Podcast episode
Mastering conversational discovery to drive your sales process (Michelle Pietsch, VP of Revenue @ Dooly)
30 Minutes to President's Club5 Jan 202226 min
Description
Join the most tactical sales newsletter in the world: https://hubs.ly/Q01-R33G0 FOUR ACTIONABLE TAKEAWAYS Use humbling disclaimers to level with the prospect to establish next steps. Ask about the buying process AFTER you get to the “aha” moment in discovery. Figure out the “why” when a signing deadline is missed - then determine next steps. Avoid leading questions which do the opposite of building rapport. PATH TO PRESIDENT’S CLUB VP of Revenue @ Dooly RESOURCES DISCUSSED Join our weekly newsletter Things you can steal 30MPC Training: 30mpc.com/training
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We start every single episode with your top three actionable takeaways, so let's get your three. Number one, don't go into a call blind. Make sure you know where you're walking into. Know your prospects, industry, the company, and focus on two to three pain points that you can potentially solve prior to getting on the call with them. Beautiful. What's number two, Michelle? Prospecting. “When you're prospecting, you always want to customize your messaging.” So do your research, understand who you're reaching out to, potentially go to their Twitter if they have one, and find an example that you could make your messaging applicable to them, and then tailor your messaging that ties back to your solution and something that is exciting to them. Very nice. Round us out, Michelle. Number three, don't be afraid to ask the hard questions.
if they have one, and find an example that you could make your messaging applicable to them, and then tailor your messaging that ties back to your solution and something that is exciting to them. Very nice. Round us out, Michelle. Number three, don't be afraid to ask the hard questions. I know this is really difficult, especially when you're building great rapport, but you “have to ask the tough questions around next steps and what their process is to buy.” This will help you and your prospect have a better sales process along the way. All right, Michelle. So I know you came from Drift in the past, and I know you're at Dooley now, and one of the big things you focused on is conversational discovery. Less of the rigid upfront contract, more of just having a conversation.
typically have to go through legal. And then you back into that process, depending on the date that you want signature. If they tell you that it's going to be 45 days out, don't throw a discount in to get it in just because you are assuming that they can get it in by the end of the month, when realistically it's still going to take 45 days and you have a discount hanging out there. “So working with your prospect, identify those dates and then make sure you have check-ins to” make sure we're still on track. So I want to dig in on this. Let's say I've done it the right way and I've gotten my agreement in the first week of the month. I've gone through procurement, legal, what have you through the rest of the month. And then the 30th of the month passed and the first strikes and a contract is not signed. And let's say I gave a discount. One of the things that I
I call it the golden nuggets. Always have those golden nuggets in your back pocket to toss back to the prospect if things start to go awry at the end of the sales cycle. So you always want to help them find an aha moment and asking open-ended questions and “sprinkling them across the actual discovery call and not just badgering them with questions.” We're lucky we saw the salespeople. I've also sold to tech and engineers, which is drastically different. So you have to identify how they like to communicate to and know how much time you have with them. Salespeople are a little bit easier where they understand the value that we're going to show them relatively quickly.
Why didn't you ask them, why are you waiting five days? The longer you wait, the longer it's going to take. And you're also opening up the opportunity for your prospect to go look at other people. When it's top of mind, you have to go in and capitalize on that. Get that next step. “Is your calendar in front of you? Can I get on a call with you?” is internally and outlining that in an email, the agreed upon next step, outlining your call, what you identified, the solution you're going to provide, and your next steps. Super easy. Beautiful. Well, the next step here is anything you want to plug before we jump off, Michelle?