people want to feel special, like they're different, they also want to feel confident, like they're following a process and confident in your experience and your abilities.

So just saying typical next steps are is a great way to get them into that place. And it just reassures them that you know what you're doing, they're in good hands. So that's one way to go about doing that. If they ask for a quote, that's also very common to have them say sure, send over the pricing. I'll take a look at it. Do not send over pricing.

Don't do it. It takes a lot of work to put together proposals and get budgets and clients and customers always ask them it before you even have the information, enough to create something for them in any meaningful way, don't send over pricing until they fully qualify as an opportunity. And usually at the point of this call, they haven't yet qualified. So you know, there's usually one of the three things that's missing in terms of what qualifies for an opportunity. Remember what that is, it means the decision makers involved, a timeline is established. And there's a general budget in place.

And usually, you know, there's a lack of a decision maker, the whole team's not engaged, there's people still out of the loop, all of that stuff. So don't send over any pricing until they meet those criteria. And that you have all the information from them that you need to have in order to put the get the pricing together don't shoot fully in the dark. So if they need to be asking for pricing, but not as a brush off is what I'm trying to say like don't give them the pricing Until you're really there. So proposals and quotes are work and prospects need to earn proposals. So don't send the pricing until you are fully qualified in the opportunity stage.

We'll get a little bit more into that in the module about pricing. So we covered a lot of ground with the discovery calls. One of the things that's really helpful with this is to roleplay. I encourage you to reach out either to colleagues or to friends or, or anybody who might be kind of familiar with your business and see if they would roleplay with you, as a discovery call. I also like to create general, I would say like scripts, it's not like a script in the way that you follow it but prompts, in terms of framework with some lists of questions to ask just in case I just am having one of those days where I can't come up with anything and the general prompts that I like to have to help me have a discovery call and have it go smoothly. So that might be something that's helpful for you.

I keep mine in Google Drive. And then another thing is, if you don't have anyone who's coming to mind who can help you, or maybe coach you, or do a roleplay, I encourage everybody to maybe reach out on our private Facebook group and work with one another. If you feel so inclined to roleplay, or coach on Discovery calls, it's so helpful. And the more you do them, the better you get. And you will get to the point where you're just really good at it really effective, you know what you're listening for, and you go right for it. Now, there's nothing like having a discovery call with your actual target client, but it's a great place to start if you're a little bit nervous and you're not quite ready to hop on the phone with a client right away.

So we've covered a lot of ground again, don't hesitate to ask us any questions. We're available in the private Facebook group to go over questions about this module. And we will see you in the next lesson.