1 Comment

Great article. I particularly like how you stress the importance of understanding a prospect's problem before pitching your solution. Eager founders ignore this rule all of the time, and even seasoned sales vets I know jump the gun on this occasionally.

I did want to get your take on something I have found to be different in my experience as an enterprise sales rep. The book "The Challenger Sale" talks about this, and I think it is relevant.

If you can't bring some type of insight to a company to drive discovery forward then you probably aren't going to uncover anything very useful.

Far too many reps stay stuck in "discovery mode". And at the end of the 30-60 minutes they've blown all of their time on confirming what the prospect already knows. This rarely results in an additional meeting where they get to make the big pitch.

Often times, especially when selling new and innovative products, the customer has never really thought of their "problem" as a problem before. Status quo is powerful, and customers can be reluctant to admit to problems without some prodding or guidance.

I've found a lot more success when I can come to the table with some insights and can say something like "here is what we're seeing in the industry and in your competitors' business...does this ring true for you?"

Doing it this way gives your prospect the permission and social proof necessary to open up more. They tend to be a lot more open and helpful when you can bring a little something extra to how they view their business.

Would love to know if you've seen reps/salespeople get stuck in this "discovery trap"?

Expand full comment