kienbui1995/discovery-call

Discovery Call

When to Use

When engaging a prospect for the first time to understand if they're a good fit and what they need.

Core Jobs

1. Before the Call

Research:

• Company: size, industry, recent news, funding
• Contact: role, tenure, LinkedIn activity
• Account: have they tried your product? any prior engagement? Prepare 5 open-ended questions specific to their situation.

2. Run the Call (MEDDIC Framework)

M — Metrics: What are the business outcomes they want to achieve? (Quantify: "reduce X by Y%") E — Economic Buyer: Who controls the budget? Are you talking to them? D — Decision Criteria: How will they evaluate options? What matters most? D — Decision Process: What steps do they go through to make this decision? I — Identify Pain: What's the problem they're trying to solve? What's the cost of NOT solving it? C — Champion: Is there someone internally who will advocate for you?

3. Uncover Pain (SPIN)

• Situation: "Tell me about your current [process/tool/team]"
• Problem: "What's not working well about that?"
• Implication: "What impact does that have on [revenue/team/timeline]?"
• Need-payoff: "If you could solve that, what would that mean for you?"

4. Qualify or Disqualify

Disqualify early if:

• No budget or budget cycle is 12+ months away
• No economic buyer engagement possible
• Problem doesn't match your solution
• Unrealistic timeline expectations

Not every opportunity is worth pursuing — disqualifying is a good outcome.

Key Outputs

• Discovery call notes (MEDDIC filled in)
• Qualification score (should we pursue?)
• Next steps agreed and sent via email post-call

Anti-Patterns

• Presenting features before understanding pain
• Talking more than listening (target: 30% talking, 70% listening)
• Not confirming next steps before hanging up
• Continuing to pursue unqualified opportunities