Chris Orlob’s Post

Six discovery call mistakes that will kill your deal before it starts. How many of them are you making? 1. Asking “how does this impact you?” This is a popular question. Unless you have very strong rapport, it is almost always a mistake. It sounds manipulative. Buyers cringe when they’re asked that. There are far better ways to build negative impact. 2. NOT earning the right to do discovery. Especially with outbound deals. If you come in hot asking about business pain… Buyers get irritated. You have to grease the wheels to do discovery. Pro tip: Try opening the meeting by telling a great customer story. Then say, “Enough about our customers… tell me about YOUR situation…” If you told a customer story that feels like a page from their diary, your likelihood of a great call will triple. TRIPLE. 3. Saying “mmhmm” and “yep” too much while your buyer is talking. You might think you’re doing the right thing: Letting your buyer know you’re listening. But my guess is your Zoom camera is on. Show them you’re listening by making eye contact. Stop with the constant “mmhmm” and “yep” while your buyer is talking. It’s more jarring than you think. It interrupts the free-flow of your buyer's thinking. 4. Going through a checklist of pre-planned questions. Here’s a rule thumb: The best question you can ask is ALWAYS based on what the buyer JUST said. Most sellers: - Ask a question - Stare blankly while the buyer answers - Ask their next (planned but irrelevant) question Great sellers: - Ask a question - Listen with life-threatening curiosity - Base their next question on the buyer’s answer Listen with the intent to understand. Not with the intent to ask your next checklist question. 5. Failing to summarize what you heard… often. If a buyer GUSHES about their pain… Floodgates open… Tells you everything… And all you do is move onto the next topic? Huge missed opportunity. Summarize what you heard. End with, “am I on the right track?” Your buyer will emotionally exhale when you do this right. 6. Scheduling the next steps without SELLING the HELL out of it. If you run a PURE discovery call… No demo, deck, etc. Then you’ve got to make sure you SELL the HELL out of them taking a next step with you. If all you do is schedule the next step… Taking for granted that your buyer is bought into it… You’ll deal with no-shows for days. Spend a few minutes selling WHY they should take the next step, based on what they told you. — I hope these tips help you close more deals. I put together a 70-page PDF: 10 Scripts For Perfect Discovery Calls. Grab a copy here: https://lnkd.in/dSPMU5SM

6 discovery call mistakes that will kill your deal before it starts (and how to avoid them) 1. 𝗔𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 “𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂?” Unless you have a strong rapport, it's almost always a mistake. It sounds manipulative. Buyers cringe when they’re asked that. There are far better ways to build negative impact. 2. 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆. Especially with outbound deals. If you come in hot asking about business pains Buyers get irritated. You have to grease the wheels to do discovery. → Pro tip: Try opening the meeting by telling a great customer story. Then say, “Enough about our customers… tell me about YOUR situation…” If you tell a customer story that feels like a page from their diary, your likelihood of a great call will triple. YES. TRIPLE. 3. 𝗦𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 “𝗺𝗺𝗵𝗺𝗺” 𝗮𝗻𝗱 “𝘆𝗲𝗽” 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴. You might think you’re doing the right thing Trying to show your buyer you’re listening. Show them you’re listening by making eye contact. Stop with the constant “mmhmm” and “yep” while your buyer is talking. It interrupts the free flow of your buyer's thinking. 4. 𝗚𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗮 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗿𝗲-𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. Here’s a rule of thumb The best question you can ask is ALWAYS based on what the buyer JUST said. Most sellers: → Ask a question → Stare blankly while the buyer answers → Ask their next (planned but irrelevant) question Great sellers: → Ask a question → Listen with life-threatening curiosity → Base their next question on the buyer’s answer Listen with the intent to understand. Not with the intent to ask your next checklist question. 5. 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱… 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻. If a buyer GUSHES about their pain Floodgates open Tells you everything And all you do is move on to the next topic? Huge missed opportunity. Summarize what you heard. End with, “am I on the right track?” Your buyer will emotionally exhale when you do this right. Stop trying to check all the possible problems 6. 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗦𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗟 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝘁. If you run a PURE discovery call No demo, deck, etc. Then you’ve got to make sure you SELL the H*LL out of them taking the next step with you. If all you do is schedule the next step Taking for granted that your buyer is bought into it You’ll deal with no-shows for days. Please spend a few minutes selling WHY they should take the next step, based on what they told you. How many of them are you making? - DM me the word "DISCOVERY" if you want to run discovery calls like a real pro SDE/AE Grab your free weekly resource at 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁. 𝗰𝗼𝗺 --- ♻️ Share if you think is useful. 👍 Smash that like for more to benefit. 🔔 Follow me for more tactical sales tips. Alan Ruchtein

Do you ever encounter objections that kill your deals? Often, when an objection is raised, our immediate reaction is to respond and overwhelm our prospects with information. We tend to push more details about why they should buy and then offer discounts to try to close the deal. However, what often kills the deal is the unspoken objection—the ones that are never raised. For some reason, many fear objections, when in fact, objections are a good thing. It means your buyer is seeking further information before progressing. The risk occurs when your buyers don't get the information they need. They tend to fill in the gaps on their own. Sometimes, their conclusions might be incorrect. Don't be afraid to share the concerns others typically have, ensuring key issues are addressed and clarified. You know how to navigate buyers through the journey, and you know what concerns usually stop people from taking action. So don't use hope as a strategy. Instead of waiting for your buyers to raise their concerns. Raise the concerns before your buyers do. Check before progressing. A simple question - Based on what we have covered, what concerns do you have about x. In the event they are a tad guarded and don't share any concerns. Talk about the concerns other have, and show them how others have worked through it.

We’ve all been there—you make a purchase and then immediately regret it. Turns out the majority of B2B buyers experience “buyer’s regret” as well: ⛔️ 73% of buyers regret purchases bought, but not yet implemented (Gartner) ⛔️ 56% of buyers categorized their purchases as “high-regret” (Gartner) Buying is infinitely riskier than selling. One bad purchase could ruin a buyer’s career or social capital. You sell a solution that doesn’t deliver on its promises? You’re not getting fired. Your job when multi-threading is not about “getting to power” so you can close the deal faster. That’s a by-product. Your job is to de-risk the purchase for the buyer. To reduce the likelihood of an undesirable outcome. Purchasing is less risky when: → Multiple stakeholders are involved in the project → The project aligns with a high-level business priority → There’s group consensus on the problem and the solution ___________________ How to put this into action: Don’t ask your champion, “Who would feel left out if they weren’t invited to the next call?” They may not know. And you’re not positioning yourself as a trusted advisor or consultant. Make a recommendation on who else should be involved based on how your best deals typically come together. The ones that produce the best outcome for the customer. This sounds like… “We’ve gone through this process over a dozen times with [name drop similar companies]. Do you mind if I share how I’ve seen [personas like theirs] get the [measurable outcome they typically want] on a project like this? Usually, we’re getting the perspective of [typical user group], [typical executive sponsor/champion], [typical economic buyer]. Are those the right people? Is anyone else missing from that list who you think is a core part of this process?” ___________________ Want more tips to multi-thread your deals more effectively? Join me, 👩🏻🏫 Krysten Conner Conner, Nate Nasralla, and Aaron Melamed to get a multi-threading playbook to increase win rates by 25%+ (and never get stuck below the line again) Register here: https://hubs.ly/Q026L_mK0 #Sales #Prospecting #Outbound

How to purchase the right tech solution for your team and company? It is truly important to make decisions together with other stakeholders.