The Ultimate Discovery Call Checklist
We analyzed more than 519,000 recordings to uncover the formula that top sellers use to run their discovery calls. These secrets are all revealed in this discovery call checklist – get it now to fast-track high-fit buyers through your sales cycle.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
HOW TO OPTIMIZE QUESTIONS
Learn the question volume, frequency, and timing that increase the likelihood of a winning call (and a closed deal).
WHEN TO TALK, WHEN TO LISTEN
Conventional sales wisdom has always been to listen more than you speak. Did you know that low performers speak 72 percent of the time?
HOW TO ENGAGE EFFECTIVELY
Fun fact: Conversations with more speaker switches per minute result in higher success rates. Your discovery calls should be more of a tennis match than a monologue.
HOW TO USE THE DISCOVERY CALL CHECKLIST
KNOW THE WINNING FORMULA
Each part of this five-part discovery call checklist is based on AI-powered analysis of hundreds of thousands of calls. Step one? Learn this checklist like the back of your hand.
AUDIT PAST CALLS
Run your reps’ call recordings against this checklist to see how well they stack up against this discovery call checklist.
REPLICATE ACROSS THE TEAM
Hold up successful discovery calls that exemplify these best practices. Share them with the rest of the team so they understand what an optimal discovery call really looks like.
GET THE CHECKLIST & WITHIN SECONDS YOU’LL LEARN:
DISCOVERY CALL MAGIC
Learn the patterns and trends behind the most successful discovery calls, each of them backed by data that we analyzed ourselves.
WHY PROBLEMS MATTER
Our data shows that winning reps know how to talk about the customer’s problems in specific and meaningful ways. Our checklist shows you how.
POWER OF QUESTIONS
Did you know that words like “you,” “your,” and “imagine” can significantly boost your win rates? It’s true, and we have the data to prove it.
TALK/LISTEN RATIO
It’s not just what prospects want to hear, but how often they want to hear a rep’s voice at all. Learn the optimal talk/listen ratio for discovery calls.
THE BACK AND FORTH
Look, nobody likes a ball hog. On discovery calls, speaker distribution can be an important indicator of success. This checklist tells you when to talk and when to listen.
BONUS REPORT
Get an exclusive link to our free (and incredible) Discovery Call Benchmark Report.
And there's so much more...
Making this one of the most valuable checklists we’ve ever offered.
Imagine walking into every sales discovery call with a five-point checklist based on analysis of hundreds of thousands of calls. Yeah. Kind of a big deal.
DISCOVERY CALLS JUST GOT A LOT MORE PRODUCTIVE
Join the more than 12,000 successful sales professionals who are closing more deals with this discovery call checklist.
FAQs
Q: Wait … what’s a discovery call?
A: Great question. A discovery call is one the first—and most crucial—steps that comes after a lead is assigned to a sales rep. It’s an opportunity to meet each other, discuss pain points, business needs, and your company’s potential solution. Ideally, this is the first step on the journey toward a closed-won deal.
Here’s the thing: discovery calls can be a little awkward. Redundant. Personalities might clash. The fit can feel off. But as we point out in The 7 Best Discovery Call Tips for Sales You’ll Ever Read, a discovery call can set the trajectory of a given deal. It can shape how reps present their solution, uncover scenarios for handling objections, and even reveal what negotiation leverage will (or won’t be) available at the end of the sales process.
Ask any seasoned sales rep and they’ll tell you: gotta nail the discovery call. Which is what makes this discovery call checklist so valuable.
Q: What’s included in the discovery call checklist?
A: Discovery call checklist, cheat sheet—whatever you want to call it, this asset is designed to help sales reps structure, run, and objectively crush their discovery calls. The checklist comprises five essential elements of a successful discovery call—a proven formula, if you will. They are:
- Questions to ask
- Question flow
- Talk/listen ratio
- Problems to cover
- Speaker switches
Each element in the discovery call checklist is accompanied with additional context and data, which comes directly from our AI-assisted analysis of more than 500,000 sales discovery calls. It’s data-backed. It’s proven. And if, after reading this simple but powerful discovery call checklist, you print it out and pin it up for quick reference, we won’t tell anybody. Promise.
Q: Do you have any more tips for conducting productive discovery calls?
A: Yes. This discovery call checklist is designed to be a simple and handy reference for sales reps as they prepare for their calls. However, we did put our heads together to provide a few more best practices for sales calls.
For one thing, sales reps would do well to ask more questions. Treat questions as a medium through which you tease out business needs, pain points, and even budget.
Next, remember that nobody wants to be interrogated—especially business professionals with purchase intent. Space things out, pace the conversation a bit, and give space for rapport, trust, and storytelling to grow. This, of course, will require good communication and listening skills, two traits common to most successful salespeople.
Successful sales people also address multiple problems during their discovery calls—not just the business problem their product or service can solve. Don’t just focus on one business problem you can solve.
Finally, top sellers know to schedule their discovery calls for Monday afternoons. There’s just something about early-morning discovery calls later in the week that increase no-show rate.
Q: What if my discovery call reveals that it’s not a good fit?
A: That’s great news! And it’s one of the most underrated purposes of a discovery call. While your prospect is most certainly evaluating you, this is also your chance to qualify the prospect. Stick to our discovery call checklist and you’ll hang up the phone with a clear understanding of whether or not this deal is worth pursuing.