What are some of the key external pieces of information you need to know before a discovery call?

This is a critical question and often the root cause of inefficiencies and confusion when scaling a business development function.

First Rule for Discovery Prep: Keep It Simple

For SDR-led discovery, the primary focus should be on disqualification criteria. Define the minimum requirements to disqualify and make these the core of the SDR qualification process. Avoid asking SDRs to conduct complex, value-driven discovery calls with senior evaluators unless you are actively looking to transition them into a sales role. Their focus should be on determining whether a meeting should qualify as pipeline—nothing more.

In situations where there's no SDR qualification and meetings are directly booked via web forms, adjust the process to streamline the first call. Replace the generic “You're all set to meet with us” email with a high-level qualification email that sets expectations for the call and prompts a response. This approach ensures AEs are equipped with enough context on the buyer’s pain points to avoid a cold discovery call.

Example Email:

Hi [Prospect],

Thank you for your interest in [YOUR COMPANY]. Could you share 2-3 sentences on what prompted your interest or the initiatives you’re looking to solve? This will help me prepare and ensure we make the most of our time together.

If there are others you’d like to add to the meeting, let me know and I’ll include them.

This type of message invites the prospect to share their priorities. An engaged buyer (a sign of a promising deal) will provide details that often allude to specific pain points—a valuable signal that can help position the solution effectively during the call.

• Pro Tip: When a prospect responds, cold call them briefly to clarify key points. Keep it concise, with just one or two follow-up questions to show curiosity without overstepping. The aim is to build rapport, not conduct a full discovery. Be brief, be bright, be gone—just enough to establish a connection and show value.

With this approach, you'll head into the first call with confidence, having already created a personal connection and gained an early advantage over competitors.

Building a Point of View (POV)

To prepare for a successful discovery call, it’s essential to develop a robust POV that demonstrates your understanding of the customer’s account. For this, you’ll need:

1. A standardized set of attributes that helps you "know" your customer.

2. Tools that provide the data needed for this POV—such as Salesmotion, ZoomInfo, LeanData, CopyAI, Copilot, Warmly, or 6Sense.

Attributes for an Effective POV:

• Company Name: Identify the target company.

• Attendees: List who will be present and their roles.

• Purchase Motivation: Understand why they would buy your product.

• Urgency Factors: Assess why they would buy now.

• Pain Points: Capture any expressed challenges.

• Meeting Goal: Define your primary objective.

• Customer Expectations: Understand their desired outcomes for the meeting.

• Key Moments: Identify key impressions you aim to leave.

• Product Features to Highlight: Focus on relevant features for the discussion.

• Potential Pitfalls: Be mindful of areas to avoid.

• Company’s Offerings: Get familiar with their key products.

• Growth Bets: Where are they focusing their growth strategy?

• Business Themes to Align With: Important business statistics and themes.

• Competitors: Be aware of their competitive landscape.

• Success Stories to Reference: Use key wins to build credibility.

• Discovery Questions: Prepare questions to understand their process and pain points.

Leveraging this structured approach ensures that each discovery call is unformed, and better yet, meaningful, ultimately building trust with the prospect and effectively positioning your solution.

Research and preparation are essential to great discovery. When coaching my reps to prepare for discovery, I advise preparation across the dimensions of:

• Individual: this is broken down into personal & professional...

  • Personal: understand the foundation of the human you're talking to by researching their social profiles to uncover where they live, where they went to school, what do they like to do outside of work, etc. to help build a genuine connection

  • Professional: understand the basis of their professional life to unpack their title/role within the company, who they are connected to in their network, the types of topics they post/write about publicly, etc.

• Company: what is the most recent/relevant news happening across the company, what are the strategic initiatives, what were the key themes of the latest earnings calls/press releases, etc. to understand the most important aspects happening around the company

• Market: how are macroeconomic effects impacting the business, how does your prospect's company compare to their competitive set, etc. to understand the environment they are operating in

With a solid foundation across each of these dimensions then you can start to craft your "value hypothesis" and suggestive discovery questions to most effectively engage in a purposeful conversation with your prospect to understand if their pain aligns with your solution.