Have you visited the doctor’s office where you tell them you are not feeling well and think it’s flu, then they proceeded to shrug and prescribe you some flue medicine? In a different doctor’s office, you visit and do the same thing. Then they go over your symptoms and take the time to look you over before prescribing you the flu medicine. Between the two experiences, which doctor’s office would you trust more? Both offered the same solution, but you have a different interaction with them, leading you to trust the second doctor more than the other. The process of taking time to listen and build trust is what we call discovery.
What is Discovery?
When one collects information to create an accurate proposal of a solution to a problem is what we call discovery. Through this, we can identify the gap between where the customer is and where they want to be. It is building trust between the vendor and the customer while gathering information to provide the best possible service.
Why do Discovery?
With discovery, the vendor can deliver the best solution to satisfy a customer. When it doesn’t go well, and discovery is insufficient, there are several things you might encounter. This includes no or delayed decisions, poor or wasted proposals, awful or wasted demos, slowed or wasted sales cycle, overly optimistic or inaccurate forecasts, buying it back, inaccurate or overly optimistic pipelines, burn-victim customers, poor product fit, insufficient value perceptions, negative differentiation, and many more.
When you do discovery right, you can enjoy many benefits. There are precise demos, accurate proposals, timely decisions, better product fit, reduced discounting, expanded opportunities, more predictable buying and sales cycles, positive differentiation, and more. For the customers, a discovery going well leads to referencing, referenceable, happier, renewing, and expanding customers. It also reduces churn and leads to vendors being partners and success lane feedback. Making discovery well means a winning sales demo.
BANT and Discovery
BANT is different from discovery. Before anything else, BANT means budget, authority, need, and timeline. It is well-intentioned and focuses on these specific areas, viewing them as prerequisites before one can delve further. Otherwise, it can cost you opportunities and customers.
How much Discovery is Enough?
You can tell that discovery is enough when the vendor has gathered sufficient information to clearly and confidently propose an accurate solution. At this time, the customer will feel that the vendors fully understand their situation. It is when both parties can agree that there is no need for further questions.
Discovery Skills
Before ascending to the discovery’s top level and reaping the maximum benefits, you must go through the seven levels of discovery skills. First, actually listen to the problem. Then, dig deeper. Broaden the pain and find the impact before you quantify. Next, re-engineer the vision and apply these skills. Lastly, goes the cohesive discovery methodology.
We will discuss further these seven levels of discovery skills that can help you create a discovery methodology on your own. Consensus is where you can get assistance on discovery or any process for your sales team. They are equipped with all the tools you need for a more efficient sales process, which will save your company valuable time and money.
source: https://goconsensus.com/blog/the-importance-of-discovery/
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