Discovery call

It is the call that follows appointment setting. The prospect agreed to 20 to 45 minutes, by video or phone, because a topic interests them. You need to know whether that topic justifies a proposal. The discovery call exists to decide, one way or the other.

Some teams call it a qualification call or first meeting. Where a setter books meetings and a closer runs them, the closer usually handles it. In a small company, the founder does.

The prospect should leave with something even if they do not buy: a clearer view of their problem, a number they had never worked out, a lead to follow. That is what makes them want the next step.

A simple structure has four parts. Open by restating why you are both there, in their own words if possible, and announce the length. Ask about their current situation and what is not working. Dig into consequences: what the problem costs, who suffers from it, since when. Close with a concrete, dated next step.

The rule salespeople repeat the most: the prospect should talk more than you. If you present your offer for twenty minutes, you have discovered nothing.

Keep the offer for the end, limited to what answers what they said. If there is no fit, say so. A clear, polite no beats a proposal sent to someone who will never buy.

The best questions are open and about facts. 'How do you find customers today?' teaches you more than 'Are you happy with your prospecting?'. Ask for numbers when you can: meetings per month, hours the team spends on it.

Then come the stakes questions. What happens if nothing changes in six months? What have you already tried, and why did it not work? Those answers tell you whether the problem hurts enough for the person to act.

Finish with decision questions: who else is involved, how the decision is made, what the timeline is. Without those answers, your proposal risks sleeping in an inbox.

A good call ends with a clear decision: a dated next step (a demo, a proposal, a second call with the decision maker) or an honest no. Failure looks like fog: 'I will send you a brochure and we will talk again'.

Measure the share of your calls that end with a dated next step, then the share of those steps that go through. If many calls end in fog, qualification upstream is too light or your close of the call is too timid.

Log the objections you hear too. After twenty calls the same ones keep coming back, and you can address them earlier, during prospecting.

Last, send the follow-up within minutes of the call: a short message that restates the prospect's problem in their words and confirms the next step with its date. It proves you listened, and it helps if they need to convince a partner.

Showing up knowing nothing. Rereading the prospect's LinkedIn profile, their website and your conversation history takes five minutes and saves you from asking questions they already answered in writing.

Turning the call into an interrogation. Twenty questions read in order feel like filling in a form. Build on their answers, even if it takes you off script.

Selling too early. As soon as you launch your demo five minutes in, the prospect gets defensive and stops telling you what is really wrong.

When the meeting comes from LinkedIn, part of the discovery has already happened in writing. The prospect said what their problem was, sometimes their numbers, sometimes what they already tried. Reread that thread before the call: it is your best preparation, and the prospect appreciates not having to repeat everything.

With MimikFlow, the AI that answers prospects runs that conversation up to the meeting and collects your qualification points along the way, one question at a time. The full thread stays on the prospect's record. After the call you can add a summary: the messages sent after the meeting rely on it to talk about what was actually said.