ONE FOR YOUR INBOX BEFORE WE START
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GM to the Top 1% ☕
Picture a discovery call at minute eight. The rep has asked nine questions, fast, from a checklist. The buyer's answers are getting shorter.
By minute twenty the rep has run out of questions and the buyer has run out of patience. Neither one learned what the problem costs.
💡 QUESTIONS ARE NOT FREE
Gong analyzed 519,000 recorded discovery calls using machine learning. The analysis was first published in 2017 and Gong last updated the page in March, so read it as a pacing guide, not a law.
Here is what separated the best calls. They surfaced three to four business problems. The most successful sellers asked 11 to 14 questions. Top sellers asked most of those questions while the buyer was talking about problems, and they spread them evenly through the call. Average sellers front-loaded them.
There is a catch for senior buyers. A later Gong analysis found that asking too many discovery questions greatly harms sales to C-suite executives.
The reframe: questions are not free. Each one spends the buyer's patience. The best sellers act like they have a budget and spend it on the problem, not on facts they could have read on the website.
🔧 THE QUESTION BUDGET PLAN
Four moves to plan your next discovery call like a spender, not a surveyor.
1. Set a cap of 14: Pick your 11 to 14 best questions before the call. Cut every question that answers something you could have found online.
2. Spread them out: Hold back at least half until after the buyer has named a problem. Ask early to open the topic, then use the middle of the call to go deep.
3. Count the problems: Keep a running tally of business problems the buyer names in their own words. Aim for three. If you leave with one, you do not have enough to build a case.
4. Shrink it for executives: For a C-suite call, cut to the three questions that matter most and lead with a point of view the exec can react to.
🎯 THIS WEEK'S HOMEWORK
Open your last discovery call recording and count two things: how many questions you asked and how many business problems the buyer named. Write both numbers on a sticky note. Your next call has one goal, to beat the problem count.
❓ QUESTION OF THE DAY
How many business problems did your last prospect name in their own words?
Reply with the count. Be honest. I will not tell anyone.
See you tomorrow.
Edward
Founder, Morning Sales