“If you create connection, you create understanding, you create tension, you create context, you demonstrate your expertise.” – Jeff Bajorek in today’s Tip 749
How do you treat your discovery sessions?
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Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Jeff Bajorek went a little long today so let’s get right into this:
Jeff Bajorek: If there’s one thing that separates top performers from the rest in sales, it’s their willingness to do great discovery and not just their willingness, it’s their patients. It’s their curiosity. It’s their vulnerability. It’s their level of interest. And it creates outcomes that other people just can’t create. Typically, because most people aren’t patient enough to do it. They don’t recognize the value of it. They try to hurry through it and they treat it as an interrogation rather than an interview. This is the selling part. And if you do this right, people will ask you what the next step is. You won’t even have to nudge them. If you do this right, you can create six outcomes that I’m going to lay out for you right now that will help you close more sales. They will help you develop more long-term trusting relationships, and that will earn you more referrals to other customers and clients like them.
Great news. Right? Great strategy. Right? Well, here’s what you need to create with your discovery process. Great discovery creates connection. You need to acknowledge that there’s another human being in this conversation with you. You need to make them aware that you’re interested in listening to them, right? Stephen Covey said that “You cannot have influence over someone without them feeling as if they have influence over you,” which means you need to treat them well. You need to validate their concerns. You need to really just show that you’re there. Sit down in front of them, make a lot of eye contact, ask questions and listen for the answers. Don’t just wait for your turn to talk, take notes. Do things like that. That really makes someone feel safe and comfortable in your presence. Having this conversation with you. Great discovery also creates understanding. Yeah, I know you have your ICP figured out, but you know, as well as I do that, they’re not all the same and they don’t want to be treated as they’re the same as the rest of everybody who looks like them, in your opinion.
So dig into the nuance of their current situation, try to understand what they’re dealing with at the moment and where they’d like to get to in the future. Now that leads right into my third point here in that great discovery creates tension. What is the difference between where they are right now and where they want to be? And not just what’s the cost of not acting or what is the cost of keeping everything the same? Remember your biggest competitor is the status quo, but don’t dig right into that. Ask them questions that, get them thinking about what could be possible if they got to where they needed to go or where they wanted to go. What does accomplishing that goal look like? What does accomplishing that goal mean to them to take another step? Create some tension that helps them feel a little bit uncomfortable with where they are or at the very least. And I’m not interested in putting people in pain. At the very least paint, such a beautiful picture of what their desired outcome would create for them, that they can’t wait to get there, even though where they are right now, isn’t that bad.
What else does great discovery create, great discovery creates context. Your solution is as different from your competitors as they are from the rest of your ICP profile, right? So what is it that you can do with your questioning to create a soft space for your offer to land? You need to get them thinking differently. These are questions that you ask that they don’t quite know the answer to. You may have an idea of what the answer is, but you’re really curious to hear how they’re going to answer these questions, because that will lead you to asking better questions on top of them.
Creating some context for helping them understand that you think differently about solving problems. And they should think differently about the way they’re thinking about solving their problems, the nuance that you’re understanding in their situation. You need to create that nuance in how your solution is going to land. And remember in terms of great discovery, you’re discovering them. They’re also discovering you. So weave in those kinds of questions that helps create the context for why your solution is going to be so impactful. When you can do that, your discovery can demonstrate your expertise. This is another big issue. And this happens. This has to happen in the prospecting process. You need to demonstrate that you have the capability, you have the talent, you have the experience to help them get from where they are right now, to where they want to go. That is vitally important. You need to demonstrate your expertise and prove it during this process. You do that by the way, you ask questions. And by the way you listen, and by the way, you follow up to the answers to those questions.
Now, finally, if you do those things, if you create connection, you create understanding, you create tension, you create context, you demonstrate your expertise. You create comfort in your prospect. When they feel like you understand where they are, you understand where they want to go. And with them in mind specifically, and when you provide the context for why the way you choose to solve these problems is not only going to be different from the way your competitors do so, but it’s also going to be perfect for them. And you show them that you can help them get where they want to go, because you’ve done it before for other customers. How do they not feel comfortable taking next steps with you?
I don’t know if that’s how you treat your discovery sessions right now, but I’m telling you that’s how you should treat your discovery sessions. I hope I’ve challenged you to think a little bit differently. Send me a message. Let me know if you’re thinking differently [email protected] and I look forward to hearing from you
Scott Ingram: For more from Jeff and everything else around this tip, just click over to DailySales.Tips/749
And then, come on back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!