Pipeline management – The discovery phase

We have already covered the basic tenets of what it takes to decide a prospect is worthy of entering our trusted pipeline.
For review:

1. Get buy in from whoever you are talking to that you can communicate with anyone involved in the buying process
2. Get confirmation that there is budget
3. Uncover all of the problems, desires, wishes, needs, and other tidbits that will be part of making a decision. Get this from everyone involved.
4. Confirm that if you manage to answer to everything in #3, you will get a sale.
5. Build a timeline and get confirmation that this timeline is logical.

Now once you have concluded this investigation, you are ready to enter true discovery. But wait, you say, this is the discovery I need to say there is a sale on the horizon, does this not take me to the next phase in my pipeline? Am I not ready to start putting together a presentation? Slow your roll my aspiring sales guru, you have more work to do. To start, I would ask you three questions, and if you can answer them, then it is time to present.

1. Do you know what they are afraid of?
2. Do you know how to alleviate that fear?
3. Do you feel that the prospect sees that you can alleviate that fear?

The first phase of discovery gets an opportunity into the pipeline; the second phase establishes the credibility needed to develop trust. It is subtle in its nature as you are sill asking questions, but it is the nature of these questions that builds rapport. With these questions you move past the basics of goals and timeline and move into the details of what they want to see and what they wish to avoid. The real discovery comes from probing questions that open dialog and get prospects to open up.

These questions require some preparation as they will be unique to each prospect and opportunity. They must take into account what you already know about their objectives. These questions must dive deeper into the how of what they want to accomplish alongside the why. What do I mean? Well, if you know they want to cut costs in a certain area, it is time to understand what they are willing to do to make the cuts. If they want to increase effectiveness, it is important to understand what they consider effective and what they see as a waste of time. If they want to strengthen customer loyalty, knowing how they perceive loyalty will help.

No matter what you know, consider that if your understanding does not get to the depths of their personal and professional fears, it is not enough.

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